Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle cyber-related crime in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Tackling cyber crime is at the heart of the Government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022-25, which is supported by £2.6 billion of investment through the National Cyber Fund.
Key to delivery is ensuring that local policing has the resources needed to deal with the cyber threats we face. In 2023/24, the Home Office is receiving £18 million from the National Cyber Fund to provide a range of capabilities and resource to tackle and respond to cyber crime. This funding is supplemented by a further £16 million of Home Office funding through the Police Settlement Programme.
This funding continues to build law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional, and local levels to ensure they have the capacity and expertise to deal with the perpetrators and victims of cyber crime.
There are a wide range of law enforcement and community outreach programmes addressing cyber crime in Greater London and Enfield, which include:
We continue to work with all of society to tackle cyber crime as we recognise it is an issue that requires collaboration from citizens, businesses and the public sector, keenly working with communities in Enfield to educate and inform as to the harms cyber crime can cause.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of applications to enlist in the Army were rejected in each of the last five years, broken down by the reason for rejection.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Reason | Recruiting Year (RY) 19/20 | RY 20/21 | RY 21/22 | RY 22/23 |
Age – Over Age | 43 | 80 | 39 | 42 |
Age – Underage | 5 | ~ | 6 | 6 |
Alcohol | ~ | 0 | 13 | 19 |
Army Officer Selection Board (AOSB) Briefing Failure | ~ | 0 | ~ | 6 |
Appeal in Progress | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Appeal Outcome | 9 | 11 | 6 | ~ |
Assessment Centre Fail | 47 | 23 | 18 | 19 |
Attitude/Maturity | 80 | 128 | 106 | 93 |
Authority Rejection | 11 | 19 | 137 | 27 |
Basic Skills | 8 | 29 | ~ | 0 |
BMI | 232 | 16 | 20 | 9 |
Candidate not selected by Army Personnel Centre (APC) Glasgow | 0 | 14 | 0 | 13 |
Clearance – Care Order | 0 | ~ | 5 | ~ |
Clearance – Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) | ~ | ~ | 0 | 0 |
Clearance - Crime | ~ | 7 | 4 | 350 |
Clearance – Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) | 0 | 0 | ~ | 0 |
Clearance – Financial Issues | 0 | 0 | 0 | ~ |
Clearance – Nationality | 68 | 46 | 15 | 25 |
Clearance – Non completion of forms | 0 | 2166 | 1360 | 1140 |
Clearance – Piercings | 170 | 127 | 72 | 24 |
Clearance – Residency | 186 | 129 | 45 | 20 |
Clearance – Tattoos | 143 | 149 | 102 | 252 |
Clearance – Visa | 50 | 58 | 77 | 287 |
Commonwealth – No current vacancies | 463 | 6207 | 4832 | 4557 |
Commonwealth – Not Suitable for entry | 85 | 222 | 191 | 142 |
Consent Form not provided | ~ | 7 | ~ | ~ |
Continuing Education | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Convictions/Crime | 0 | 0 | ~ | ~ |
Current Operations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Delinquency/Crime | 534 | 629 | 336 | 0 |
Discipline | 9 | 5 | 5 | ~ |
Drugs | 67 | 11 | ~ | 0 |
Education | ~ | 0 | ~ | ~ |
Failed Basic Eligibility | 4750 | 279 | 260 | 280 |
Failed to Attend Event(s) | 335 | 236 | 199 | 188 |
Finance | ~ | 0 | ~ | 0 |
Fitness | 19 | 38 | 20 | 19 |
Family Origin Questionnaire Consent not given (SCT) | 0 | 0 | 25 | 19 |
Joining Other Service – Royal Air Force | 0 | 0 | ~ | ~ |
Joining Other Service – Royal Marines | 0 | 0 | ~ | ~ |
Joining Other Service – Royal Navy | 0 | 0 | 0 | ~ |
Language Ability – English Speaking & Listening | ~ | ~ | ~ | 0 |
Medical | 17443 | 18180 | 13832 | 14656 |
Motivation/Commitment | 110 | 414 | 201 | 116 |
No Vacancy Available | ~ | 7 | 176 | 37 |
Non-Productive Enquiry/Lack of Contact | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
None | ~ | ~ | 0 | 0 |
Other non-Military Employment | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
Prior Service Check Rejection | 838 | 1374 | 1055 | 671 |
Psychometric Test Result | ~ | ~ | ~ | 0 |
Refusal of Parental Consent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Start New Stream | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Terms and Conditions of Service | 0 | 0 | 0 | ~ |
Unsuitable at Interview | 16 | 28 | 7 | ~ |
Unsuitable for Job Choice | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Waiver Refused | 7 | 8 | ~ | 0 |
Total Rejections | 25750 | 30657 | 23189 | 23100 |
Total Applications | 89114 | 90651 | 63580 | 58870 |
Rejections Percentage | 28.9% | 33.8% | 36.5% | 39.2% |
Source: Recruiting Group
Notes/Caveats:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help ensure that people convicted of a crime in which alcohol was an aggravating factor are provided with harm reduction (a) support and (b) education as part of their sentence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is committed to tackling the underlying causes of offending, including alcohol misuse, as it is crucial to reducing reoffending. Between 2011/12 and 2021/22, the overall proven reoffending rate has decreased from 31.3% to 25.2% and we are continuing taking action to drive down the reoffending rate even further.
In the community, we want to make the best use of alternatives to custody to ensure that offenders with substance misuse needs are diverted to treatment wherever appropriate. Offenders can be given an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) as part of a community sentence, and we are committed to increasing the use of these. The Department for Health and Social Care are investing £532m to increase drug and alcohol treatment and recovery places and we have recruited new Health and Justice Coordinators in every probation region to improve links between probation and local drug and alcohol treatment services.
We are also piloting three Intensive Supervision Courts where offenders will be subject to regular reviews with a judge, drug testing, incentives and sanctions.
In custody, we have recruited Drug Strategy Leads in key prisons to ensure a focus on tackling drug and alcohol misuse. Staying in treatment on release is crucial and so we are also rolling out more secure video calling technology, providing prisoners with the opportunity to engage with community treatment pre-release. We are also expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs and alcohol, with regular drug testing and incentives. We now have over 60 of these wings across the estate and are aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025. This will dramatically expand the number of prisoners who have access to these wings.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been dismissed for (a) supplying and (b) transporting drugs in the youth secure estate in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs conveyed into prisons and take appropriate action to a small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100m Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Below is a table showing the breakdown of staff dismissed from 2019 to Dec 2023 within the Youth Custody Service (YCS) for drug related offences.
Table 1
Year | Conveyance of drugs |
TOTAL | 1 |
2019 | 0 |
2020 | 0 |
2021 | 1 |
2022 | 0 |
2023 | 0 |
Source: Linkspace Case Management System.
Notes:
Linkspace is the Counter Corruption Unit’s (CCU) Case Management System used to record and track cases linked to corruption.
Data provided by the CCU have the following Caveats applied below;
1) The new Counter Corruption Unit came into being in April 2019, with a new structure and a change to ways of working. During the initial transition period, and prior to the introduction of the new Case Management System, it is possible that not all arrests were being captured.
2) Prior to April 2019, corruption in HMPPS was managed by the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU). The CPU was a largely centralised unit focused on sanitising and disseminating all corruption related intelligence to the Police, with an individual Regional Corruption Prevention Manager (RCPM) in each geographical region offering advice and support to prisons in managing corruption, Hence data prior to April 2019 is not available.
3) Data includes Non-Directly Employed Staff (public or private) as they provide a service on behalf of HMPPS.
4) ‘Supplying and transporting’ of drugs in a prison falls under the definition of ‘conveyance of drugs’ and recorded on the CCU’s Case Management System to cases linked to drugs related offences.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent the risk of (a) fires, (b) floods, (c) structural damage to buildings and (d) other dangers potentially caused by illegal drug cultivation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department issues to (a) police and (b) immigration authorities on working together to tackle the intersection of (i) drug cultivation and (ii) immigration offences.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who are arrested for suspected drug cultivation are assessed for signs that they may have been (a) coerced and (b) exploited by others.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the cultivation of illegal drug farms in abandoned commercial properties.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of driving under the influence of (a) drugs and (b) alcohol offences in (i) the South West and (ii) Bournemouth.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department approaches drink and drug driving enforcement from a national perspective.
We have tough penalties in place, with our highly respected and effective ‘THINK!’ campaigns reminding people of the serious consequences driving under the influence of drink can have on themselves and others.
Enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) users and (b) people that have experienced harm due to the use of nitrous oxide.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that 1.3% of people aged 16 to 59 years old, and 4.2% of people aged 16 to 24 years old, had used nitrous oxide in the year leading to March 2023. This was a 48% and 54% decrease compared with the year ending March 2020, respectively.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is the Government’s independent expert advisory body on drug-related issues. In March 2023, the ACMD published a report on the updated assessment of the health and social harms of nitrous oxide. This report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrous-oxide-updated-harms-assessment
The Home Office has committed to publishing a broad-ranging assessment of the effect of controlling nitrous oxide as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. This will be published three years from the date of its control, in November 2026.