Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023, what the basis is of the increase in detected error in his Department from £13.4m in 2019-20 to £17.1m in 2020-21.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
In reference to your question, the Fraud Landscape Report figures were reported to the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA, formerly the Counter Fraud Centre of Expertise) as part of established reporting cycles. The government defines error as losses arising from unintentional events, processing errors and official government errors - such losses are judged as without fraudulent intent. Since 2014, Fraud Landscape Reports show an increase in both detected fraud and error across government. This is in line with the government's explicit objective to find more fraud in the system. By detecting more, we can understand fraud better - and deal with it better.
The Home Office detected error in 2019/20 was published in the Fraud Landscape Bulletin and in 2020/21 was published in the Fraud Landscape Report. The reasons for any increase are set out in these documents.
The PSFA assists ministerial departments and public bodies in their delivery of specialist fraud activity. In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse is of housing (a) owned and (b) rented by his Department for people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which local authorities his Department (a) owns and (b) rents housing for people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has paid (a) Serco, (b) Clearsprings, (c) Mears and (d) other contractors to provide accommodation to asylum seekers since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost to the public purse has been of the incarceration of prisoners who are not UK nationals since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We do not disaggregate prison run costs by nationality and the cost to hold individuals depends on category of prisons. Our unit costs for holding prisoners are published on GOV.UK alongside the HM Prison and Probation Service Annual Reports and Accounts. Data on the number of Foreign National Offenders in custody is published in Offender Management Statistics quarterly on GOV.UK.
The removal of Foreign National Offenders is a Government priority and my department have recently announced measures to further increase removals of Foreign National Offenders including the extension of the Early Removal Scheme window to 18 months; working closely with Home Office to facilitate timely removals and working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to conclude bilateral Prison Transfer Agreements with priority countries.
The Home Office removed 16,676 Foreign National Offenders since January 2019 to September 2023. Published figures show that Foreign National Offender returns have increased in the latest 12-month period (ending September 2023) by 19% when compared to the previous 12-month period.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Home Office's Independent Examiner of Complaints service, and whether the Office of the Independent Examiner of Complaints will publish annual reports.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) is operating within its terms of reference. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office and the IEC states that the IEC will publish an annual report.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average cost to the public purse of removing a person from the UK to Rwanda.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Costs and payments will depend on the number of people relocated and the timing of when this happens. Spend will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers awaiting their claims to be processed were housed in (a) hotels and (b) other locations at public expense as of 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis.
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential; therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6491 on Shoplifting, what percentage of reports of shoplifting were attended by police in 2023; and whether attendance levels increased after publication of the National Police Chiefs' Council's Retail Crime Action Plan in October 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities and consumers.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010; however, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 25% in the 12 months to June 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 29% in the year ending June 2023. That’s a welcome indication that the police are heeding the message and are giving greater attention to shoplifting. The Home Office does not hold specific information relating to shoplifting offences attended by the police.
Over recent months I have worked with representatives of the retail sector and senior police leaders, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) leads for Acquisitive Crime, Retail Crime, Business Crime and the National Business Crime Centre, to improve the police response to
shoplifting. These conversations resulted in the development of the NPCC’s Retail Crime Action Plan.
In October, the NPCC published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all police forces in England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel.
Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to further aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals. Police forces use the facial matching facility on the Police National Database which contains images of people previously arrested. The UK passport database is searched on a limited basis in support of the most serious law enforcement investigations.
The plan also includes guidance for retailers on what response they can expect from their local police, as well as how retailers can assist the police by providing evidence to help ensure cases are followed-up. Retailers can assist police by providing CCTV footage and images, which is best shared electronically via a Digital Evidence Management System.
The Home Office does not hold data on police attendance at retail crime incidents. The NPCC is exploring how this data could be captured by police forces to show attendance in line with the commitments in the Retail Crime Action Plan.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests made by police in England and Wales, as part of the annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Stop and search and arrests’ statistical release. The Home Office does not hold information relating to citizens arrests.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money his Department has allocated for housing asylum seekers in (a) hotels and (b) other locations in 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts(opens in a new tab).