Found: Justice Bill Correspondence from the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire and the Minister

Found: Public Bill Committees Resolved , That the Committee appoint Members to the Criminal Justice Bill

Found: The Government subsequently brought forward an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill before Parliament

Found: Home Office Correspondence from the Minster of State for Crime, Policing and Fire regarding the Criminal

Found: parliament.uk I tabled an amendment, in my capacity as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, to the Criminal

Found: Relevant provisions are included in the Victims and Prisoners Bill and the Criminal Justice Bill currently

Found: I hope by now you will have seen the drafting of the amendment (NC86 of the Criminal Justice Bill

Found: introduced recent measures to toughen up the UK’s corporate liability laws, including in the ECCTA and Criminal

Found: We welcome recent Governm ent action, including a new clause in the Criminal Justice Bill to make violence

Found: may have observed —I hope you did—that the Government brought forward an amendment last week to the Criminal

Found: Alternatively, an offence of cuckooing could be inserted into the Criminal Justice Bill (Clause 19)

Found: Justice Bill.

Found: For example, the Criminal Justice Bill contains provisions criminalising rough sleeping and begging

Found: CJB0014 - Criminal Justice Bill 2023 Equality and Human Rights Commission Written Evidence

Found: CJB0013 - Criminal Justice Bill 2023 Garden Court Chambers Written Evidence

Found: CJB0012 - Criminal Justice Bill 2023 Crisis Written Evidence

Found: Prisons Mission [FPP0035] Centre for Crime and Justice Studies [FPP0036] Introduction to the Criminal

Found: Correspondence from the Minister of state for Crime, Policing and Fire relating to the Criminal Justice

Found: Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire and the Minister of State for Justice relating to the Criminal

Found: To help improve the complaints system, the Government intends to lay an amendment to the Criminal

Found: Home Office Correspondence from the Minster of State for Crime, Policing and Fire regarding the Criminal

Found: Prisons Mission [FPP0035 ] Centre for Crime and Justice Studies [FPP0036] Introduction to the Criminal

Found: Prisons Mission [FPP0035] Centre for Crime and Justice Studies [FPP0036] Introduction to the Criminal

Found: Justice Bill.

Found: action against the illegal online gambling market through provisions set out in the Home Office’s Criminal

Found: We intend to make the necessary legislative changes via the Criminal Justice Bill which is currently

Found: the review of the Independent Office for Police Conduct and announcement of additional reforms in the Criminal

Found: now confirmed that they will introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker in the Criminal

Found: the comments that have been made, like with any piece of legislation —if you had passed, say, a criminal

Found: street homeless people following the repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824.35 Proposals in the current Criminal

Found: Q39 Chris Stephens: Surely the best argument is the Criminal Justice Bill that is now going through

Found: We are supporting Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill and hope that the

Found: CJB0011 - Criminal Justice Bill 2023 Liberty Written Evidence

Found: CJB0010 - Criminal Justice Bill 2023 JUSTICE Written Evidence

Found: Justice Bill and other legislation where we have recommended, I think, eight out of her 12 overall

Found: There is also the Criminal Justice Bill, which is at or is about to reach Report stage in the Commons

Found: constitutes a legitimate activity. 5.5.During the 30th January 2024 Public Bill Committee for the Criminal

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle anti-social behaviour in (a) Suffolk Coastal constituency and (b) Suffolk.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Last year the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan) ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes funding an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we worked with 10 police force areas and, following the success of the pilots, we have extended this approach to every police force in England and Wales from April. Suffolk will receive £1,000,000 for the hotspot programme for 2024/25 tackling areas of high incidents of both anti-social behaviour and serious violence.

We are also strengthening police and local authority powers to tackle anti-social behaviour through a number of measures in the Criminal Justice Bill.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) meetings and (b) other discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on knife crime in the last 12 months.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Secretary and Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire regularly meet with the Mayor of London and Police and Crime Commissioners to discuss crime and policing matters.

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £43m of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in London which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime in London. In addition, c.£8.1m has been awarded in 2024/25 to deliver the ‘Hotspot Response’ programme and enable additional, high visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the areas worst affected by serious violence and ASB.

Additionally, just under £1.3m has been awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty in London.

Following a surrender scheme, the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes that are designed to look intimidating but have no practical purpose will be outlawed from 24 September 2024.

Additionally, through the Criminal Justice Bill, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.

We are also providing £3.5 million into the research, development, and evaluation of new technologies to reduce knife crime, including knife detection technologies. The Metropolitan Police has been given £547,863 for further live facial recognition mobile units to be deployed across their 75 London hotspots.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the proposed new police powers concerning protests (1) maintain public order and, (2) protect the right to peaceful protest; and what steps they are taking to address concerns of potential misuse of those new powers against specific groups or causes.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Due to the announcement of a general election by the Prime Minister on 22^nd May 2024 and the prospective dissolution of Parliament, the Criminal Justice Bill will not be progressed in this Parliamentary session.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent individuals soliciting a deepfake non-consensual image from jurisdictions where there are no laws against creating and sharing such images and receiving the image in the UK.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Creating deepfake sexual images without consent is immoral and unacceptable in society. The Government has tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that will criminalise those who create a sexual deepfake image without consent, and for the purposes of sexual gratification or to cause alarm, humiliation or distress. This builds on reforms introduced through the Online Safety Act which criminalised the sharing of, or threats to share, intimate images, including deepfakes, without consent.

Under sections 44 – 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007, an individual who does not themselves commit a crime, may still face charges if they encourage or assist someone else to do so. These provisions will apply to the new deepfakes offence in the Criminal Justice Bill.

The situation is, however, more complicated if one or other of the people involved are not in England and Wales and whether a crime has been committed will depend on the specific facts of each case. This is because the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales for acts committed overseas is limited.

Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which in relation to some sexual offences extends the jurisdiction of the criminal courts of England & Wales to acts done overseas in certain circumstances, will not apply to the new offence. This is in line with standard Government policy that statutory extra-territorial jurisdiction should only be applied to serious and indictable offences, not summary offences. However, through the Criminal Justice Bill, we are making the two more serious offences of sharing intimate images (namely (i) sharing an intimate image without consent for the purpose of sexual gratification and (ii) sharing an intimate image without consent and with intent to cause alarm, distress or humiliation) subject to section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act , so that courts in England and Wales will have jurisdiction over those offences when committed abroad in certain circumstances.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains his Department's policy to end the criminalisation of rough sleeping.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Nobody should be criminalised for simply having nowhere to live. That is why we are committed to bringing into force the repeal of the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824.

We have tabled amendments for Report stage of the Bill which will bring the Repeal of the Vagrancy Act into force three months after the Criminal Justice Bill receives Royal Assent.

At this same time, the provisions on nuisance begging and nuisance rough sleeping in the Criminal Justice Bill will also come into force.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet, updated on 20 August 2022, whether he plans to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 once the Criminal Justice Bill is passed.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Nobody should be criminalised for simply being having nowhere to live. That is why we are committed to bringing into force the repeal of the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824.

We have tabled amendments for Report stage of the Bill which will bring the Repeal of the Vagrancy Act into force three months after the Criminal Justice Bill receives Royal Assent.

At this same time, the provisions on nuisance begging and nuisance rough sleeping in the Criminal Justice Bill will also come into force.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to protect retailers from shoplifting.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft from the person down 48% and overall violent crime down 44%, and more police officers on the streets than in 2010.

However, there has been a worrying rise in shoplifting and violence towards retail workers, which we are taking action to address. The Government’s plan – "Fighting Retail Crime: more action" was launched on 10 April. It includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers, which will be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament.. We are working with police and businesses to roll out the latest facial recognition to catch these perpetrators; championing good practice to design out crime; and making it easier for retailers to report crime.

We will also legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.

The Government’s action plan builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023, which includes a commitment 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 aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals. Early indications suggest that there has been improved police attendance at the retail crime incidents prioritised. This has been echoed by major retailers.

Police forces across England and Wales have also committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime and this includes shoplifting. These are substantial operational policing commitments, which I am overseeing delivery of through the National Retail Crime Steering Group.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that online sales representatives, working for illicit Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical companies, are producing and smuggling illegal drugs into the UK, what action they are taking to combat the sale and advertisement of such drugs on the internet, and what response they have received from any representations they have made to the government of China in this regard.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Illicit production of synthetic drugs is a growing global concern, and we assess that criminal groups involved in illicit production are present in numerous countries around the world, including China. UK law enforcement agencies regularly engage with counterparts in countries where websites supplying and advertising illicit drugs are hosted. We have provided additional resources to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Home Office international networks in key source and transit countries to work with other governments to identify and disrupt criminal groups who seek to exploit the UK. We are also working closely with partners to monitor developments in source countries, to assess how changes are likely to affect the drugs threat to the UK.

With regards to action being taken to combat the sale of illicit drugs on the internet, our Online Safety Act will introduce measures requiring platforms to remove content relating to the sale of illegal drugs online and prevent users from being exposed to it. If they fail to comply, they risk stiff financial penalties or in the most serious cases, having their sites blocked by the independent regulator, Ofcom.

Additionally, the NCA, along with policing colleagues across the UK target key offenders operating online and work to ensure they have the resources and powers they need to keep our country safe. For example, proposals are being taken forward in the Criminal Justice Bill to create a new power enabling law enforcement to suspend IP addresses and/or domain names being used for criminal purpose, including the sale of illicit drugs. This new power will allow agencies to obtain a court order to formally request action by organisations both domestically and outside of the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with homelessness stakeholders on measures within the Criminal Justice Bill.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.

The Home Office has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners and other organisations including the homelessness sector. This has highlighted that more direct tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance to others.

These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach and that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to support (a) businesses and (b) other organisations whose numbers are used by (i) nuisance callers and (ii) criminals in number spoofing scams.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

A central pillar of the Government’s Fraud Strategy is blocking individuals and groups from attempting to impersonate other organisations and institutional bodies. As part of this work, the Government has introduced a new measure to the Criminal Justice Bill to strengthen law enforcement capabilities to tackle scam text messages. The Bill will create a new offence for supplying or possessing “SIM farm” devices (which allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of individuals and businesses at the same time), without good reason or undertaking adequate due diligence.

In addition, the Government and Industry have signed the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter, a voluntary agreement to improve counter-fraud efforts. As a result of the Charter, the sector has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. Since January 2022, the firewalls have stopped 960 million scam text messages.

Law enforcement are also working tirelessly to tackle criminal number spoofing operations at source. Last year, Operation Elaborate led by the Metropolitan police took down iSpoof, a website that was used to make 10 million spoof calls impersonating individuals and businesses. The international joint action led to 142 arrests and the main administrator of the website was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months of imprisonment.

In April this year, in another successful joint operation codenamed Stargrew, the Met took down LabHost; a major criminal website, which fraudsters used to create over 40,000 fake phishing websites impersonating businesses. So far the operation has led to 37 arrests, and over 25,000 victims in the UK have been contacted.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the provisions on knives in the Criminal Justice Bill will also extend to weapons used for historical re-enactments.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

In the Criminal Justice Bill 2023 we are introducing three measures to tackle knife crime:

• Increasing the maximum penalty for selling knives to those under 18 or selling prohibited weapons to 2 years imprisonment.
• Giving the police a new power to seize any bladed article if they are lawfully on premises and suspect that the relevant article would be likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence.
• Creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to use unlawful violence.

These measures will apply to all pointed or bladed articles, including those used for historical re-enactment.

On 25 January we laid the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) Order 2024 in Parliament. The Order has now been approved by both Houses of Parliament and this will prohibit the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024.

Zombie-style knives are defined in the Statutory Instrument and to fall under the legislation would need to be a bladed article with a plain cutting edge and a sharp pointed end, with a blade of over 8 inches in length, which also has one or more of, a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade, spikes or more than two sharp points in the blade.

Items which match this criteria will fall under the legislation including those used for historical re-enactment; however, there is a defence in the legislation for in scope items which are blunt.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to enhance cybersecurity infrastructure to help tackle phishing scams through (a) text messaging and (b) fake payment websites.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Criminal Justice Bill will introduce a new offence of supplying or possessing “SIM farm” devices, which allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at the same time, without good reason or undertaking adequate due diligence.

In addition, the Government and Industry have signed the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter, a voluntary agreement to improve counter-fraud efforts. Under the Telecommunications Charter, the sector has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. The firewalls have stopped 960million scam text messages since January 2022.

Furthermore, domain registrars, Internet infrastructure (IIPs) and service providers (ISPs) operate robust voluntary arrangements for filtering, blocking and takedown of malicious websites, which is supported by the operational work of our agencies and law enforcement. NCSC also works in collaboration with industry partners to present ISPs with real-time threat data that enables them to instantly block access to known fraudulent or malicious websites. This has a major impact in protecting citizens from cyber- and cyber-facilitated crimes.

Where voluntary arrangements prove unsuccessful, we are introducing a new legislative power will provide law enforcement and investigative agencies with a formal process to suspend IP addresses and domain names that are being used to facilitate serious crime. This power will also be introduced as part of the Criminal Justice Bill.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to introduce legislation protecting shopworkers from serial or abusive shoplifters.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, and includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers and electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters. This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023.

We will legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.

The new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker will also be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill. The offence will have a maximum penalty of six months in prison, or an unlimited fine – and upon conviction, it is expected that courts will make a Criminal Behaviour Order, which could bar offenders from visiting affected shops or premises. Breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order is a criminal offence and carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.

Those who repeatedly assault retail workers will be electronically monitored after their third offence, to crack down on reoffending and ensure those continuing down a path of violent behaviour will be met with further consequences. For the most serious violent offenders of assault, custodial sentences of up to five years in prison are already available.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle (a) knife crime by and (b) the online sale of bladed weapons to people under the age of 18 in Wales.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.

The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.

We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.

It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.

The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.

Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.

Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the enforcement of regulations on the sale of bladed items (a) to and (b) by persons under the age of 18.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.

The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.

We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.

It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.

The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.

Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.

Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle the sale of illegal drugs on (a) social media and (b) other websites.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Drugs ruin lives and devastate communities. The Government is committed to driving down drugs supply in the UK through tough law enforcement against the sale of drugs online.

Our Online Safety Act will introduce measures requiring platforms, including social media sites, to remove content relating to the sale of illegal drugs online. Under this ground-breaking piece of legislation, tech companies must proactively tackle this type of content and prevent users from being exposed to it. If they fail to comply, they risk stiff financial penalties or in the most serious cases, having their sites blocked by the independent regulator, Ofcom. The Online Safety Act delivers the government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

We also recognise that social media, gaming sites and other online platforms are critical enablers in the targeting, grooming and facilitation of county lines exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we are developing a better understanding of how these platforms are being used and how to disrupt harmful activity.

Considering other websites, the National Crime Agency, along with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally, is mapping and targeting key offenders operating online. Dedicated teams use a range of tools and techniques generally unavailable to most investigators and we make sure they have the resources and powers they need to keep our country safe.

Law enforcement agencies work with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences such as selling controlled drugs. To support this, proposals are also being taken forward in the Criminal Justice Bill to create a new power enabling law enforcement to suspend IP addresses and/or domain names being used for criminal purposes. This new power will allow agencies to obtain a court order to formally request action by organisations both domestically and outside of the UK.

Furthermore, the Government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to undertake a review into internet-facilitated drug markets. The ACMD ran a call for evidence which closed in January and expects to publish its findings later this year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken with relevant authorities to reduce shop lifting in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant impact theft 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.

We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to acquisitive crime, including car theft and shoplifting. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has made a commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have commenced a thematic inspection on the effectiveness of police investigations which will include an assessment of how police forces are implementing the reasonable lines of enquiry commitment.

The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues. The Metropolitan Police Service are represented on the Working Group and have an established vehicle crime lead.

We are legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.

In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan - October 2023.pdf (nbcc.police.uk). Through this Plan, all forces across 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 aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.

We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with relevant authorities to help reduce instances of car theft in (a) Romford constituency and (b) England.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant impact theft 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.

We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to acquisitive crime, including car theft and shoplifting. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has made a commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have commenced a thematic inspection on the effectiveness of police investigations which will include an assessment of how police forces are implementing the reasonable lines of enquiry commitment.

The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues. The Metropolitan Police Service are represented on the Working Group and have an established vehicle crime lead.

We are legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.

In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan - October 2023.pdf (nbcc.police.uk). Through this Plan, all forces across 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 aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.

We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle car crime in north London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime. The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows there were 726,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2023. This represents a 39% fall, when compared with the year ending March 2010, when there was an estimated 1,198,000 such incidents.

The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues. The Metropolitan Police Service are represented on the Working Group and have an established vehicle crime lead.

We are also legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.

Found: Criminal Justice Bill: Progress of the Bill

The Government is planning to amend the Criminal Justice Bill to create a specific offence of assaulting retail workers, with custodial sentences up to 6 months and unlimited fines for offenders. The Government should now extend this to all public facing roles.

Found: The Government is planning to amend the Criminal Justice Bill to create a specific offence of assaulting

We want sections of the proposed Criminal Justice Bill that relate to "nuisance" begging and "nuisance" rough sleeping removed. We believe the proposed legislation is overly punitive and impractical, and risks further marginalising an incredibly vulnerable group of people.

Found: We want sections of the proposed Criminal Justice Bill that relate to "nuisance" begging and "nuisance

Found: explicit deepfake images , which is why it has announced its intention to table an amendment to the Criminal

Found: Through our Criminal Justice Bill we are better protecting children by requiring all professionals to

Found: Ministers have backed an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, put forward by Sir Iain Duncan Smith

Found: Through amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, new measures will ensure rough sleepers are directed

Found: in their child’s life innocent parents saved from instigating and funding court battles changes to Criminal

Found: This new offence, which will be introduced through an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, will mean

Found: Under an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, if an offender is found guilty of assaulting staff three

Found: The Criminal Justice Bill will also prevent individuals using the right to protest as a defence for committing

Found: tackling one the root causes of their criminal behaviour and this is why we are pushing through the Criminal

Found: These measures, which will be brought forward as amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, are the first

Found: retail workers 3.2 We will introduce a new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker, via the Criminal

Found: However, a ‘duty to cooperate ’ does not go as far as a ‘duty of candour ’, which is included in the Criminal

Found: Dr Fairfield seeks changes to the organisational ‘ Duty of Candour’ for policing in the current Criminal

Found: reforms to procurement law following the successful passage of the Procurement Act 2023 • deliver the Criminal

Found: Norris MP and others regarding a second tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report stage of the Criminal

Found: Norris MP and others regarding a second tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report stage of the Criminal

Found: Norris MP and others regarding a second tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report stage of the Criminal

Found: others regarding the third and final tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report Stage of the Criminal

Found: others regarding the third and final tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report Stage of the Criminal

Found: others regarding the third and final tranche of Government amendments tabled for Report Stage of the Criminal

Found: explicit deepfake images , which is why it has announced its intention to table an amendment to the Criminal

Found: Letter dated 10/05/2024 from Laura Farris MP to Jess Phillips MP regarding an issue raised in the Criminal

Found: Lord Jackson also noted the amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill tabled in the other place by Rt

Found: retail workers 3.2 We will introduce a new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker, via the Criminal

Found: We intend to make the necessary legislative changes via the Criminal Justice Bill which is currently

Found: regarding Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) review and announcement of additional reforms in the Criminal

Found: MP, Peter Bottomley MP, Tim Loughton MP and Jonathan Djanogly MP regarding new clauses 3 to 5 of the Criminal

Found: ) Bill (UK Parliament legislation) •Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (UK Parliament legislation) •Criminal

Found: Report on the Legislative Consent Memoranda for the Criminal Justice Bill (UK Parliament legislation)

Found: Criminal Justice Bill response from the Scottish Government Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice

Found: Criminal Justice Bill Letter from the Convener to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs,

Found: Memorandum and Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum: delegated powers relevant to Scotland in the Criminal

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed, or plans to review, any current legislation in light of the UK Government's proposed amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill regarding sexually explicit deepfakes, and what its position is on whether there are any gaps in Scots law in relation to deepfake technology.

Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

Disclosing or threatening to disclose sexually explicit 'deepfake' images, including by publishing them on the internet, is covered by the offence of 'disclosing or threatening to disclose an intimate image' at section 2 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016.

The Scottish Government is aware that the UK Government has announced that it will amend the Criminal Justice Bill to criminalise the making of sexually explicit 'deepfake' images without consent. We will carefully consider the amendment.

Found: memorandum29 February 2024Partial consent recommended (i.e., consent to some but not all provisions) Criminal

Found: lodged during Q4 2023 Bill title Date memorandum lodgedConsent recommendation by Scottish Government Criminal