Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
What assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the number of firefighters on fire service capacity to respond to emergency calls.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Recent data show that the average total response time to primary fires has remained the same as last year, and for secondary fires has increased by 1 second since last year.
Total response times have risen gradually since 1994 but are now starting to stabilise.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's plans for a skills-based immigration system after the UK leaves the EU will meet the skills requirements of the agri-food sector.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans.
The Government announced on 6 September its plans to introduce a pilot scheme for the admission of 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help meet seasonal labour needs in the agricultural sector.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's plans for a skills-based immigration system after the UK leaves the EU will meet the skills requirements of the agri-food sector.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans.
The Government announced on 6 September its plans to introduce a pilot scheme for the admission of 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help meet seasonal labour needs in the agricultural sector.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed by his Department in each month since June 2016.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Home Office publish monthly workforce management information on gov.uk - links provided below. This information has been summarised in the table 1 provided.
2010 to 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-and-salaries-series
2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/workforce-management-information-2018
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what protocols are in place to ensure that all women and girls have access to sanitary products while in police custody.
Answered by Nick Hurd
PACE Code C provides requirements for the care and treatment of detained persons. It draws attention to the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice (APP) produced by the College of Policing which provides detailed guidance on particular matters concerning detainee healthcare and treatment, this includes the expectation that officers consider the effect of menopause or menstruation on female detainees’ welfare
However, in light of concerns raised by the Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA), the Home Office is working closely with ICVA and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to identify ways that hygiene and sanitary protection arrangements for female detainees in police custody can be improved. In order to achieve greater consistency across the country, the NPCC is consulting forces on their local policies and procedures concerning hygiene and sanitary protection with a view to developing new comprehensive guidance for officers.
Home Office officials are considering whether any revisions to PACE Code C are required to ensure that the specific needs of women in detention are recognised and that there are clear statutory guidelines for police practice, taking into account our duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Alongside this work, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services (HMICFRS) are considering increasing the level of scrutiny when conducting custody inspections to ensure the rights of women are protected and they are treated with dignity. This would involve looking in more detail at operational practices in police custody suites.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions the police response has been delayed as a result of new build housing developments not being included in GPS navigation systems in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not collect this information centrally. It is the responsibility of each democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioner with their Chief Constable to deploy resources appropriately to meet the needs of their local community.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions fire service response times have been extended as a result of new build housing developments not being included in GPS navigation systems in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Incident Recording System captures reasons for delay in commencing fire fighting actions, fire and rescue services are not asked about failure to locate an incident as a result of non-updated GPS navigation systems.
It is the responsibility of each fire and rescue authority through its Integrated Risk Management Plan to allocate its resources appropriately to manage its operational response.