Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include a specific direction in their next remit letter to the Police Renumeration Review Body to examine and make recommendations on targeted pay frameworks and market supplements for digital, cyber and technical specialists across police forces and the National Crime Agency with the goal of recruiting and retaining specialist technical talent.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The White Paper, ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’ sets out a range of proposals for the police workforce, including the development of a new Police Workforce Strategy.
The Police Workforce Strategy will build and support a modern, capable, and sustainable police workforce, ensuring policing has the right people, with the right skills, in the right places, at the right time. It will also enable us to consider how we might make the pay structure for policing more effective, including how policing opportunities compete with the wider employment market.
The independent Police Remuneration Review Body, Senior Salaries Review Body and National Crime Agency (NCA) Remuneration Review Body will continue to have a key role to play in advising the Government on the pay and allowances for police and NCA officers, including any changes to existing pay structures.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the Social Market Foundation and Police Federation joint report Pay and Morale Survey 2023, published in February, what assessment they have made of current morale within the police service in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government values the vital contribution of police officers across the country who work tirelessly to keep us safe every single day. This Government will work collaboratively with policing to address challenges and ensure officers have the right support, resources and recognition they need to tackle crimes and to keep the public safe, as well as improving standards across the board to restore public confidence.
This Government is also committed to supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of all our police and is working closely with police leaders and staff associations, including the Police Federation, to support this.
On 29 July, the Government announced that it had accepted the Police Remuneration Review Body’s recommendation to award officers in the federated and superintending ranks a consolidated pay award of 4.75%, with effect from 1 September 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support forces to minimise the number of police officers posted in back office or business support functions where their warranted powers are not required.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing as part of our Safer Streets Mission. This is a vital part of restoring confidence in policing, and getting thousands of officers back on the beat in our communities.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need. While we expect that police officers will be used in tackling crime and protecting the public, it is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience, including how best to allocate resources.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent they are prioritising work to connect civil and family courts' databases and IT systems with police databases and IT systems to inform policing vetting procedures.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Work is ongoing between the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to ensure a system is in place for the information transfer of protective orders from the courts to policing.
The government is also working with the NPCC to develop a Continuous Integrity System to enable relevant information on officers and staff to be captured and assessed in quick time as part of a wider integrity programme to enhance the vetting regime.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to amend police regulations in relation to allegations of police-perpetrated domestic abuse or violence against women and girls.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve VAWG over the next decade.
In her statement to Parliament on 23 October on police accountability, the Home Secretary reiterated the Government’s commitment to strengthen police misconduct and vetting systems. Those who commit heinous acts such as VAWG have no place in policing and our measures will ensure that there is a statutory underpinning for national vetting standards and strengthen requirements relating to the suspension of officers under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual offences.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Home Office is taking in response to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s briefing Shifting the Scales of Justice, published in September, particularly in relation to the call for the immediate institution of a data-sharing firewall between the police and immigration enforcement.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We look forward to seeing the final ‘Shifting the Scales of Justice’ report when it is laid in Parliament. The Government will respond in full to the report’s recommendations within 56 days, as per the Domestic Abuse Act of 2021.
With regards to data-sharing between police and immigration enforcement, we are committed to finding a solution that will encourage migrant victims and give them confidence to come forward.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the behavioural changes of travellers as a result of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping for international visitors.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government’s assessment of the anticipated behavioural changes as a result of tax-free shopping (covering the VAT Retail Export Scheme and the airside scheme) was set out in the original policy costing note which can be found in the Policy costings document from November 2020 p42-43. The government followed the same methodology when calculating costings for the 2022 Growth Plan, which can be found in the Growth Plan documents paragraph 4.19 and Table 4.2 from September 2022.
Whilst there are no current plans to re-introduce tax-free shopping for international visitors, the government keeps all tax policy under review, and we are very grateful to industry for their contribution to our invitation to provide evidence on this matter.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in the easing of the documentary requirements for school groups travelling to France as committed to in the UK–France Joint Leaders’ Declaration of 10 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that police forces in England and Wales can collaborate with EU counterparts on missing children and trafficking investigations when a child has been trafficked from the UK to Europe.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Tackling modern slavery, including child trafficking, is a priority for this Government and we are committed to continuing to work closely with EU partners to address this heinous crime.
The UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) delivers a comprehensive package of capabilities that ensures we can work with counterparts across Europe to tackle serious crime. This includes enabling our law enforcement agencies to continue to share information on investigations, including those related to child trafficking, with EU counterparts.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 19 February 2016 (HL6037), whether the Crown Prosecution Service's IT systems can undertake electronic searches of relevant records by character string; and if not, whether a system update is planned.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton
There is no planned update or change to Crown Prosecutions Service’s existing IT systems to undertake electronic searches of relevant records by character string.