Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons her Department has not reached a decision on the application for naturalisation of constituent Ali Bam (B1308051) within the published six-month service standard.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
I have written to the Hon. Member on this individual case.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the stop and search powers available to Merseyside Police officers who suspect an individual of carrying a knife.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Stop and search is a vital policing tool when used correctly and officers have the Government's full support to use these powers in a way that is fair, lawful and effective.
Under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the police in England and Wales have the power to stop and search someone if they have reasonable grounds to suspect they are in possession of an offensive weapon, including a bladed article - such as a knife.
Under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the police in England and Wales have the power to put in place temporary “no-suspicion” stop and search zones – if they reasonably believe that incidents involving serious violence may take place in that locality during that time period. When this power is authorised, police can search anyone within that area without requiring reasonable grounds to search each person.
In March 2019, the Government announced that it would roll back additional controls on the use of Section 60 powers to make it easier for officers in seven forces, including Merseyside Police, to authorise this power – to help forces further target the recent increases in serious violence.
Whilst it is important for the police to have the right powers, they also need the resources to use them. This is why we are also supporting police with additional funding. On 13 March 2019 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £100 million fund to tackle serious violence. £63.4 million of this funding has already been allocated to 18 police forces, including Merseyside Police which received £4.2 million, to support surge operational activity, such as increased patrols.
This money is already being put to good use. The BBC recently reported that Merseyside had recovered 14 knives in a single week following stop and searches.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the outcome was of her Department's review into different responses provided to FOI requests 53533 and 52979 in relation to the immigration outcomes of victims of trafficking.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
An internal review was conducted on request 53533 and a response sent to the requester on 12 July. This found that the outcome of the original response (refusal under the cost limit) was correct. The two requests (53533 and 52979) asked for distinct information, hence the difference in responses: in one case the information could be provided within the cost limit, in the other it could not.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary-Under-Secretary of State for Health of 19 June 2019, Official Report, column 145WH, what steps his Department has taken since it sent a letter to the CEOs of 17,000 businesses regarding the audit of compliance with the requirement to produce modern slavery supply chain statements.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office has written twice to approximately 17,000 organisations identified as being required to prepare a Modern Slavery Statement under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. As a result almost 4,000 organisations have registered to receive tools and guidance from the Home Office to support effective reporting under the Act.
The Home Office is commencing an audit of compliance and organisations which persist in flouting their obligations risk being publicly named. The Home Office is also developing a central registry for modern slavery statements published under the Act to enable the Government to continually monitor compliance.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timeframe is for his receiving a report from the University of Bristol on prostitution in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As part of the Government’s response to the Home Affairs Select Committee report into prostitution, the Home Office provided £150,000 to fund research specifically into the nature and prevalence of prostitution in England and Wales. This independent research is being led by the University of Bristol and will enable us to inform an objective evidence base before we consider any changes to policy and legislation in respect of prostitution.
We have now received the report, and this will be published in due course.