Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 17th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Security and Immigration (James Brokenshire)]

I welcome the work of the all-party parliamentary group. Let me emphasise that our priority is to ensure that detention is as short and possible, as well as being safe and secure. Obviously we have made changes in relation to the process for mental health provision, in which Public Health England has been involved, but I will certainly continue to reflect on the recommendations that the inquiry makes.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

T5. Magistrates in Dudley tell me that as a result of the reduction in the number of police officers people accused of quite serious crimes such as burglary, assault, domestic violence and even rape are no longer being taken to court in the black country. The number of cases taken to court by the police is down by a third. Why do the Government not understand that my constituents want to see police on the streets, offenders in court and criminals in jail?

[The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Mike Penning)]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that there are now more police on the streets, not in back rooms. In my Ministry of Justice role, we have looked very carefully at cautions, which we feel were being used inappropriately. There are now pilots, and there will be a deferred prosecution, and if people do not abide by that, they will be in court. It is for the Crown Prosecution Service, not politicians, to decide who goes to court and who does not.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Karen Bradley]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments and assure him that, through the inter-ministerial anti-corruption group, we are looking carefully at how we can tackle all economic crime in the most effective way.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

6. What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK border controls.

[The Minister for Security and Immigration (James Brokenshire)]

Britain’s border controls are among the toughest in the world. All passengers arriving at passport control are checked carefully before they are allowed to enter the country. Last year, 17,000 people were refused entry and more than 3,000 people were arrested as a result of border system alerts. Substantial quantities of illegal goods and cash have also been seized.

[Ian Austin]

The Government have completely failed to meet their immigration target; despite what the Minister says, the number of people who have been stopped at the border and sent home has actually fallen by 45%. Why will the Government not bring in checks to count people in and out? Why will they not bring back fingerprint checks for illegal migrants at Calais? Why do the Government not stop people claiming benefits for children abroad? Why will they not change the law to make it easier to deport EU criminals for a first offence when they first arrive?

Passports

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2014 Ministerial Corrections

[Ian Austin]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for (a) new passports and (b) passport renewals there have been in the last year; and what the annual change in such figures has been.

[Official Report, 8 July 2014, Vol. 584, c. 200W.]

Letter of correction from James Brokenshire:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) on 8 July 2014.

The full answer given was as follows:

[James Brokenshire]

During the period between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014, Her Majesty's Passport Office received 1,446,983 first time passport applications and 4,528,751 passport renewal applications.

This compares with 1,346,246 first time applications and 4,036,267 passport renewal applications during the period between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013.

The correct answer should have been:

Romanian and Bulgarian Accession

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

I welcome the restrictions, because I have long felt that rules designed for an EU made up of a small number of advanced economies cannot really work for a much bigger organisation. Given the Home Secretary’s admission that the new rules on the national minimum wage will not be in force on 1 January, however, why will she not introduce legislation now to make the necessary changes more quickly?

[Mrs May]

We will bring forward the various legislative requirements as and when the time to do so is appropriate. We are looking across the board in dealing with these issues. Some measures will be in place, and some regulatory changes will take place before the end of this term and before the Christmas recess. The Government are taking action.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 10th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

I am pleased to say that the figures show that the percentage of police officers who will be involved on the front line is going up under this Government. Moreover, through the action we have taken to reduce bureaucracy and red tape—something the previous Government did not do—this Government have cut the number of hours taken on bureaucracy by 4.5 million man hours.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

12. What change there has been in the number of businesses fined for employing illegal labour since 2010.

[The Minister for Immigration (Mr Mark Harper)]

Dealing with illegal working is a priority for the Government. As has been mentioned, I attended an illegal working operation in Cardiff about a week ago and saw a number of successful arrests of people who were working illegally. We want to do more of this. Recent figures have not been as encouraging as one would have hoped. This year, with the creation of the immigration enforcement command, I am determined to see an increased focus on the issue in order to deliver the results we expect.

[Ian Austin]

Despite all that, the Minister has not had much success, has he? In 2010, 2,092 companies were fined for employing illegal labour, but by 2012 that figure had almost halved to 1,215. Will he work with other Departments, not just to get a grip of illegal employment, but to tackle the abuse of zero-hours contracts and of the minimum wage, so that British workers are no longer undercut by cheap, illegal labour from abroad?

[Mr Harper]

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman listened to my answer. I acknowledged that the statistics had not been as good as we had hoped. I will take no lectures from somebody in the party that let immigration spiral out of control and that had no grip on the system. It is this Government who are getting a grip and who have seen net migration fall by more than a third.

Ibrahim Magag

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head: the Opposition fail to accept that under the control order regime there were seven absconds, six of whom were not apprehended. That was under a regime that had the relocation power. What we did with TPIMs and in giving extra resources to the police and the Security Service was to put in place the regime that was appropriate for national security, but which also should allow greater opportunities for prosecution.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

The background to this is clear. Under control orders, people absconded, so the extra power to enforce their relocation was used and as a result, during the next four years, no one absconded. The Home Secretary made a political decision to get rid of that power and allowed this man to come back, live where he wants, mix with whoever he likes and as a result, within 12 months he has absconded. That is what happened. It is clear. Is it true—yes or no—did he just ring a cab?

[Mrs May]

The situation that the hon. Gentleman portrays in the whole of his question is not the situation that pertains. I made it clear in answer to his hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) that for any individual on TPIMs a range of measures can be applied, including, for example, listing those with whom they may not associate. Those measures are put in place for each individual. They are carefully considered and regularly reassessed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 7th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act introduced new powers prohibiting the use of tents and related items in Parliament square, while safeguarding the right to peaceful protest. The use of the powers is an operational matter for the police and Westminster city council, but they were used in January last year to clear the square of tents.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

T5. I think that ordinary decent people out there will be absolutely staggered by the Home Secretary’s complacency about Ibrahim Magag. The difference between the first two years and the last four years of control orders is that no one absconded during the last four years because the power to relocate was used, and that is the power that the Home Secretary got rid of. Ibrahim Magag was in London, where his friends were, and was able to abscond, because the Home Secretary had given him a travel pass. We all hope that he does not do any harm, but if he does, I think that people out there will hold her responsible.

[Mrs May]

There is no complacency whatsoever. The Government are ensuring that the police and law enforcement agencies are doing all that they can to apprehend this individual, and it is entirely right that that should be the case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[James Brokenshire]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. Many sickening crimes have occurred where monuments and places that exist to celebrate our war dead or important historical incidents have been desecrated. I think the whole House will join me in utterly condemning those responsible for these appalling actions. That is why we are moving forward by tackling the problem with the new taskforce. I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that providing better intelligence and co-ordination is helpful, which is precisely what we will do and are already doing.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

I welcome the importance that the Minister attaches to this issue, but it should not be too difficult to sort out. All he needs to do is to ensure that sellers verify their identity when selling metal and that each transaction is recorded, and to make cash payments for scrap metal illegal. That seems pretty simple to me and to businesses in the black country that are calling for those measures. Why can we not get on with this more quickly?

[James Brokenshire]

We are moving forward with this quickly. That is why we are taking the action that I have outlined today. We are also dealing with the aspects that he mentioned—on the regulation of the scrap metal industry, on having stronger enforcement powers to ensure that those responsible for these actions are held accountable for them, and on ensuring that we move to a cashless model of payment. Those are precisely the areas on which we are focusing, and we will report back to the House shortly.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs May]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity of doing just that. I can confirm that Croydon is one of the 22 areas that will be receiving funding. That funding will be distributed according to the proportion of 10 to 24-year-olds in each of the 22 areas, and I can tell him that on that basis Croydon has the fourth highest proportion and will therefore receive the fourth highest sum of funding.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

The weekend before last, 13 British citizens including, disgracefully, a Member of this House, were present at a party in a French restaurant where members of that group—[Interruption.] It is no laughing matter—where members of that group toasted the Third Reich and chanted “Hitler, Hitler, Hitler,” behaviour which, I understand, is illegal in France. Will the Home Secretary give me her assurance that she will be contacting her French counterparts and giving them every promise that the matter will be dealt with?

[Mrs May]

I found it difficult to find in the hon. Gentleman’s question something relating to the Home Office. I understand the question that he raised, and I understand that the individual in question has apologised.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Obviously, we are tackling that in a number of ways. First, we have introduced changes in a new knife crime offence, which was introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill last week to tackle it from that end. At the other end we have made money available to the Ben Kinsella fund, and Brooke Kinsella produced a very good report for the Government, going round and identifying projects that work with young people to stop them carrying knives and prevent them from being a danger to others and to themselves.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

Everybody wants to see tough action to tackle antisocial behaviour and I welcome what the Home Secretary said a moment ago about the involvement of council, Church and community groups in providing youth services. I have just come from a meeting with young people from Dudley, some of whom are in the Gallery now, and one of them asked me about Dudley council’s decision to cut spending for youth services. Does the Home Secretary think that antisocial behaviour is likely to increase or decrease as a result of cuts to spending on youth services?

[Mrs May]

What I think is important is that in every local community decisions are taken that are right for that local community about what is going to work. The Home Office and the Government are providing funding to a number of communities throughout the country to ensure that in many cases they can do excellent work with young people to ensure that we can reduce the number of knives that are carried on our streets. This is just the start. Further work will be done to try and counter the gang and youth violence which, sadly, blights too many of our communities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

This is not the end of the story. Indeed, we are working in a number of ways to ensure that we continue to cut police bureaucracy. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice is looking at savings in bureaucracy that can be made across the criminal justice system. Chris Sims, the chief constable of West Midlands police, is the ACPO lead on reducing bureaucracy and is looking at other ways of reducing bureaucracy. Sara Thornton, the chief constable of Thames Valley police, is looking to reduce the 600 different guidance documents that ACPO provides to police forces to fewer than 100. Those examples show that this is work in progress, but our commitment is absolutely clear.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

Given the civil war that has erupted among Government Members, may I offer the Home Secretary some support from the Opposition and tell her how grateful I am for her enormous contribution to our stunning electoral results in Dudley North last week, when we won for the first time ever two seats in Gornal—Upper Gornal and Woodsetton? That would not have been possible had it not been for the public anger at the huge number of police officers she is sacking in the west midlands.

[Mrs May]

I think that there was something at the end there about policing in the west midlands, but I did not quite catch it. I should be very happy to explain to the hon. Gentleman, as I did earlier, that changes to the budget in the west midlands, as to every other police force, are a direct result of the financial mess that was left by the previous Labour Government. I also say to him that it ill becomes Labour to crow about election results, given that in last week’s election it failed to take an overall majority in Wales, failed in Scotland and stood still in England. I suggest therefore that he keep a little quieter about it in future.