Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to stop the criminal drug trade within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. This Government is determined to tackle this threat and that is why we published a ten-year Strategy to combat illicit drugs. This Strategy sets out a whole system approach of how the Government is doing more than ever to cut off the supply of drugs by criminal gangs and give people with a drug addiction a route to a productive and drug-free life reducing the recreational use of drugs
Underpinned by significant investment, we will reduce drug-related crimes, deaths, harms and overall drug use. This includes £300m of dedicated investment from the Home Office over the next three years to drive work on tackling drug supply
The strategy is on the gov.uk page.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the elderly from being attacked in their own homes.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Making our communities safer and reducing crime is a key priority for the Government, which includes protecting elderly people from crime.. That is why we are delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers to give the police the resources they need, of which 11,053 have already been recruited. We have also increased funding for policing this year by £636m compared to 20/21.
In July, we published the Beating Crime Plan, which sets out our strategy for protecting the law-abiding majority, swiftly bringing criminals to justice, and managing offenders with rigour and discipline. It also commits all of Government to do everything within its power to drive crime down. Moreover, the first two rounds of the Safer Streets Fund were designed to prevent neighbourhood crimes such as burglary, robbery and theft. The fund supports communities in England and Wales that are disproportionately affected by these crimes to implement well-evidenced crime prevention initiatives, such as street lighting and home security.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they plan to take to de-radicalise terrorist extremists.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP) is part of Prevent. DDP focuses on rehabilitating individuals who have been involved in terrorism or terrorism-related activity and reducing the risk they pose to the UK. The programme offers a suite of tailored interventions drawing on the skill sets of multiple intervention providers including practical mentors and theological & ideological specialists as well as provides support through psychological intervention where this need is identified.
It focusses on those who have served prison sentences for terrorist or terrorist related offences and are due to be released on probation licence; those on Terrorism Prevention Investigation Measures (TPIMs): and those who have returned from conflict zones in Syria or Iraq and are subject to Temporary Exclusion Orders (TEOs).
The Home Office seeks to drive improvements to our programmes on a continuous basis and is currently undertaking a review of the programme by the way of an independent evaluation.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to counter ransomware attacks against businesses (1) in the UK, and (2) in other Western countries.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government’s priority, working alongside law enforcement and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), is to do all we can to mitigate any harm to the UK from ransomware.
The Home Office provides funding for cyber teams in Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) across England and Wales, to bolster the regional response to crime, provide protect advice to businesses and individuals, and to divert people vulnerable to cyber criminality.
The NCSC as the UK’s technical authority for cyber threats, continually reviews its advice and guidance to reflect new trends and how individuals and organisations can protect themselves, as well as providing swift support to organisations which fall victim to ransomware attack.
The National Crime Agency’s (NCA) National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) provides the focus for our national response to combating serious cyber criminals. It is using its operational resources to deliver arrests and disruption, using the NCA’s enhanced intelligence picture to target criminals where they are most vulnerable.
The NCSC and NCA continue to monitor and respond to the cyber threat, including ransomware.
The Government is working collaboratively with our international partners specifically the Five Eyes to address the ransomware threat.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they intend to take to protect retail workers from violence and abuse.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government conducted a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff to understand the extent of the issue and how we can work with retailers and police to improve the response to these crimes. The Government’s formal response was published 7 July 2020 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-and-abuse-toward-shop-staff-call-for-evidence
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent significant delays for returning travellers arriving at airports in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We are in a global health pandemic, and people should not be travelling unless absolutely necessary.
To protect the public and our vaccine rollout from new variants, Border Force checks every passenger has complied with current health measures when arriving at the border.
We are not going to abandon or compromise these vital public health measures and put the public at risk, and as long as these checks are necessary passengers should expect longer queues when arriving into the UK.
Queues and wait times will be longer if passengers have not completed the necessary requirements to enter the UK, and airlines are responsible for making sure that their passengers have completed all the necessary requirements.
We are, however, working hard to avoid extensive wait times, and every airport, has a responsibility to comply with social distancing and Covid measures on site