Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many penalty charges have been issued for motorway middle lane offences since the legislation governing those charges came into force.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office publishes data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for motoring offences each year, as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical bulletin. However, data are not held specifically on motorway middle lane offences. These would be captured under the broader category of careless driving offences, which also includes offences such as tailgating and aggressive driving.
The published data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had on the creation of standard operating procedures for the conduct of police wildlife crime officers.
Answered by Mike Penning
There are no plans to create specific operating procedures for the conduct of police officers when they are investigating wildlife crimes. Police officers investigating wildlife crimes are subject to the same standards of professional
behaviour that apply to all police officers.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with campaigning charities and organisations about the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and covert surveillance.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Home Office Ministers and officials have discussions and meetings with a wide variety of partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website:http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had on drafting best practice guidelines on the presence of campaigning charities during police searches and arrests.
Answered by Mike Penning
An important component of the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme is the introduction of lay observation. The Scheme’s guidance makes it clear that forces have discretion to determine the most appropriate arrangements to support this. This allows the public, including interested organisations, to observe stop and search in action.