Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle transphobic hate crime.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government takes all forms of hate crime seriously. We expect the police to investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.
We also welcome the apparent greater willingness to report hate crimes to the police and that the police are better at identifying them. That helps to explain the increase seen in hate crime.
Our absolute priority is to get more police into our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting police by providing them with the resources they need. This has included the recruitment of 20,000 extra police officers.
The Government has also worked with the police to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. The Government also funds the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime. The Hub provides expert advice to police forces to support them in investigating these offences.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2022 to Question 51651 on Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022: Impact Assessments, when she plans to publish an economic impact assessment of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The matter of when the Government publishes the economic impact assessment of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Art 2022 is currently under consideration.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that people entering the UK by irregular means in the future will be able to access both legal advice and legal aid in a timely manner before they are removed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
People subject to the duty to remove under the Illegal Migration Bill will have access to means and merits-free legal advice before they are removed from the UK.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on victims of slavery who have been trafficked into the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
I refer the Hon. Member to my response to Question 161356 on 22 March: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish an impact statement on the Illegal Migration Bill.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We will publish an equality impact assessment and economic impact assessment in respect of the Illegal Migration Bill in due course.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a contract with the owner of Hanover Point in Stockton on Tees to house asylum seekers and refugees.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. For several years, record numbers of people cross the Channel in small boats, and this surge has placed the Home Office’s asylum support infrastructure and accommodation services under immense pressure. The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with Local Authorities and our accommodation providers to find more appropriate accommodation.
For safeguarding purposes, we do not publicly comment on individual sites which may or may not be utilised. When a site becomes available and meets the requirements of our accommodation contract, we will follow our engagement process and notify the local MP as well as local authority officials in advance of using the location.