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Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Crime
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle car crime in north London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime. The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows there were 726,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2023. This represents a 39% fall, when compared with the year ending March 2010, when there was an estimated 1,198,000 such incidents.

The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues. The Metropolitan Police Service are represented on the Working Group and have an established vehicle crime lead.

We are also legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Information
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with business on the potential merits of putting information about domestic abuse on period products.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Government engages regularly with businesses and employers to raise awareness of domestic abuse and to ensure that all survivors can access support to encourage a whole system response to improving signposting to services which are accessible to all.

We do not currently have plans for such an initiative.


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the clarity of the updated caseworker guidance for processing late applications for the EU Settlement Scheme from people with permanent residency cards.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) caseworker guidance was updated on 16 January in light of operational experience and stakeholder feedback regarding the assessment of reasonable grounds for applying late to the EUSS.

The updated guidance now addresses circumstances where a person may have had a reasonable belief they did not need to apply earlier to the EUSS, or a reasonable basis for being unaware they needed to apply. This may include where they had been issued with a permanent residence document under the EEA Regulations, which implemented free movement law in the UK.


Written Question
Refugees: Homelessness
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of new refugees who become homeless after leaving asylum accommodation.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

All individuals who receive a positive decision on their asylum claim are eligible to receive support and accommodation for at least 28 days from when their decision is served.

We offer move on support through Migrant Help or their partner organisation to assist all newly granted refugees to integrate into society and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.


Written Question
Refugees: Homelessness
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2023 to Question 6818 on Refugees: homelessness, what support his Department is providing to local authorities to reduce the risk of homelessness for new refugees.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

There are no plans to extend the move on period beyond the 28-day period set out in legislation. All individuals who are granted leave should currently be receiving a minimum of 28 days on asylum support after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit.

We are working with our partners, including local authorities, to provide timely notification of key events that impact them. Additionally, we are working with our Strategic Migration Partnerships to facilitate regional sessions with councils and to share data.

Our accommodation providers are directly working with local authorities to notify them when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.

We continue to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.


Written Question
Asylum: Greater London
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the potential availability of housing for refugees who have reached the end of their move-on period.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

There are no plans to extend the move on period beyond the 28-day period set out in legislation. All individuals who are granted leave should currently be receiving a minimum of 28 days on asylum support after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit.

We are working with our partners, including local authorities, to provide timely notification of key events that impact them. Additionally, we are working with our Strategic Migration Partnerships to facilitate regional sessions with councils and to share data.

Our accommodation providers are directly working with local authorities to notify them when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.

We continue to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.


Written Question
Asylum: Greater London
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with local authorities on the notice period given by accommodation providers when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

There are no plans to extend the move on period beyond the 28-day period set out in legislation. All individuals who are granted leave should currently be receiving a minimum of 28 days on asylum support after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit.

We are working with our partners, including local authorities, to provide timely notification of key events that impact them. Additionally, we are working with our Strategic Migration Partnerships to facilitate regional sessions with councils and to share data.

Our accommodation providers are directly working with local authorities to notify them when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.

We continue to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued on the formal process by which asylum seekers (a) are notified that they should leave hotels and (b) move to other Home Office-funded accommodation.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office has always been clear that use of hotels as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers was a short-term measure to ensure that we met our statutory obligation to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute during a period of unprecedented numbers of small boat arrivals.

The closure of individual hotels and relocation of service users to alternative accommodation is being managed in accordance with established allocation of accommodation policy and processes.

Our accommodation providers will notify asylum seekers as early as possible of an upcoming hotel closure and will discuss the move with each individual and establish if there are any safeguarding, medical, or other personal circumstances which need to be considered.

Asylum accommodation is generally provided on a ‘no choice’ basis and individuals will be moved to suitable alternative accommodation, which may be in a different location from their current hotel. Those whose personal circumstances necessitate accommodation in a particular location, will have their requests considered in accordance with existing published policies.


Written Question
Stop and Search: Hornsey and Wood Green
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many stop and search incidents took place in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency between September 2022 and September 2023.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data from police forces on the number of stop and searches, broken down by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area, including the London borough of Haringey. Data is not published at parliamentary constituency level.

The latest data, covering the financial year ending 31 March 2023, by CSP area, can be found in table SS_47 of the Stop and search summary data tables which accompany the Police Powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrest statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/stop-and-search-and-arrests-year-ending-march-2023

Statistics by CSP area are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously known as “Experimental Statistics”), to reflect ongoing work to improve data quality.


Written Question
Stop and Search: Greater London
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with the Metropolitan Police on creating a stop and search charter for London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has a regular programme of force engagement on stop and search, including with the Metropolitan Police Service. This has not specifically covered the creation of a stop and search charter for London.

The Home Office have recently run a consultation on our proposed framework for community scrutiny of stop and search, to ensure the power is used proportionately and appropriately.