Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which parliamentary constituencies do not fall entirely within the 90 per cent coverage of the 4G replacement system being considered as sole bidder for Emergency Services as part of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) will provide geographic coverage to 97% of the country (including the 90% required by the Regulator) by requiring the Mobile Services supplier to infill commercial coverage area and extend their network over sites provided by ESMCP’s Extended Area Services (EAS) project.
Listed below are the Parliamentary Constituencies that do not fall entirely within the 90% coverage (as required by the Regulator), and those that do not fall entirely within the 97% coverage (with a further 7% provided by ESN) are:
Parliamentary Constituency | Not met 90% | Not met 97% |
Aberavon Co Const | * | * |
Aberconwy Co Const | * | |
Angus Co Const | * | * |
Arfon Co Const | * | |
Barrow and Furness Co Const | * | |
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Co Const | * | * |
Bishop Auckland Co Const | * | |
Brecon and Radnorshire Co Const | * | * |
Bridgwater and West Somerset Co Const | * | * |
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Co Const | * | * |
Central Devon Co Const | * | |
Clwyd South Co Const | * | * |
Clwyd West Co Const | * | * |
Copeland Co Const | * | * |
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Co Const | * | * |
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow Co Const | * | |
Hexham Co Const | * | * |
High Peak Co Const | * | |
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Co Const | * | * |
Kilmarnock and Loudoun Co Const | * | |
Lancaster and Fleetwood Co Const | * | |
Ludlow Co Const | * | * |
Montgomeryshire Co Const | * | * |
North Devon Co Const | * | |
Ochil and South Perthshire Co Const | * | * |
Penrith and The Border Co Const | * | |
Perth and North Perthshire Co Const | * | * |
Ribble Valley Co Const | * | * |
Richmond (Yorks) Co Const | * | * |
Scarborough and Whitby Co Const | * | |
Skipton and Ripon Co Const | * | * |
South West Wiltshire Co Const | * | |
Stirling Co Const | * | * |
Thirsk and Malton Co Const | * | * |
Totnes Co Const | * | |
Westmorland and Lonsdale Co Const | * | |
West Dunbartonshire Co Const | * | |
Dwyfor Meirionnydd Co Const | * | * |
Ceredigion Co Const | * | * |
Torridge and West Devon Co Const | * | |
North Cornwall Co Const | * | |
Berwick-upon-Tweed Co Const | * | * |
South East Cornwall Co Const | * | |
South West Devon Co Const | * | |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Co Const | * | * |
Ross, Skye and Lochaber Co Const | * | * |
Moray Co Const | * | * |
Na h-Eileanan an Iar Co Const | * | * |
Argyll and Bute Co Const | * | * |
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Co Const | * | * |
Gordon Co Const | * | |
East Lothian Co Const | * | |
North Ayrshire and Arran Co Const | * | * |
Dumfries and Galloway Co Const | * | * |
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Co Const | * | |
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Co Const | * | * |
Preseli Pembrokeshire Co Const | * |
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will revise the bidding procurement process for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme in order to increase the number of bidders for the provision of mobile services.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) Mobile Services procurement attracted all national mobile network operators and on 13 November announced its intention to award a contract to EE. Subject to an application decision in the High Court on 8-9 December to lift the automatic suspension, following a challenge by one of the down-selected bidders, EE will be awarded the contract for Mobile Services.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect LGBT people from homophobic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect British Jews from anti-semitic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect British Muslims from Islamaphobic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any (a) external contractors and (b) consultancy companies engaged by her Department have charged more than the initial price agreed for their services since May 2010.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Contingent labour contracts are awarded against tendered fixed day rates. Consultancy contracts are awarded either at fixed day rates by consultant grade or by maximum or capped prices for delivery of a package of work and are not normally subject to change. Such contracts may be extended or varied by means of contract change variations from time to time where contract terms allow and a business need exists which would result in a change to the overall value of the contracted services as a consequence of that change.
To provide information on every contract awarded since May 2010 would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the change in the number of front-line police jobs in Wales since May 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
Table 1 contains statistics on the number of operational frontline police officers, police staff and police community support officers in Wales as at 31 March 2010 and 31 March 2014, as well as the change between the periods.
Table 2 shows that over the same period, police recorded crime (excluding fraud) has fallen by 21% in Wales.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the preparedness of the police to respond to a cyber-attack.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government takes the threat of cyber attack seriously. Last year we created the National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency, to lead the national response to cyber crime. We are also investing in the cyber teams in Regional Organised Crime Units, and training police officers in local forces, to ensure we are fully equipped to tackle cyber attacks at every level. And we are strengthening the Computer Misuse Act to ensure that the punishments available to prosecute cyber criminals fit the crime.