Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to assist people whose cases have not been progressed by Action Fraud.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Victims will continue to be able to report frauds centrally to allow us to best tackle the frauds that affect millions of people across the country. The Home Office is working with the City of London Police (CoLP) on plans to replace the current Action Fraud service. The new service will improve the service to victims, provide greater intelligence and insight to policing on fraud and cybercrime affecting communities, and allow for greater prevention and disruption at scale. Home Office officials are engaging a wide range of partners ahead of publication of a Fraud Action Plan after the Spending Review is finished.
In the meantime, we continue to work closely with the City of London Police, who manage the service, and a number of improvements to the existing system have been put in place over the last year to ensure a smooth transition to the new service.
Reports submitted to Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). Where enough evidence is available and viable leads are identified, the case is sent to the appropriate local police force to consider whether enforcement activity should take place. Reports not deemed viable for investigation by local police forces are not closed but remain under constant consideration for links to newly reported crimes. The intelligence is also used to identify opportunities to disrupt offenders, protect victims, and prevent further frauds.
It is important that victims of fraud receive the support that they are entitled to. The Action Fraud Economic Crime Victim Care Unit delivers services to vulnerable victims of fraud and cyber crime to help them recover and prevent them from becoming victims in the future. Including those whose cases are not disseminated for investigation. Action Fraud also provides protective advice to individuals who contact the service. Further advice is currently available online at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions officials in her Department have had with relevant stakeholders on tackling fraud in the context of the closing of Action Fraud.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Victims will continue to be able to report frauds centrally to allow us to best tackle the frauds that affect millions of people across the country. The Home Office is working with the City of London Police (CoLP) on plans to replace the current Action Fraud service. The new service will improve the service to victims, provide greater intelligence and insight to policing on fraud and cybercrime affecting communities, and allow for greater prevention and disruption at scale. Home Office officials are engaging a wide range of partners ahead of publication of a Fraud Action Plan after the Spending Review is finished.
In the meantime, we continue to work closely with the City of London Police, who manage the service, and a number of improvements to the existing system have been put in place over the last year to ensure a smooth transition to the new service.
Reports submitted to Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). Where enough evidence is available and viable leads are identified, the case is sent to the appropriate local police force to consider whether enforcement activity should take place. Reports not deemed viable for investigation by local police forces are not closed but remain under constant consideration for links to newly reported crimes. The intelligence is also used to identify opportunities to disrupt offenders, protect victims, and prevent further frauds.
It is important that victims of fraud receive the support that they are entitled to. The Action Fraud Economic Crime Victim Care Unit delivers services to vulnerable victims of fraud and cyber crime to help them recover and prevent them from becoming victims in the future. Including those whose cases are not disseminated for investigation. Action Fraud also provides protective advice to individuals who contact the service. Further advice is currently available online at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that customer service staff are protected from abuse during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Any such abuse is unacceptable, and the Government is working closely with the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to deliver a programme of work which aims to provide better support to victims, improve reporting, increase data sharing and raise awareness of this despicable crime.
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that can be used to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour.
The Government continues to work with these different agencies throughout the pandemic to ensure anti-social behaviour is tackled. This includes marshals, stewards and ambassadors being deployed to engage members of the public and businesses to explain COVID-19 Secure guidelines and restrictions, and the police who continue to enforce where necessary.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the financial effect on police widows and widowers of the loss of their survivor pension due to remarrying or cohabiting.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of survivors’ pensions surrendered on remarriage or cohabitation, as police pensions are administered at police force level by the relevant Police Pension Authority.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many widows and widowers of police officers in England and Wales whose spouses were killed on duty or as a result of injuries sustained on duty have had their pensions revoked as a result of their remarriage or cohabitation before 1 April 2015.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of survivors’ pensions surrendered on remarriage or cohabitation, as police pensions are administered at police force level by the relevant Police Pension Authority.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual when seeking asylum in the UK have been refused asylum on the grounds that there is not enough evidence to prove that they are gay, lesbian or bisexual since 2015.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office remains committed to publishing information on the number of people claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation
On 29 November 2018, the Home Office published experimental statistics on Asylum claims made on the basis of sexual orientation, covering the pe-riod 2015 to 2017.
These experimental statistics provide data on asylum claims from 2015-2017, by year of application, initial decision, appeal receipt, or appeal decision
Data on the number of asylum seekers refused asylum on the basis of sexual orientation can be found in tabs SOC_00 in the experimental statis-tics in the link provided below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018-data-tables
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have described themselves as transgender when seeking asylum in the UK have been refused asylum since 2015.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office remains committed to publishing information on the number of people claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation
On 29 November 2018, the Home Office published experimental statistics on Asylum claims made on the basis of sexual orientation, covering the pe-riod 2015 to 2017.
These experimental statistics provide data on asylum claims from 2015-2017, by year of application, initial decision, appeal receipt, or appeal decision
Data on the number of asylum seekers refused asylum on the basis of sexual orientation can be found in tabs SOC_00 in the experimental statis-tics in the link provided below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018-data-tables
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) gay, lesbian or bisexual and (b) transgender asylum seekers have been deported from the UK since 2015.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not hold central records of how many (a) gay, lesbian or bisexual and (b) transgender asylum seekers have been deported from the UK since 2015.
Providing the information requested would require a manual check of individual records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of recent reductions in police numbers on police forces' responses to domestic violence.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We recognise that there are significant demands on the police from the changing nature of crime, with more victims of high harm crimes such as domestic abuse coming forward. The provisional 2019/20 police funding settlement announced on 13 December builds on this year’s total increase in police funding of £460m. The police workforce has remained stable over the past year and the number of people joining police forces has increased by 58% since 2015/16.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Service’s last inspection into domestic abuse found that police forces in England and Wales have a strong commitment to protecting victims of domestic abuse. Forces are continuing to invest in public protection and staff numbers have increased in many safeguarding units, with people being moved from other departments to provide more resilience.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding from the public purse his Department has allocated to the National Crime Agency's Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The National Crime Agency (NCA) allocates its resources flexibly to respond to serious and organised crime including modern slavery and human trafficking.
The NCA’s dedicated Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit consists of approximately 55 posts, including the National Referral Mechanism Competent Authority. This Unit draws on assistance from across the NCA to boost the overall resources deployed at any one time against this threat. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an exact figure for the total spend.