Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what aircraft her Department uses for the purposes of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations over the English Channel as of 1 June 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Home Office uses a range of ISR platforms for a variety of reasons and these are provided either directly by contracted suppliers, or through arrangements with other government departments, but it is not in the interests of operational security to itemise each of these capabilities or how they are used.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the total budget allocated by her Department for the provision of a fixed-wing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance service by PAL Aerospace Ltd between April 2023 to October 2024.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Specific expenditure on ISR contracts is considered commercially and operationally sensitive information and is not published.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations over the English Channel in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Specific expenditure on ISR contracts is considered commercially and operationally sensitive information and is not published.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a process exists for hon. Members to raise urgent immigration cases directly with the Minister for Immigration.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All urgent enquiries should be sent to the MP Account Management team’s urgent inbox at mpurgentqueries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news story entitled Police given more time to focus on solving crimes and protecting public published by her Department on 13 April 2023, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) it will be possible to extract details of non-principal offences from individual incident records and (b) all reported crimes related to a single incident will be published in national statistics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The best measure of trends in crime experienced by the general public, according to the independent Office for National Statistics, is the Crime Survey for England and Wales which is unaffected by changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for recorded crime.
The HOCR is a victim-based recording system and the changes return us to a position where when a victim reports several crimes to the police at the same time which were committed by the same offender only a “principal crime” is reported to the Home Office. The Police will continue to be expected to log the details of all relevant offences disclosed by the victim within the principal crime record. The Government continues to expect the Police to investigate all crimes reported to them regardless of the fact that many will not be reported to the Home Office, and this position remains unchanged.
The changes in the HOCR will give a more accurate picture of police caseload and better hold them to account for their response.
As well as reducing bureaucracy, the latest changes are designed to help provide a clearer picture of the actual levels of crime that are being reported to the police and to free up more of their time to support victims, pursue perpetrators and prioritise the investigation of crimes which matter most to the public.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news story entitled Police given more time to focus on solving crimes and protecting public published by her Department on 13 April 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed reporting changes on (a) trends in the level of crimes recorded and (b) the accuracy of recorded crime statistics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The best measure of trends in crime experienced by the general public, according to the independent Office for National Statistics, is the Crime Survey for England and Wales which is unaffected by changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for recorded crime.
The HOCR is a victim-based recording system and the changes return us to a position where when a victim reports several crimes to the police at the same time which were committed by the same offender only a “principal crime” is reported to the Home Office. The Police will continue to be expected to log the details of all relevant offences disclosed by the victim within the principal crime record. The Government continues to expect the Police to investigate all crimes reported to them regardless of the fact that many will not be reported to the Home Office, and this position remains unchanged.
The changes in the HOCR will give a more accurate picture of police caseload and better hold them to account for their response.
As well as reducing bureaucracy, the latest changes are designed to help provide a clearer picture of the actual levels of crime that are being reported to the police and to free up more of their time to support victims, pursue perpetrators and prioritise the investigation of crimes which matter most to the public.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news story entitled Police given more time to focus on solving crimes and protecting public, published by her Department on 13 April 2023, if she will take steps to assess the impact of the proposed reporting changes on (a) trends in the level of crimes recorded and (b) the accuracy of recorded crime statistics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The best measure of trends in crime experienced by the general public, according to the independent Office for National Statistics, is the Crime Survey for England and Wales which is unaffected by changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for recorded crime.
The HOCR is a victim-based recording system and the changes return us to a position where when a victim reports several crimes to the police at the same time which were committed by the same offender only a “principal crime” is reported to the Home Office. The Police will continue to be expected to log the details of all relevant offences disclosed by the victim within the principal crime record. The Government continues to expect the Police to investigate all crimes reported to them regardless of the fact that many will not be reported to the Home Office, and this position remains unchanged.
The changes in the HOCR will give a more accurate picture of police caseload and better hold them to account for their response.
As well as reducing bureaucracy, the latest changes are designed to help provide a clearer picture of the actual levels of crime that are being reported to the police and to free up more of their time to support victims, pursue perpetrators and prioritise the investigation of crimes which matter most to the public.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contingency plans her Department has in place to ensure the continued operation of passport services in the event of industrial action.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are disappointed with the union’s decision to strike.
We are working to manage the impact of strike action, whilst ensuring we can continue to deliver vital services to the public, with comprehensive contingency plans in place.
There are currently no plans to change our guidance which states that it takes up to ten weeks to get a passport.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Departments press release of 27 March 2023 entitled Action plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour, how much funding she plans to allocate to Durham Constabulary.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
On 27 March we published the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. The plan commits to tackling anti-social behaviour across five key themes: stronger punishment; making communities safer; building local pride; prevention and early intervention; and improving data, reporting and accountability for action.
This plan is backed by over £160m funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, including Durham, but from 2024 will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour.
We are also delivering up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage – the aim being for them to start within 48 hours of the offence. This will start in 10 initial police force areas, including Durham, and be rolled out nationally from 2024.
Durham Constabulary has recruited 175 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 225 officers, as at 31 December 2022.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, how many additional police officers she plans to allocate to Durham Constabulary.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
On 27 March we published the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. The plan commits to tackling anti-social behaviour across five key themes: stronger punishment; making communities safer; building local pride; prevention and early intervention; and improving data, reporting and accountability for action.
This plan is backed by over £160m funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, including Durham, but from 2024 will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour.
We are also delivering up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage – the aim being for them to start within 48 hours of the offence. This will start in 10 initial police force areas, including Durham, and be rolled out nationally from 2024.
Durham Constabulary has recruited 175 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 225 officers, as at 31 December 2022.