Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department provides on the enforcement of offences relating to Category B drugs.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police have a range of powers at their disposal to deal with drug-related offences and how police choose to pursue investigations is an operational decision for Chief Constables. However, we are clear that we expect them to enforce the law.
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 sets out the penalties related to Class B drugs. Under the Act, possession of a Class B drug can be penalised by up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Supply or production of a Class B drug can be penalised by up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Where appropriate and proportionate, officers can issue an Out of Court Disposal.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will issue guidance to parish churches on securing their buildings in the context of recent trends in the number of thefts from churches.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold figures for thefts from churches; however, the Crime Survey for England and Wales for year ending June 2023 shows that overall theft since March 2010 has reduced by 47%.
Historic England publishes guidance and advice for churches and other historic buildings and places on how to prevent crime, published here: Preventing Heritage Crime | Historic England.
Historic England also operates the Heritage Crime Programme, which includes Heritage Watch, to enable members of the public to help protect heritage sites in their local communities Home - Heritage Watch.
In addition, crime prevention advice is published by Secured By Design, the police security initiative, including advice on how to improve the security of buildings and their surroundings, here: Secured by Design - Secured by Design.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's average response time to correspondence from hon. Members was in the latest period for which that data is available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a service standard to respond to 95% of Members’ correspondence within 20 days.
The most recent customer service operations data are published at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q3-2023 and show that the Home Office responded to 97% of correspondence within the service standard in the quarter from July to September 2023.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to counter hostile state activity.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office has an important role in the cross-government response to state threats. Through the National Security Act 2023, we have brought together vital new measures to protect our national security, which will enable our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deter, detect and disrupt the full range of modern-day state threats.
I also lead the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which seeks to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure the safety of Jewish communities.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
In March 2023, the Home Secretary announced the continuation of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant (JCPSG) and increased funding for 2023/24 by £1 million, to a total of £15 million. The JCPSG provides protective security measures (such as guarding, CCTV and alarm systems) at Jewish schools and other Jewish community sites. The Grant is managed on behalf of the Home Office by the Community Security Trust (CST).
In response to the conflict and reports of increased incidents of antisemitism in the UK, the Prime Minister has announced additional funding of £3 million for CST to provide additional security at Jewish schools, synagogues and other Jewish Community sites. This brings the total funding for CST in FY2023/24 to £18 million.
Earlier this year, the Home Secretary established the Jewish Community Crime, Policing and Security Taskforce. The Taskforce allows the Jewish community, represented by the Community Security Trust, to raise concerns to the Home Office, law enforcement and partners, and work together to understand and address the concerns of the Jewish community on safety and security issues.
The government is also investing up to a further £7 million over the next three years for organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust to help tackle antisemitism. This funding will ensure support is in place for schools and universities to understand, recognise, and deal with antisemitism effectively.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time taken is for people whose asylum appeal has been rejected to (a) voluntarily leave and (b) be removed from the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on returns and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on asylum appeals lodged and determined (including those dismissed) by year are published in tables Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The data are not broken down by how many people remain in a constituency followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Data on asylum-related returns by year and return type are published in table Ret_05 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. The data are not broken down by the constituency the individual lived in prior to their return or whether the return followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 individuals that remain in the Hendon constituency having had their asylum appeals rejected within the last 20 years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on returns and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on asylum appeals lodged and determined (including those dismissed) by year are published in tables Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The data are not broken down by how many people remain in a constituency followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Data on asylum-related returns by year and return type are published in table Ret_05 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. The data are not broken down by the constituency the individual lived in prior to their return or whether the return followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people resident in the Hendon constituency were removed after their asylum appeal was rejected in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on returns and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on asylum appeals lodged and determined (including those dismissed) by year are published in tables Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The data are not broken down by how many people remain in a constituency followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Data on asylum-related returns by year and return type are published in table Ret_05 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. The data are not broken down by the constituency the individual lived in prior to their return or whether the return followed a dismissed asylum appeal.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people had their British citizenship removed for (a) conduct that causes harm to the UK and (b) fraud in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with powers to deprive a person of citizenship status only under the circumstances set out at sections 40(2) (if deemed to be conducive to the public good) and 40(3) (citizenship was obtained by means of fraud, false representation, or concealment of material fact) of the Act.
Details on the numbers of conducive deprivation orders made under Section 40(2) of the Act, are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Seven reports have been published to date providing the number of deprivations of citizenship orders made up until the end of 2022 and are all published online. The latest can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-terrorism-disruptive-powers-report-2022
Numbers of Section 40(3) deprivation orders can be found in quarterly published transparency data at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to interview UK nationals returning from Gaza in the context of border checks.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In the UK, the Immigration Rules require all arriving passengers to establish their eligibility for admission. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked electronically and visually. We are confident that extra checks take place when necessary.