Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in how many wrongful conviction cases in England and Wales where an individual was exonerated by DNA evidence did the initial conviction involved witness identifications of the defendant.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The information requested is not held.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with (a) police forces, (b) the Royal College of Policing and (c) Police and Crime Commissioners on (i) the potential benefits of the Self-Administered Interview (SAI) technique and (ii) making the SAI technique standard practice for police forces.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We maintain an open dialogue with the police on how we can share best practice and enable them to more effectively investigate crime. The use of specific techniques, within lawful bounds, is an operational matter for chief constables.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology Note No. 599 on Early interventions to reduce violent crime, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the 46 per cent increase in homicides between 2014 and 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Serious Violence Strategy published in April last year sets out an analysis of the trends and drivers of rises in serious violence including homicide. The analysis shows that there are a range of factors that have driven these increases and changes in the drugs market are a major factor.
The Government is determined to tackle all form of serious violence. This includes supporting the police by recruiting 20,000 new police officers over the next three years and making it easier for them to use stop and search powers and announcing an additional £20 million to tackle county lines, including expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. We are also investing over £220 million into early intervention projects to steer young people away from crime.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) US citizens have been extradited to the UK for crimes committed in the US and (b) UK citizens have been extradited to the US for crimes committed in the UK since the implementation of the Extradition Act 2003.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Data relating to the location of alleged criminality in extradition requests is not recorded centrally and as such this information cannot be provided.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of video recording all investigation stages not being standard practice on (a) charge and (b) conviction rates.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Codes E and F of the Policing and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 governs the conduct video and audio recording of interviews of non-terrorism suspects, in-cluding appropriate safeguards. All interviews of terrorist suspects in England and Wales must be audio and visual recorded. The use of video recording for other stages of the investigatory process is an operational matter for the police. Research has not been conducted on the impact of broader recording practices.
The College of Policing published research on the impact of body worn video on outcomes. https://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/BWV_Report.pdf This found that a significantly higher proportion of incidents attended by officers wearing a camera resulted in a charge rather than other criminal justice out-comes (e.g. cautions).
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits and feasibility of issuing an Interpol Red Notice against US citizen Anne Sacoolas, as a way of securing her extradition to the UK in order to assist Northamptonshire Police in their investigation into the road traffic collision on 27 August 2019 which resulted in the death of Harry Dunn.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The decision to issue an Interpol Red notice or seek a person’s extradition is an independent one for the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service respectively. At this time the matter is still under investigation, so it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government will make an extradition request to the United States of America for the return of US citizen Anne Sacoolas, in order to assist Northamptonshire Police in their investigation into the road traffic collision on 27 August 2019 which resulted in the death of Harry Dunn.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The decision to issue an Interpol Red notice or seek a person’s extradition is an independent one for the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service respectively. At this time the matter is still under investigation, so it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which provider supplies energy to his Department; how much CO2 was emitted through his Department’s energy consumption in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria his Department uses to selecting an energy supplier includes how environmentally friendly the supplier is; and what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce CO2 emissions from its energy use.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase wildfire resilience in the UK.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Fire and rescue authorities in England are required to produce an Integrated Risk Management Plan that assesses all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks (including wildfire) that could affect their area.
The National Fire Chiefs Council are increasing the number of specialist wildfire tactical advisors across the country and are developing a wildfires asset register to more easily source specialist equipment when required.
In addition, the Home Office supports services by providing over £27m for specialist capabilities, such as high-volume pumps, which are well used to combat major wildfires.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will sign his Department up to the UK Steel charter.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We have discussed the procurement of steel with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which has asked all Government departments to consider guidance on steel procurement and to notify of any upcoming opportunities for industry.
More broadly, the Government is committed to supporting the steel sector to realise the broader commercial opportunities that are open to it, which could be worth an additional £3.8 billion a year by 2030. We are establishing the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund – backed by up to £315m of investment – to help businesses with high energy use (including steel companies) to cut their bills and transition UK industry to a low carbon future. We are also providing up to £66m through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to help steel and other foundation industries develop radical new technologies.