Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a list of her official engagements since the commencement of the current Parliament when the constituency's hon. Member was (a) invited and (b) not invited.
Answered by Amber Rudd
The Home Office publishes details of meetings with external organisations on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-january-to-march-2017.
My office notifies Members when I am attending an official event in their constituency, in accordance with paragraph 10.9 of the Ministerial Code.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether other mosques have been awarded funding in addition to those announced in 2016 under the scheme for security funding for places of worship.
Answered by Sarah Newton
To date a total of 55 bids have been received for the second year, 25 of which have been from mosques. An independent advisory panel consisting of faith representatives, police and security advisors will meet on 3 July to consider the bids and recommend to the Home Office which bids to take forward.
On the 22 June we announced an additional £1m will be made available for the protection of places of worship. Details of how to apply for this funding will be published shortly.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of security at places of worship.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The government has made available to all crowded places, including places of worship, detailed on-line guidance to help locations understand their own protective security needs and to identify proportionate measures that they can take to reduce their vulnerability while remaining welcoming to worshippers. Many places of worship have also received bespoke security advice from specially trained police advisors.
The places of worship security funding scheme was launched in July 2016 as one of the key actions in the Hate Crime Action Plan to help protect places of worship against hate crime by providing protective security measures, such as CCTV cameras, locks or fencing to places of worship.
On the 22 June we announced an additional £1m will be made available for the protection of places of worship, this will further enable assessments of the adequacy of security available at places of worship. Details of how to apply for this funding will be published shortly.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of hate crime resulted in convictions in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Home Office holds and publishes data on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales. Data on the number of these crimes that result in a conviction are not held by the Home Office. Convictions data are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
The most recently published data on hate crime by the Home Office is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2015-to-2016
This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has a strong legislative framework to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications have been made to the scheme for security funding for places of worship since it was reopened early in 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The places of worship security funding scheme opened on 3rd April and closed on 29 May 2017. 55 applications have been received. We also allowed late applications following recent attacks.
We have announced this week that an additional £1m will be made available for the protection of places of worship. Details of how to apply for this funding will be published shortly.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many places of worship chosen to benefit from the scheme for security funding for places of worship have had the work relating to that security completed; and what assessment her Department has made of the level of improvement in their security.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The first year of the scheme closed on 4 October 2016. 59 places of worship have been approved funding and security works have been completed on 53.
Improvements in the security of places of worship were implemented following a full assessment by a Crime Prevention Design Adviser (CPDA) who makes an assessment of the physical vulnerabilities of the site. The Home Office Security Advisor has undertaken a number of spot-checks to ensure works have been completed to a satisfactory standard.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Dewsbury of 10 February 2017 on child refugees.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I responded to the hon. Member's letter on 14 March 2017.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on merging the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Home Office airport policing and the Ministry of Defence Police.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included a commitment to “integrate infrastructure policing further and to review the options to do this". We are continuing the work across Whitehall to deliver this commitment in consultation with the relevant forces.