Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides 2021-2022 Year 2 Report, published in December 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the recommendations of that report that relate to her Department.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Home Office have continued to build our evidence base on domestic homicides and suicides linked to domestic abuse through funding the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), College of Policing and Vulnerability and Knowledge Practice Programme (VKPP) Domestic Homicide Project. The Home Office fully supports the recommendations made in the project’s second year report. The recommendations for the Home Office reflect our own priorities to implement Domestic Homicide Review reform, as committed to in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. We will work with the NPCC and VKPP Domestic Homicide Project team to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made within the report.
In October the College of Policing published a new homicide prevention framework for forces and policing partners to reduce crimes that can lead to homicide. This homicide prevention framework brings together the best available evidence to support police forces to analyse and understand their crime problems and drivers of homicide, to develop and implement effective interventions and tactics, and to identify where partnership support is needed. It has been developed jointly with the NPCC and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as part of the national homicide prevention strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides 2021-2022 Year 2 Report, published in December 2022, what steps she plans to take to monitor the uptake of that report's recommendations.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Home Office have continued to build our evidence base on domestic homicides and suicides linked to domestic abuse through funding the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), College of Policing and Vulnerability and Knowledge Practice Programme (VKPP) Domestic Homicide Project. The Home Office fully supports the recommendations made in the project’s second year report. The recommendations for the Home Office reflect our own priorities to implement Domestic Homicide Review reform, as committed to in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. We will work with the NPCC and VKPP Domestic Homicide Project team to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made within the report.
In October the College of Policing published a new homicide prevention framework for forces and policing partners to reduce crimes that can lead to homicide. This homicide prevention framework brings together the best available evidence to support police forces to analyse and understand their crime problems and drivers of homicide, to develop and implement effective interventions and tactics, and to identify where partnership support is needed. It has been developed jointly with the NPCC and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as part of the national homicide prevention strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides 2021-2022 Year 2 Report, published in December 2022, how many police forces have a Homicide Prevention Strategy.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Home Office have continued to build our evidence base on domestic homicides and suicides linked to domestic abuse through funding the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), College of Policing and Vulnerability and Knowledge Practice Programme (VKPP) Domestic Homicide Project. The Home Office fully supports the recommendations made in the project’s second year report. The recommendations for the Home Office reflect our own priorities to implement Domestic Homicide Review reform, as committed to in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. We will work with the NPCC and VKPP Domestic Homicide Project team to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made within the report.
In October the College of Policing published a new homicide prevention framework for forces and policing partners to reduce crimes that can lead to homicide. This homicide prevention framework brings together the best available evidence to support police forces to analyse and understand their crime problems and drivers of homicide, to develop and implement effective interventions and tactics, and to identify where partnership support is needed. It has been developed jointly with the NPCC and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as part of the national homicide prevention strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to seek a derogation to its legal obligations to help tackle the number of people entering the UK in breach of immigration laws from safe countries.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This Government is committed to ensuring that the UK has control of its own borders. This means continuing to tackle the people smugglers who put the lives of men, women and children in danger by facilitating their illegal entry into the UK by perilous and potentially fatal means.
As my Rt Hon. friend the Home Secretary has previously set out, in developing any necessary new legislation or other measures to address this issue we will always work within the bounds of international law
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her migrant return agreement with the Albanian Government on the number of migrants from that country seeking to cross the English Channel in small boats.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since the UK-Albania readmission agreement was signed in July 2021 we have seen over 1,000 Albanian foreign national offenders and immigration offenders removed from the UK, including some who crossed the channel illegally to come to the UK.
The UK and Albania pledged to fast track the removal of Albanians with no right to be in the UK wherever possible, and to send senior Albanian law enforcement to the UK to speed up processing and share information with our authorities. In co-operation with the Government of Albania, we are taking every opportunity to intercept the activities of organised criminal gangs and people smugglers, and speed up the removal of Albanians and other nationals with no right to be in the UK.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has received legal advice on the operation of a push-back policy for boats carrying migrants in the English Channel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We do not routinely comment on the provision of legal advice.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the compatibility of potential plans to turn back small boats in the English Channel with international legal frameworks to which the UK is committed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government considers all safe and legal options to stop unnecessary journeys to the UK including turning small boats around in the English Channel.
This approach fully complies with both the domestic and international legal frameworks to which the UK is committed. However, there are limited circumstances in which small boats can be turned around safely in the English Channel. In view of this, the policy is currently withdrawn and there are no current plans for the turnaround tactics to be reintroduced under Defence primacy.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether legal measures were introduced in the Nationality and Borders Act to enable law enforcement and Border Force to turn back small boats in the English Channel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 includes legal measures to enable law enforcement agencies and Border Force to turn back small boats in the English Channel. However, the circumstances in which turnaround tactics may be deployed are limited due to the priority to maintain safety of life at sea.
Although the turnaround policy and procedures are currently withdrawn, the Government has not made any concessions as to the legality of the policy. There are no current plans for the turnaround tactic to be reintroduced under Defence primacy.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential number of migrants that will be prevented from entering the UK through small boats in the English Channel as a result of her intelligence sharing and policing agreement with France.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The department does not publish modelling of small boats controls.
This year our joint work with the French authorities has prevented more than 30,000 crossing attempts
The new arrangements builds on this by embedding UK officers within French operations for the first time.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle cyber crime.
Answered by Ben Wallace
Cyber security, including cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. This is why the National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-2021 is supported by £1.9billion of transformational investment.
Through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), we invested over £90 million under the 2010-2015 Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response to cyber crime, and we are continuing to invest.
We will boost the capabilities of the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit by increasing their ability to investigate the most serious cyber crime, and we will continue to invest in the cyber crime teams within each of the Regional Organised Crime Units across England and Wales.
We have also established the National Cyber Security Centre which manage national cyber security incidents, carry out real-time threat analysis and provide tailored sectoral advice.
The NCSP also funds the Cyber Aware campaign which works with a range of public and private sector partners to encourage the public, and Small and Medium Enterprises, to adopt more secure online behaviour like using strong passwords and downloading software updates.