Asked by: Aaron Bell (Conservative - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress the National Crime Agency has made on tackling organised immigration crime.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Mr Speaker, this Government has pledged to tackle Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) as a priority to save lives, deter illegal migration and disrupt the people-smuggling gangs responsible for the dangerous Channel crossings.
Since 2015, the UK’s dedicated OIC taskforce has achieved more than 1,400 arrests (both in the UK and overseas), with suspects sentenced to more than 1,300 years in prison (61)
Asked by: Aaron Bell (Conservative - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support the police to tackle anti-social behaviour in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office published statutory guidance to support local policing to make effective use of the powers in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The guidance sets out the importance of focusing on the needs of the victim and the local community, as well as ensuring that the relevant legal tests are met. This guidance was updated in June 2022 to ensure a victim-centered approach to tackling ASB as well as stronger use of the powers and tools in the 2014 Act.
It is for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, as operational leaders and elected local representatives respectively, to decide how best to respond to local priorities and to help ensure the police have the resources they need; we have given them the biggest funding increase in a decade and are enabling policing to recruit 20,000 additional officers over the next three years.
As at 30 September 2022, Staffordshire Police has recruited 265 additional uplift officers against a total three year allocation of 300 officers.
Asked by: Aaron Bell (Conservative - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of anti-social behaviour in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (b) North Staffordshire, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last three years; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in those areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious impact that persistent ASB can have on both individuals and the wider community. Last year the Beating Crime Plan laid out the Government’s plan for tackling crime and ASB and committed to working with local agencies and partners to drive down ASB using the full range of powers and tools in the ‘2014 Act’.
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides a range of flexible tools and powers to local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour. Local areas decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances. The Office for National Statistics annually publishes anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the police by Police Force Area and no further lower level breakdown is currently available.
Police recorded ASB incidents for the West Midlands were on a steady decline pre-Covid-19 with a 40% fall in 2019-20 when compared with 2016-17. The overall number of ASB incidents in England & Wales also fell (24%) pre-Covid-19 but to a lesser degree than in West Midlands. The year to March 2022 reports a drop in ASB incidents for both England & Wales (-6%) and West Midlands (-17%) when compared to the 2019-20 (pre-Covid-19) period.