Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support Avon and Somerset Police to increase levels of community policing in communities in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This year, £200 million has been made available to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026.
This major investment supports the commitment to make the country’s streets safer and reflects the scale of the challenges that many forces face and the Government’s determination to address them.
Based on their funding allocation of £4,574,856, Avon and Somerset Police’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 in their neighbourhood teams will be 70 Police Officers. The local deployment of these officers remains an operational policing decision.
Additionally, the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) is now being delivered across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing. Every neighbourhood in Yeovil, now has named and contactable officers. As a result of the Guarantee, communities are benefitting from neighbourhood policing teams that are spending the majority of their time within their communities, delivering visible patrols and actively engaging with residents and businesses.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding twenty years' service medals for Police Community Support Officers as recognition of their service to their community.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office will consider any proposal for national long service recognition for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). It is only right that we recognise the commitment shown by PCSOs across the country and whose role are undeniably at the sharp end of policing, diffusing community tensions and providing visible policing presence in our communities.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to help tackle the transportation of illegal drugs through county lines in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the drug gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.
Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this vile trade. Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
While the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue. This is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. In addition, we have a dedicated surge fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Avon & Somerset Police.
As part of the Programme, the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place between 25 November to 1 December 2024, during which Avon and Somerset Police made 17 arrests, seized 5 drug lines and referred 5 vulnerable people to safeguarding services.
As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime.
We are also providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation and will deliver on our manifesto commitment to roll out further support through Prevention Partnerships to intervene earlier to ensure young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help prevent the exploitation of vulnerable children by county lines gangs in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the drug gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.
Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this vile trade. Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
While the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue. This is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. In addition, we have a dedicated surge fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Avon & Somerset Police.
As part of the Programme, the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place between 25 November to 1 December 2024, during which Avon and Somerset Police made 17 arrests, seized 5 drug lines and referred 5 vulnerable people to safeguarding services.
As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime.
We are also providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation and will deliver on our manifesto commitment to roll out further support through Prevention Partnerships to intervene earlier to ensure young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the application window for the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme to three months.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The 28-day window for applications to be submitted helps ensure effective operational planning and sufficient biometric enrolment capacity across all visa routes, which ultimately allows us to deliver the most efficient service for customers.
Those who apply before their current permission expires will retain the conditions of their current visa while their application is under consideration, enabling them to continue to exercise their rights to work, study, and live in the UK.
As with all aspects of our service delivery, this will continue to be monitored.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to enable Ukrainians living and working in (a) Yeovil Constituency, (b) Somerset, and (c) the South West of England to stay in the UK if there is peace in Ukraine.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to keep the Ukraine Schemes under review to ensure they continue to meet the needs of Ukrainians in the UK.
We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine. It is important our approach respects these wishes. This is why we have always been clear that the Ukraine schemes provide temporary sanctuary, and not a route to permanent settlement in the UK. There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason she removed the five year settled status pathway for Ukrainians living in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to keep the Ukraine Schemes under review to ensure they continue to meet the needs of Ukrainians in the UK.
We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine. It is important our approach respects these wishes. This is why we have always been clear that the Ukraine schemes provide temporary sanctuary, and not a route to permanent settlement in the UK. There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with stakeholders in (a) Somerset and (b) the South West on the proposed increase in firearms licencing fees.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.
The fees were previously increased in 2015 and they no longer met the cost of the service provided. It is essential for both public safety and police efficiency that the fees provide full-cost recovery so that service improvements can be made. The need to increase firearms licensing fees to help address shortcomings in firearms licensing was highlighted by the Senior Coroner in his Preventing Future Deaths reports into the fatal shootings in Plymouth in August 2021.
The new fees are based on data produced by a 2023 review of firearms licensing costs in 31 police forces, including Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. This data has since been updated to reflect increases in costs since then. The review was discussed at the Firearms Fees Working Group, chaired by the Home Office, which met in 2022 and 2023, and which included representation from the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and national representative shooting organisations, including the British Shooting Sports Council, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Gun Trade Association, the National Rifle Association, the Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers Organisation.
It is essential for both public safety and police efficiency that full cost recovery fees were introduced. I have written to all Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, including those in the South-West, to make clear that the income from increased fees must be invested into their firearms licensing operations, in the interests of both public safety and to support improvements in the service provided by their firearms licensing teams.