Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming immigration white paper on the ability of universities to attract international students.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and other stakeholders.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of domestic burglaries in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through our Safer Streets Mission, we are determined to crack down on burglary and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities. This includes delivering on our commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing. Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, there will be thousands of additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues.
As set out in the final Police Funding Settlement, published on 30 January, overall funding for policing will total up to £19.6 billion in 2025-26, an increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement. This includes £200 million for neighbourhood policing.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) help tackle domestic abuse and (b) improve support services for domestic abuse survivors in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. The Government has increased funding to all local authorities to £160 million for 2025-26, an uplift of £30 million from the previous year, to provide further support in safe accommodation for domestic abuse survivors. We will deliver a cross-Government, transformative approach, underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy published later this year. This will take into account the needs of all victims, including those in rural areas.
The Government has committed to introduce domestic abuse specialists in every 999 control room, under a new approach named Raneem's Law. Delivery began in February, with the first specialists embedded in five police forces to support and improve the police response to victims of domestic abuse.
We have launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) in three select areas and with the British Transport Police. These orders are the first to introduce a robust range of restrictions for perpetrators such as the ability to impose electronic tagging and attendance on behaviour change programmes, substance misuse and mental health interventions.
The health sector has a vital role to play in preventing, identifying and responding to violence and abuse, and providing healthcare to victims. Domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) is more likely to be disclosed to a healthcare professional than any other professional. Therefore, it is vital that all health professionals including GPs, midwives and health visitors recognise the signs early and know how to respond. DHSC has published and disseminated a working definition of trauma informed practice for the health and care sector.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the efficiency of response times of Fire and Rescue Services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their important work and to keep the public safe. In 2024/25, fire and rescue authorities received around £2.87 billion. Standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRA) saw an increase in core spending power of £95.4m during 2024/25.
Decisions on how FRA resources, including staff, are best deployed to meet their core functions including crewing and meeting response times, is a matter for each fire and rescue authority, based on risks identified within local Community Risk Management Plans.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to (a) prevent and (b) tackle wildlife crime in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Wildlife crime can have devastating consequences for our natural environments and countryside communities. This Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas and anyone exploiting or deliberately harming British wildlife should face the full force of the law.
That is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), a specialist police unit, which plays a vital role in providing intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK.
The NWCU operates nationally; however, its activities include offering specialist support on tackling rural and wildlife crime to local forces, as well as training for frontline police officers.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of dispersal orders to reduce (a) theft and (b) anti-social behaviour in market towns in Surrey.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Engagement with policing partners suggests that police consider dispersal orders straightforward to use and effective in the short-term.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will be legislating to extend dispersal orders from 48 to 72 hours, making them more effective.
Additionally, to tackle persistent adult ASB offenders, the Crime and Policing Bill has also introduced Respect Orders. Breach of a Respect Order will be a criminal offence and courts will have a wider range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the fire service's preparedness to effectively (a) manage and (b) respond to forest fires in Surrey.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fire and Rescue Services are operationally independent in England. Each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire) through their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), while having regard to the views of other key local responders.
In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Landowners and land managers are also encouraged by DEFRA to adopt good quality wildfire management plans, use sustainable land management practices that reduce fuel loads and restore their peatland to make them more resilient to the risk of wildfire.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that fire services in Surrey can guarantee public safety during periods of insufficient staffing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Firefighters play a vital role in keeping the public safe and we are grateful for the work undertaken by fire and rescue services across the country in support of their local communities.
The Government is committed to ensuring fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion during 2024/25. Standalone FRAs will see an increase in core spending power of £95.4m during 2024/25. This is an increase of 5.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2023/24.
It is for the Fire Authority to guarantee that their Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) can secure sufficient resources to meet public safety during periods of insufficient staffing. This includes ensuring that their FRS has sufficiently trained, qualified and competent persons to meet their legislated functional requirements.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) anti-social behaviour and (b) theft in market towns across Surrey.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour, theft and other crimes affecting local communities are a top priorities for this Government, and represent a key part of our Safter Streets Mission.
The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders. They will include a power of arrest for any suspected breach, meaning officers can take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breach will be a criminal offence, which is heard in the criminal courts with a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.
The Government also recognises that a key part of making theft less attractive to criminals is to tackle the market for stolen goods, making items such as mobile phones less attractive to steal in the first place. This is why we have announced that we will be working with tech companies and law enforcement to see what more can be done to break the business model of mobile phone thieves.
We will also put thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and ensure that residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.