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.