Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Port of Dover are no longer accepting collective passports.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK is a signatory to the 1961 Council of Europe treaty which provides for collective passports for young people. Continued acceptance of these passports from those who have ratified the treaty is current practice. The UK has not left the Council of Europe.
It should be noted several EU countries have declared they will no longer accept a collective passport issued by the UK under this treaty.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the 322 Community Safety Partnerships in England and Wales (a) access and (b) share Cardiff Model data for preventing serious violence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tackling violent crime is a top priority and this government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.
This is why we have invested £105.5m from 2019-2022 into the development of our Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme, which operates in the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence.
We know that information sharing is key to identifying and supporting young people at risk of violence. VRUs combine the collective expertise of local agency partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. This includes the proactive sharing of data between health and other partners, emulating the Cardiff Model. The Home Office closely monitors VRUs’ progress across key priorities, including effective sharing data sharing between partners. As per the published 2019/20 VRU Evaluation, all 18 areas have made good progress in generating and sharing data across numerous partners to inform their direction of travel.
The 2018 Serious Violence Strategy for England and Wales consolidates the expectation that, in line with the Cardiff Model for violence prevention, Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) work with local hospitals to implement the sharing of appropriate health data to tackle serious violence. Information standard ISB1594, which applies to all Accident and Emergency departments, sets out the details of the minimum dataset to be provided. At this time, data on the percentage of CSPs using this model is not held centrally.
More widely, we are introducing the Serious Violence Duty through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will require authorities to work collaboratively and share data and information to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which of the 43 police forces in England and Wales use the Cardiff Model data to identify and target serious violence hotspots.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tackling violent crime is a top priority and this government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.
This is why we have invested £105.5m from 2019-2022 into the development of our Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme, which operates in the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence.
We know that information sharing is key to identifying and supporting young people at risk of violence. VRUs combine the collective expertise of local agency partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. This includes the proactive sharing of data between health and other partners, emulating the Cardiff Model. The Home Office closely monitors VRUs’ progress across key priorities, including effective sharing data sharing between partners. As per the published 2019/20 VRU Evaluation, all 18 areas have made good progress in generating and sharing data across numerous partners to inform their direction of travel.
The 2018 Serious Violence Strategy for England and Wales consolidates the expectation that, in line with the Cardiff Model for violence prevention, Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) work with local hospitals to implement the sharing of appropriate health data to tackle serious violence. Information standard ISB1594, which applies to all Accident and Emergency departments, sets out the details of the minimum dataset to be provided. At this time, data on the percentage of CSPs using this model is not held centrally.
More widely, we are introducing the Serious Violence Duty through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will require authorities to work collaboratively and share data and information to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help accommodate domestic abuse survivors with dogs access refuges and accommodation easily.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Domestic Abuse Act includes the first statutory definition of domestic abuse, outlining that this can encompass a wide range of behaviours that can affect many aspects of a victim’s life and relationships, including those with pets. The Act also amended the definition of ‘personally connected’, removing the ‘living together’ requirement for the controlling or coercive behaviour offence. This means, as of Spring 2022, the offence will now apply to intimate partners, ex-partners or family members, regardless of whether the victim and perpetrator live together, better capturing post-separation abuse.
The draft Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance published for consultation, and the upcoming Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance, both recognise that domestic abuse can involve violence or threats against pets. Both pieces of guidance seek to support agencies in identifying and responding to domestic abuse and reducing risk to victims. Finalised Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance will be issued after all relevant updates have been made. The Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Guidance will be published for consultation shortly.
Victims of domestic abuse with pets can face additional barriers to leaving an abusive relationship. The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) introduced a new legal duty within the Domestic Abuse Act on local authorities, which came into force on 1 October 2021, to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation including refuges, backed by £125 million of Government funding to ensure that these vital services are available to anyone who need them, wherever they live. This includes victims who have a pet. Associated regulations provide clear definitions of safe accommodation under the duty. Local authorities can refer to the regulations to help them provide support in safe accommodation suitable for victims with pets fleeing domestic abuse.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on the use of pets as coercive control in domestic abuse.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Domestic Abuse Act includes the first statutory definition of domestic abuse, outlining that this can encompass a wide range of behaviours that can affect many aspects of a victim’s life and relationships, including those with pets.
Both the draft Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and upcoming Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance recognise that pets can be used as a means to perpetrate domestic abuse, including to coerce or exert control over a victim. While the relationship between controlling or coercive behaviour and using pets to perpetrate this is recognised by the Home Office, we do not currently hold data specifically on the use of pets as part of controlling or coercive behaviour.
More generally, data shows that the number of recorded controlling or coercive behaviour offences has increased year on year, with 24,856 controlling or coercive behaviour offences being recorded in 2019/20 (ONS, 2020).
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on extending the additional HGV driver visas beyond Christmas 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK Government is working with the haulage sector to promote jobs, training and a range of other initiatives to get more people into HGV driving.
Like other sectors the focus should be on training and recruiting from the UK based workforce in the first instance, especially given the impact of the pandemic resulting in more looking for secure new employment.
The temporary visa provision for HGV drivers was introduced in response to potential reduced availability of some food products in the run up to Christmas, enabling drivers to work in the UK until 28 February 2022. There are no plans to extend the validity of these visas beyond this date.