Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) businesses in the hospitality sector to help tackle the spiking of drinks within nightclubs and hospitality venues.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The reports of the spiking of drinks with illegal substances, and of other attacks on individuals in night time venues, are of course concerning. This is an ongoing matter which the police are investigating. The Home Secretary has asked the police for an urgent update on the issues reported, including what steps they are taking to prevent the offences and apprehend the perpetrators. We would encourage anyone who is a victim or a witness of the offences to report the information to the police.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of girls aged (a) 11 to 14 and (b) 15 to 18 who have been referred to the police with sexual exploitation and/or sexual violence assessed as a factor in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
All forms of sexual violence against children are terrible crimes, which have devastating consequences on young lives. The Government is determined to protect and support those who are targeted, exploited and harmed by criminals. We are working to improve our understanding of the scale and nature of child sexual abuse, to enable us to better prevent and disrupt offending. We use data gathered through the Office of National Statistics England and Wales Crime Survey to understand the number of victims and their ages. We also draw on the research and insight produced by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which we established in 2017, and the insight of other experts including the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse.
The Home Office does not receive data on cases referred to the police, but instead collects data on offences recorded by police.
In 2021, the Office for National Statistics published data on the gender and age of victims of all sexual offences between March 2019 and March 2020, excluding image offences, in the records of 24 police forces. This data shows that 24.1% of female victims of sexual offences were aged 10 to 14 and 21.0% of female victims of sexual offences were aged 15 to 19.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the 2021 Domestic Abuse Strategy.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is determined to tackle domestic abuse.
Following the landmark Domestic Abuse Act, the Government will be publishing a first-ever, national Domestic Abuse Strategy, as well as a complementary Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, this year.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of leaving the List of Travellers visa scheme on educational and recreational school visits to mainland Europe; and if she will take steps with the Secretary of State for Education to support improved travel arrangements for those visits.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The List of Travellers is an EU scheme and the EU announced in July last year the UK would no longer be part of it from 1 January 2021.
The UK Government decided to continue to accept travel to the UK on the List of Travellers until 1 October to allow this change to be made at the same time as the change on the acceptance of EU/EEA and Swiss identity cards.
It is for the EU to decide on what documents it requires for travel to the EU, just as the UK can now determine our own requirements now we have left.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings she has had with members of the National Retail Crime Steering Group since July 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Meetings of the National Retail Crime Steering Group were held on 20 January and 28 April 2021.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the withdrawal of European countries from Collective Passports recognition scheme on educational and recreational school visits from the UK to Europe.
Answered by Kevin Foster
A number of countries have declined to continue accepting UK issued Collective Passports this year, but many will continue to accept them. Given that, we have not made an assessment of the effect this change will have on educational and recreational school visits from the UK to Europe.