Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to introduce a visa scheme to allow employers to recruit overseas workers to customer-facing roles.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department for Work and Pensions should be the first port of call for employers seeking to fill vacancies, rather than the Home Office.
On advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the eligibility of Skilled Worker visas from graduate jobs only to include jobs skilled to RQF level 3 (roughly equivalent to A-levels) and lowered the salary threshold to £25,600 enabling employers to recruit in more customer facing roles than was possible under the previous immigration system.
Yet where a job needs only a short period of training or time to acquire the qualifications necessary the focus should be on recruiting from the domestic labour market, especially given the economic impact of the global pandemic means many may be looking for new employment or to change careers.
Immigration policy cannot be seen as an alternative to improving training and career pathways or tackling issues such as unattractive pay and working conditions for those undertaking customer-facing roles. Given this we will not be introducing a general migration route allowing employers to recruit at or near the minimum wage, with no work-based training requirements, including to such roles.
More broadly, the Government’s Plan for Jobs is helping people across the country retrain, build new skills and getting back into work as part of the UK’s recovery from COVID-19, with the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy leading work on the overall UK labour market and skills.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that unskilled labour vacancies are being filled since the UK left the EU.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department for Work and Pensions should be the first port of call for employers seeking to fill vacancies, rather than the Home Office.
We do not view any job as “unskilled”, the difference is how long it takes to train for or gain the necessary qualifications for it. Where a job needs only a short period of training or time to acquire the qualifications necessary the focus should be on recruiting from the domestic labour market, especially given the economic impact of the global pandemic means many may be looking for new employment or to change careers.
Immigration policy cannot be seen as an alternative to improving training and career pathways or tackling issues such as unattractive pay and working conditions. Given this we will not be introducing a general migration route allowing employers to recruit at or near the minimum wage, with no work-based training requirements.
More broadly, the Government’s Plan for Jobs is helping people across the country retrain, build new skills and getting back into work as part of the UK’s recovery from COVID-19, with the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy leading work on the overall UK labour market and skills.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with representatives from Amazon on the sale of Blue Lives Murder merchandise in the UK; and what steps she is taking to prevent the sale of such merchandise.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Unless prohibited by UK legislation, decisions around the sale of merchandise are for retailers to make. The Home Secretary and I are appalled at the existence of the Blue Lives Murder merchandise and strongly support the Police Federation’s campaign to encourage retailers to stop selling it.
Our remarkable police courageously serve our country and keep us safe - they deserve our utmost respect and support.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) the Premier League, (b) the English Football League and (c) other national sports governing bodies on ensuring that the new immigration system meets the requirements of elite sports.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Home Office officials are in regular contact with each of the recognised Sports Governing Bodies, annually reviewing the criteria that applies to each sport. This process of review ensures we strike the right balance between enabling top level international sportspeople to come to the UK, whilst protecting opportunities for resident sportspeople.
The Home Office approved Sports Governing Bodies are listed at Appendix M of the Immigration Rules: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-m-sports-governing-bodies.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the penalties incurred for (a) possession and (b) supply and production of synthetic cannabinoids.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Synthetic cannabinoids are controlled as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. There is a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both for possession of a Class B drug and 14 years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both, for the supply and production of a Class B drug.
There was a total of 281 convictions for the principal offence of possession of synthetic cannabinoids in 2018, up from 71 convictions in 2017 and no convictions in 2016. For the principal offences of either supply, possession with intent to supply or production of synthetic cannabinoids there were 18 convictions in 2018, up from 4 convictions in 2017 and 4 convictions in 2016.
The Government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to provide an updated harms assessment on their previous reports on synthetic cannabinoids. The commission also seeks recommendations on whether the current classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 of synthetic cannabinoids is appropriate. The advice is due in summer 2020. The full commission has been published online on the gov.uk website.
The Government will await the ACMD’s further advice and recommendations
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the operation of the Anti-knife Crime Community Fund in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office anti-knife crime Community Fund provided support for community organisations for early intervention and prevention projects through awarding small grants in 2017-18 and 2018-19. In 2017-18 it funded 47 projects totalling £1million across England and Wales. It was increased to £1.5million in 2018/19 and supported 68 projects and initial assessments show that the projects have reached at least 50,000 children and young people. We are ensuring that the funding is used effectively, and Home Office officials have conducted a series of visits to projects in order to be satisfied about effective delivery. On 26 June, we launched the third year of the Fund for 2019-20 and the deadline for bids is 24 July.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs plans to publish its review into the inclusion of synthetic cannabinoids in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The ACMD were formally commissioned on 15 February 2019 to advise the Home Secretary on part-two of the review on cannabis and cannabis related products. The ACMD will provide their advice by Summer 2020
The full commission to the ACMD can be found on the Home Office website: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/779330/Long-term_commission_to_the_ACMD_on_CBPM_-_05.02.2019.pdf
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce youth-related violence in (a) Mansfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy sets out 61 actions and commitments to tackle serious violence. It places an emphasis on prevention and early intervention to tackle the root causes and steer young people away from crime in the first place alongside a robust law enforcement response.
Action delivered through the Strategy to date includes:
• Our Early Intervention Youth Fund of £22m which is already supporting 29 projects in England and Wales to deliver interventions to young people at risk of criminal involvement, gang exploitation and county lines;
• A new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to tackle violent and exploitative criminal activity associated with county lines;
• The new Offensive Weapons Act which strengthens legislation on firearms, knives and corrosive substances;
• Delivering our national knife crime media campaign - #knifefree - to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime among young people.
On 2 October 2018 the Home Secretary also announced further measures to address violent crime in the UK including:
• The £200 million Youth Endowment Fund, which will be delivered over the next 10 years to support interventions with children and young people at risk of involvement in crime and violence, focusing on those most at risk. The charity Impetus, working in partnership with the Early Intervention Foundation and Social Investment Business, is now operating the Fund
• An Independent Review of Drug Misuse, to be chaired by Dame Carol Black, which will look into ways in which drugs are fuelling serious violence.
• A consultation on a new legal duty to underpin a ‘public health’ approach to tackling serious violence. This consultation launched on 1 April 2019 and closes on 28 May.
The Home Office has funded five knife crime prevention projects in Nottinghamshire through the Anti-Knife Crime Community Fund since 2017 to support those most at risk of involvement in knife crime. The Home Office has also provided funding to the charity Redthread to support the expansion of their youth violence intervention scheme in hospital emergency departments and we have supported the development of this service at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham.
On 13 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £100 million to tackle serious violence, which includes £80m of new funding from the Treasury. The majority of the investment will go towards supporting the police forces most affected by the violence we are seeing, but the funding will also support Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies, including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach to preventing serious violence. £63.4 million of this funding has been allocated to 18 police forces most affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, including increased patrols, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. Nottinghamshire Police has been allocated £1,540,000 from the serious violence fund.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the potential links between retail crime incidents and illegal drug use.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We know that there is a strong link between drug misuse and offending, and offenders who use heroin and crack cocaine are estimated to commit 45% of all acquisitive crime.
The Government recognises that there are strong links between drug misuse and offending. Our Drug Strategy is clear that supporting people to address their dependence on drugs through treatment and recovery support is critical to tackling the risk of reoffending. This includes the use of health-based, rehabilitative interventions within the criminal justice system to help prevent further substance misuse and offending.
In addition, I chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together key partners to drive forward progress on tackling retail crime.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers per head of population there were in Nottinghamshire in each of the last two years for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers employed by each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These figures present a picture of the workforce as at the 31 March and as at 30 September each year.
Data on the number of officers per 100,000 of the resident population, by police force area, are published on an annual basis. The latest available data can be found in Table_H4 of the data tables accompanying the main release, the latest of which can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2018