Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Independent Review of Border Force by Alexander Downer, published in July 2022, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Border Force in tackling the issue of small boats arriving on UK shores.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government takes seriously the issue of illegal migration, and is particularly determined to stop the dangerous, unnecessary and illegal crossings made in small boats.
Advice will be provided to the Home Secretary upon which she can make a judgment on progressing the recommendations within the Downer review in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how reported incidents of catcalling, including on the street, are logged by the police.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government takes all forms of sexual harassment extremely seriously. While there is not a specific ‘catcalling’ offence, depending on the circumstance of the case, this behaviour may be captured my other offences including harassment and public order offences. The most recent data show that in the year to March 2022, the police recorded 263,919 harassment offences. This is a 20% increase on the year to March 2021, likely driven by an increase in victims reporting to the police and improvements in recording practices. In addition, in the year to March 2022 the police recorded 472,067 offences of public fear, alarm or distress, an increase of 27% on the year to March 2021. Public fear, alarm or distress can be used by police to capture behaviours that do not meet the criteria required to formally be recognised as a harassment offence, for example when the behaviour happens once and not repeated. It is not possible from the data available to determine the type of harassment experienced, nor which offences were sexual in nature. The Home Office Counting Rules provide a national standard for the recording and counting of ‘notifiable’ offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales (known as ‘recorded crime’).
We have taken a number of actions to tackle street sexual harassment. In September 2021 we launched the pilot StreetSafe tool enabling the public to report anonymously areas where they feel unsafe, so that local authorities and the police can take practical steps in response. Since October 2021, we have announced awards of £23.5 million to PCCs and local authorities under Round 3 of the Safer Streets Fund, followed by £50m to 100 projects in Round 4 of the Fund to make public spaces safer for everyone with many projects aiming to help women and girls feel safer on the streets. Furthermore, in December 2021 the College of Policing published a new guidance product for police officers, advising them how to respond to reports of public sexual harassment, and in August the CPS published updates to its legal guidance on public order offences to make clear to prosecutors how public order offences can be used to tackle public sexual harassment.
In addition, in March 2022 we launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign, which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment.
In July we launched a targeted consultation on whether there should be a specific criminal offence of public sexual harassment. The consultation closed on 1 September and the Home Office is now in the process of analysing the responses.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of catcalling have been reported to the police in the UK since January 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government takes all forms of sexual harassment extremely seriously. While there is not a specific ‘catcalling’ offence, depending on the circumstance of the case, this behaviour may be captured my other offences including harassment and public order offences. The most recent data show that in the year to March 2022, the police recorded 263,919 harassment offences. This is a 20% increase on the year to March 2021, likely driven by an increase in victims reporting to the police and improvements in recording practices. In addition, in the year to March 2022 the police recorded 472,067 offences of public fear, alarm or distress, an increase of 27% on the year to March 2021. Public fear, alarm or distress can be used by police to capture behaviours that do not meet the criteria required to formally be recognised as a harassment offence, for example when the behaviour happens once and not repeated. It is not possible from the data available to determine the type of harassment experienced, nor which offences were sexual in nature. The Home Office Counting Rules provide a national standard for the recording and counting of ‘notifiable’ offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales (known as ‘recorded crime’).
We have taken a number of actions to tackle street sexual harassment. In September 2021 we launched the pilot StreetSafe tool enabling the public to report anonymously areas where they feel unsafe, so that local authorities and the police can take practical steps in response. Since October 2021, we have announced awards of £23.5 million to PCCs and local authorities under Round 3 of the Safer Streets Fund, followed by £50m to 100 projects in Round 4 of the Fund to make public spaces safer for everyone with many projects aiming to help women and girls feel safer on the streets. Furthermore, in December 2021 the College of Policing published a new guidance product for police officers, advising them how to respond to reports of public sexual harassment, and in August the CPS published updates to its legal guidance on public order offences to make clear to prosecutors how public order offences can be used to tackle public sexual harassment.
In addition, in March 2022 we launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign, which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment.
In July we launched a targeted consultation on whether there should be a specific criminal offence of public sexual harassment. The consultation closed on 1 September and the Home Office is now in the process of analysing the responses.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of delays in (a) processing and (b) delivering biometric residence permit cards.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The waiting times for biometric residence permits (BRP) are dictated by the BRP production and delivery processes.
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 -10 working days of the immigration decision. BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the decision being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (FedEx) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of decision to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 -5 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
For the period April – August 2022, FedEx was 99.74% and the DVLA is 100% within 48 hours, of which 97.4% were within 24 hours.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help transition asylum seekers from hotel accommodation into permanent accommodation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Accommodation provided to asylum seekers is temporary whilst their claim for asylum is considered. When moving from initial and contingency accommodation into dispersed accommodation, service users are afforded with an induction to both their property and the local area.
On 13 April we moved to full dispersal with every local authority in England, Scotland and Wales participating in asylum dispersal. Since April, accommodation providers have expanded procurement of beds in new areas. This move is hoped to end the use of contingency accommodation.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken is for her Department to respond following the submission by an asylum seeker of a request for permission to work.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Casework systems do not allow us to report on the number of permission to work requests received or the number subsequently granted permission. Obtaining these figures would require manually searching through cases amounting to disproportionate time and cost.
Asylum seekers are allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is her Department's policy on awarding visas to minors travelling with non-parental relatives who are their legal guardians under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Homes for Ukraine scheme is run and maintained by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. More information can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long applicants for a British passport (a) renewal and (b) replacement must wait before requesting their application is upgraded by Her Majesty's Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Any customer who has submitted a passport application using Her Majesty’s Passport Office’s standard service and now needs their passport sooner, is advised to contact the Passport Adviceline to discuss any available options.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the retail sector on crime against retail workers in their place of work.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is working closely with retailers, trade organisations and enforcement partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be. The NRCSG is co-chaired by Tom Ironside, Director of Business & Regulation at the British Retail Consortium and me. This is an important forum to discuss crime issues experienced by retailers and to work together to find solutions.
The Government has taken action to tackle violence and abuse by introducing a statutory aggravating factor via the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
The public facing nature of the victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This rightly includes those working in retail and other public-facing roles. The provision will commence on 28 June and builds on the important work already underway through the NRCSG to ensure assaults are not seen as part of a retail worker’s job.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle crime against retail workers in their place of work.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is working closely with retailers, trade organisations and enforcement partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be. The NRCSG is co-chaired by Tom Ironside, Director of Business & Regulation at the British Retail Consortium and me. This is an important forum to discuss crime issues experienced by retailers and to work together to find solutions.
The Government has taken action to tackle violence and abuse by introducing a statutory aggravating factor via the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
The public facing nature of the victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This rightly includes those working in retail and other public-facing roles. The provision will commence on 28 June and builds on the important work already underway through the NRCSG to ensure assaults are not seen as part of a retail worker’s job.