Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of newly warranted officers in the Metropolitan Police Force left within their first two years of service in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the length of service of police officers leaving the police service.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officer leavers in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
Information on the number of police officers leaving the Metropolitan Police Service, between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2023, by reason for leaving, can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba76662059dc000d5d27c0/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods
Voluntary resignation rates in the Metropolitan Police Service, at around 3%, are low compared to other sectors.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of live facial recognition technologies on the right to privacy.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The use of technologies like facial recognition are an operational matter for the police.
The Government supports police use of facial recognition, including live facial recognition (LFR), which has been helping them to catch criminals including murderers and rapists quickly and accurately. But it is important that the police use it appropriately.
Its use is subject to data protection, human rights, and equalities laws, which means that it can only be used for a policing purpose, where necessary, proportionate and fair.
The College of Policing has published an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on police use of LFR. The APP includes details on when the police can use it, the categories of people they can look for, the requirement for immediate deletion of unmatched biometric data, and the need for a Data Protection Impact Assessment.
Following a possible alert, it is always a police officer on the ground who will decide what action, if any, to take; all deployments are targeted, intelligence-led, time-bound, and geographically limited; and before a deployment, the police will inform the public where they intend to use the technology and where they can obtain more information on its use. If the LFR system does not make a match with the watchlist of wanted individuals, the person’s biometric data is deleted immediately and automatically.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the police use the passport database for facial recognition searches.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The sharing of passport data with law enforcement agencies for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime is longstanding, and is provided for within His Majesty’s Passport Office’s Privacy Information Notice:
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to prioritise passport renewals for aeroplane cabin crew currently grounded by delays at Her Majesty's Passport Office; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ahead of unrestricted international travel returning, HM Passport Office prepared extensively to serve an unprecedented number of customers, with 9.5 million British passport applications forecasted throughout 2022.
These preparations, which include the recruitment of 500 additional staff since April 2021 and with plans in place to recruit a further 700 by this summer, have ensured passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. Across March and April 2022, HM Passport Office completed the processing of approximately two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options that will help to ensure that people receive their passports in good time.
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.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizens have successfully reached the UK since the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme was launched on 6 January 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme opened on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.
There are around 6,500 people in the UK who have been brought to safety during and after the evacuation who are eligible for the ACRS through pathway 1. Eligible people who were called forward during the evacuation, but were not able to board flights, will also be eligible for the ACRS through this pathway.
Due to the success of our emergency evacuation and the larger than anticipated number of people brought over to the UK, we plan to exceed our initial aim of 5,000 people in the first year of the ACRS.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when vulnerable female Afghan nationals sheltering in Tehran, and other cities and countries outside Afghanistan, will be able to access the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), the UK will relocate up to 20,000 people at risk. It will prioritise those who have stood up for values such as democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan, as well as vulnerable groups, including ethnic and religious minorities. This will include some of those who arrived in the UK under the evacuation programme, which prioritised individuals who were considered to be at particular risk – including women’s rights activists, prosecutors and journalists.
The scheme is not yet open and remains under development. Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2021 to Question Visas on Visas, whether (a) priority and (b) super priority visa services have been fully reinstated in the UK for (i) in-country routes, (ii) study routes and (iii) applications for indefinite leave to remain; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Super Priority and Priority services have been reinstated in the UK for Work and Study routes, including applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
It is anticipated these services for Marriage and Settlement routes in the UK will be reinstated by the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of whether the 10 working days target for the issuance of the Biometric Residence Permit to EU citizens residing in the UK is being met; what assessment she has made of the average time taken to issue such permits in the most recent period for which figures are available; what steps her Department is taking to improve the process to issue such permits in order to meet that target; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UVKI does not hold figures relating to the number of customers who received their BRP within 10 working days. However, it does have service level agreements with its production provider the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) and its secure delivery provider FedEx.
The DVLA have a target of producing 90% of BRPs within 24 hours of receiving the production request and 100% within 48 hours. For the financial year 1 April 2020 to 12 March 2021 DVLA were achieving 71.5% BRPs produced within 24 hours, 97.7% within 48 hours and 2.3% took longer than 48 hours to produce, all of which were produced within 72 hours and was due to a production problem experienced during October 2020. Since October no BRPs have taken longer than 48 hours to produce.
UKVI meets with DVLA weekly to monitor performance. The impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and safe working practices have reduced staffing capacity within the production site and contributed to the delays experienced.
FedEx has a target to attempt first delivery for 99% of BRPs within 48 working hours of collection of the BRP from DVLA. FedEx have recently provided revised data which indicates they have attempted first time delivery within 48 hours for 99.2% of BRPs between 1 July 2020 and end of February 2021.
FedEx has a detailed improvement plan in place, and UKVI meet with them at least twice a week to progress actions within the plan. We are confident we will see improvements in service as they are implemented.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the effect on freedom of speech of bringing forward further legislative proposals to limit protests.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In the development of legislation that will allow police to take a more proactive approach in managing highly disruptive protests, the Home Office has paid due regard to the European Convention on Human Rights, most notably articles 10 and 11 which relate to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association, respectively.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timescale is for bringing forward legislative proposals to introduce new police powers to manage protest; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Legislation, that will allow police to take a more proactive approach in managing highly disruptive protests, will be brought forward shortly.