Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of recent events in Afghanistan on the threat level to domestic national security; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) is the UK’s independent centre for analysis and assessment of terrorism. JTAC keeps the UK national threat level under constant review. This is a systematic, comprehensive, and rigorous process, based on the very latest intelligence and analysis of internal and external factors which drive the threat, including international events.
The UK national terrorism threat level remains at SUBSTANTIAL. This means that a terrorist attack is likely.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional resources the Government has made available to (a) UK law enforcement organisations (b) the intelligence agencies and (c) strategic partners to plan for potential changes to domestic security threats in respect of recent events in Afghanistan.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is committed to supporting the police and security services by providing them with the resources they need.
Funding for CT policing will be maintained at over £900 million in 2021/22, as well as additional funding for a new CT Operations Centre. The money will support the record high numbers of ongoing CT policing investigations and allow us to respond swiftly and decisively to terrorist incidents, no matter where they take place.
The 2020 Spending Review provided the UK Intelligence Community with a £173 million funding increase in 2021/22. It also included over £1.3 billion of capital investment from 2021/22 to 2024/25. We will continue to prioritise the safety and security of the United Kingdom in the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional resources have been made available to (a) Merseyside Police and (b) wider police forces across England and Wales to deal with rural crime.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
To support with the existing policing efforts to fight crime, which includes rural crime, this department provides £136,000 in grant funding to the police’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, which is in addition to the £15.8 billion Police Settlement funding given for the year 2021-22. As part of this settlement, Merseyside Police will receive funding of up to £378.3 million.
Furthermore, to boost policing capabilities, this government has recruited 9,814 additional police officers with 532 of these being recruited by Merseyside Police as of 30 June this year.
The allocation of these resources remains a decision for Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, who understand the priorities of their local communities to ensure that resources, including these new officers are deployed accordingly to fight rural and more general crime.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking against people in the UK with links to criminal activity by the Syrian regime.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Whilst it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases, where there is evidence of criminal activity in support of the Syrian regime, the Home Office, Police, Crown Prosecution Service and any relevant body will consider it and act on it as appropriate.
We are clear, the conflict in Syria poses serious risks to UK interests, including the stability of the wider region, migration, and counter-terrorism. We therefore remain vigilant to those seeking to perpetuate the conflict or profit from it.
The UK has imposed sanctions on the Assad regime to end the violent repression of civilians in Syria, and to increase pressure for a political solution. UK sanctions send a clear message to the regime and its supporters, we will not stand by whilst the regime continues to commit serious human rights abuses. Sanctions will be used to hold them to account, and to stop those targeted from entering the UK, channelling money through UK banks, and profiting from our economy.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the reduction to the Official Development Assistance budget on the UK’s security; and if she will publish that assessment.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Foreign Secretary is the Secretary of State with overall responsibility for the UK ODA budget and assessing the impact of any reductions.
Regarding the Home Office ODA budget allocation, the Home Office’s non-discretionary ODA in–donor spend on refugees and asylum seekers in the UK will not be changed, in alignment with our legal obligations.
Between our ODA and CSSF allocations we have maintained the vast majority of our other ODA funded activity. Much of our work overseas seeks to support host country law enforcement agencies to develop their capabilities in preventing the spread of illicit commodities and illegal movement of people. The Home Office also has overseas law enforcement work which is funded from core non-ODA budgets. Some of our ODA funded activity was planned to stop at the end of FY 20/21 as part of conventional multi-year programme planning. In some cases the activity overseas has been scaled back.
The interventions the Home Office are making with our ODA budget are crucial to addressing developing countries needs to become more open societies, strengthen public intuitions and facilitating economic development. This is in turn will support the UK’s ability to counter serious and organised crime and illegal migration in the future.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the security costs associated with hosting the G7 summit in Cornwall; and which Government Department is responsible for meeting those costs.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Cabinet Office G7 Presidency Taskforce hold a central budget for the UK presidency year. The Government will meet the additional costs incurred by Devon and Cornwall police for the G7 Leaders’ Summit which is subject to a Home Office assurance process.
The full policing costs for major events are not known until after the event, due to the responsive nature of the work.