Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure domestic violence victims have access to support with the rising costs of living.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A key part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.
The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors.
In the Plan, my department has also doubled funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline. And alongside the Ministry of Justice, a commitment was made to provide multi-year funding for support services. This will offer more stability and consistency for service users, as services will not be dependent on yearly grants. This will help ensure high-quality support is available throughout any increases in the cost of living.
And through the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, economic abuse is now recognised in law as being part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse. Between 2018-2022, the Government has provided £567,000 to Surviving Economic Abuse, an organisation that raises awareness of economic abuse and which supports victims and survivors of this pernicious form of domestic abuse.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional police officers have been recruited by Merseyside Police since December 2019.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office publishes a quarterly update on the number of officers in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area. Data are available here: Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Table U2 of the data tables accompanying this quarterly publication provides a breakdown of these additional officers by month since October 2019. In addition to these data tables, information on the number of police officers (headcount) and new joiners for each month since April 2020 are published in an open data format.
As at 30 June 2022, Merseyside Police have recruited 611 additional police officers attributable to the Police Uplift Programme. This is against an allocation to recruit 665 additional police officers by March 2023.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support domestic abuse victims during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of domestic abuse receive the support they need, when they need it. In March 2022, we published the cross-Government Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan which invests over £230 million into tackling domestic abuse, including over £140 million for supporting victims.
To help to ensure victims do not remain with an abuser for fear of not having a roof over their head, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities introduced a new legal duty within the Act on local authorities to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation, including refuges. This is backed by £125 million of Government funding to ensure that these vital services are available to anyone who needs them, wherever they live.
Ensuring victims and survivors have the funds to move forward with their lives is crucial. That is why in the Domestic Abuse Plan, the Home Office committed to running a further trial of the flexible funding model. The funds will be made available to charities in selected local authorities, and they will have wide-ranging discretion on what these funds can be used to acquire, based on their first-hand understanding of individual’s needs.
We also know that economic abuse can often leave victims economically dependent on abusers, creating financial insecurity that makes it harder for them to access safety. The Government is committed to tackling this form of abuse which is why for the first time in history, economic abuse is now recognised in law as part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse, included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the Act). In the Domestic Abuse Plan, we have committed £200,000 of funding to further support improving the response to economic abuse.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the case of former soldier Joram Nechironga.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not routinely comment on individual cases. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Secretary is required by law to issue a deportation order for any foreign national who has received a custodial sentence in the UK of at least 12 months, unless an exception applies.
All foreign national offenders are provided with the opportunity to raise claims against their deportation. Any representations received are carefully considered on an individual basis and determined before a person is returned.
We only ever return individuals to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable, the Courts, considers they have no legal right to remain in the UK and where it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps with her Cabinet Colleagues to encourage international medical graduates to work in the UK, in the context of the pressures on the NHS.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office have already delivered a range of measures to support the health and care sector and encourage international medical graduates to work in the UK. The Home Office launched the Health & Care visa in 2020, which makes it easier, cheaper, and quicker for health workers – including international medical graduates - to come and stay in the UK to work compared to other immigration routes.
The Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work together to raise awareness of the Health and Care visa and support the use of the Points Based System.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that the police screen suspects for gambling addictions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All police officers in England and Wales have access to a six-hour training course on understanding and spotting early signs of gambling addictions, which launched in September 2021.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) have acknowledged there is more work to be done in this area. They are currently gathering best practice from Police forces on early screening of gambling addicts, offering the right support and signposting them to where they can seek further help. This will involve partnership working with other agencies to provide the right support that anyone with a gambling addiction requires, reflecting that police intervention often comes at a late stage of addiction.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the current delays within HM Passport Office.
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 650 additional staff since April 2021 and with plans in place to recruit a further 550 by this summer, have ensured passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. This was demonstrated in March and April 2022 when HM Passport Office achieved a record monthly high by completing the processing of nearly two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options that will help to ensur people receive their passports in good time.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department is taking to ensure that passport applications are processed accurately and without delay.
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 650 additional staff since April 2021 and with plans in place to recruit a further 550 by this summer, have ensured passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. This was demonstrated in March and April 2022 when HM Passport Office achieved a record monthly high by completing the processing of nearly two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options that will help to ensure people receive their passports in good time.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the visa application process is accessible for people with disabilities.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that visa applications submitted under the Ukrainian Family Scheme are processed at the earliest opportunity.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Applications from Ukraine nationals are being prioritised by UKVI. We are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system.
We actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet caseworking demand of the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.