Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce knife crime.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is very concerned about increases in knife crime and its impact on victims, families and communities. The action we are taking is set out in our Serious Violence Strategy and includes new legislation in the Offensive Weapons Bill, which completed its passage through the House of Commons on 28 November. The Bill includes specific new knives offences, in particular making it an offence to possess certain offensive weapons in private, and stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online.
We have also introduced a number of other measures, including the £1.5m anti-knife crime Community Fund to support local initiatives, with funding to an additional sixty-eight projects this year. In addition, the #knifefree media campaign to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime and discourage young people from carrying knives is continuing, and all police forces continue to participate in Operation Sceptre, which includes targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps of hotspot areas, test purchases of knives from retailers, and educational events.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has any targets for the number of people migrating to the UK once the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We remain committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels. As we leave the EU, free movement will end and we will take back control of immigration. We will shortly be publishing a White Paper outlining the principles for our future border and immigration system.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK residence cards were issued in 2017.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on the number of issues of documents recognising residence is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, EEA table ee_02, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#european-economic-area-eea
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many student study visas were issued in 2017.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on the number of study entry clearance visas granted is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#visas
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people applying for a visitor visa to the UK subsequently applied for work visas in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not held and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by matching millions of records. Information on the number of visit visa applications is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#visas
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to prevent young people from committing anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police and local authorities with a range of flexible powers that they can use to prevent young people and others from committing anti-social behaviour. The legislation is designed to ensure that anti-social behaviour by young people is dealt with properly and proportionately.
To support local agencies decide when and how to use these powers the Home Office refreshed its statutory guidance for frontline practitioners on the use of the statutory powers in December 2017.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have taken more than two weeks of sick leave as a result of injuries that occurred at work.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally.
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of police officers on certified long-term sick absence as at 31st March each year.
Long-term sickness includes any recognised medical condition, physical or psychological, as reported by the officer or a medical practitioner, which has lasted for more than 28 calendar days. These data are published in the annual ‘Police workforce’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
However, these data do not include the reason for the sick absence therefore the Home Office are unable to identify those on sick absence due to injuries occurred at work.
The Home Office also collects information on the number of police officers on short/medium term sick absence as at 31st March each year. Short/medium term absence due to sickness includes officers on leave for 28 days or less. Again, these data do not include the reason for the sick absence.
This information is published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in their Value for Money profiles, available here: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/our-work/value-for-money-inspections/value-for-money-profiles
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) male and (b) female police officers were employed in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers employed, broken down by gender, by each Police Force Area in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical publication.
Data on the number of police officers, including a breakdown of gender, as at 31 March each year and going back to March 2007, can be found in the accompanying Open Data Table: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629362/open-data-table-police-workforce.ods
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations have closed in each of the last four years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
I refer the Hon member to the UIN 141753 given on the 10 May 2018.
The Home Office does not collect information on police station closures.
It is for democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners, working with Chief Constables, to determine the best use of resources to effectively serve and engage their communities and to build their trust and confidence.