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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK passports have been revoked in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 May to question UIN 36668 by my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire).
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 her Department is taking to ensure that police forces have the necessary resources to tackle dealers of substances banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
Answered by Karen Bradley
We have worked closely with the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) to ensure that the police have the necessary resources to tackle dealers of substances banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
We held joint operational workshops with the NPCC for enforcement partners across the UK and the NPCC has produced guidance for officers, in consultation with the Home Office, to support enforcement of the Act’s offences. The Local Government Association has developed guidance to assist action by local authorities.
In addition, we have put in place a comprehensive testing programme to fulfil the evidential requirements of the Act. For the first year of implementation, test results will be held by the Home Office’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology who will maintain a central reference bank of data. This data will be made available to forensic providers, law enforcement agencies and expert witnesses at no cost.
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 much her Department has spent on reducing reoffending in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office makes an important contribution to the Government’s commitment to reduce re-offending to cut crime and make our streets safer. Integrated Offender Management provides a framework for the police working with other agencies to prevent some of the most prolific and problematic offenders from committing further crime.
Operational policing matters are the responsibility of Chief Constables in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners. The Home Office does not, however, provide specific funding for this, over and above overall central Government funding provided to the police.
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 assessment she has made of the effectiveness of legislation against online blackmail of children.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Blackmail, whether on or offline, is a serious offence which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment. Investigation of these offences is an operational matter for the police.
The CEOP command of the NCA engage nationally and internationally with partners to raise awareness of the threat of child sexual exploitation and abuse, educate children and young people to prevent them from becoming victims and deter offenders. Specifically through its thinkuknow.co.uk website the NCA works with children, schools, other practitioners and families to help protect children and young people from sexual abuse and exploitation.
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 recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of steps taken to counteract disability hate crime.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. Crime that is motivated by hostility or hatred towards the victim is particularly corrosive and can have devastating consequences for victims and their families. In 2012, we published a hate crime action plan and a total of 13 actions were dedicated to the prevention of disability hate crime, including the creation of a new cross government Disability Strategy, the publication of the Crown Prosecution Service Action Plan on disability hate crime and publishing examples of good practice by disabled persons’ user-led organisations. The progress report on the action plan, published in 2014, showed that we had either completed or made good progress on all actions.