Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a grant from the 2022-23 Windrush community engagement fund were approved before the scheme was withdrawn.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to internal processing delays in assessing bids for the Community Engagement Fund 2022-23, the Home Office took the decision to withdraw the competition in February this year. Continuing with this competition would have left organisations with very little time to complete their proposed projects before the end of the 22/23 financial year. None of the applications for the grant fund were approved before withdrawal.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason funding for the Windrush community engagement fund was withdrawn.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to internal delays in assessing bids, the Home Office withdrew the Community Engagement Fund in February 2023. Continuing would have left organisations with very little time to complete projects before the end of the 22/23 financial year.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the 2023-24 Windrush community engagement grant fund will be allocated.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Required administrative processes to launch a £150,000 Community Engagement Fund for the financial year 2023-24 are in train and the aim is to start the competition for bids as soon as possible.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the recording of ethnicity on death certificates has not been made mandatory.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Civil Registration is a devolved matter, and the General Register Office can only advise on death registration in England and Wales.
The information collected on a death registration is specified in law. As the death registration process itself is not the most effective method to establish ethnicity, there are no plans to change the law.
The Minister for Women and Equalities has stated that the government plans to include ethnicity information in the new electronic medical certificate of cause of death. The introduction of this new electronic certificate is being led by the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) security incident at the Indian High Commission on 19 March 2023 and (b) response of the police to that incident.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The right to gather lawfully and demonstrate a point of view is a basic democratic right. But rights to lawful protest do not extend to violent or threatening behaviour. The criminal damage and assaults on staff from the India High Commission at the incident over the weekend was unacceptable. The police have powers to deal with such acts. However, the use of these powers is an operational matter for the police, and decisions on possible criminal proceedings will be made in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service.
The UK takes its Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations security obligations seriously. Our protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. However, it is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on diplomatic security arrangements. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect the security of the individuals and locations concerned.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the announcement by the Independent Office for Police Conduct in April 2022 that the officers involved in the stop and search of Bianca Williams and Ricardo de Santos in July 2020 will face disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct, when those proceedings will begin.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold this information.
For the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), once an officer has been referred to a misconduct hearing, it is the responsibility of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to appoint an independent legally qualified chair (LQC).
Management of misconduct hearings, once established, is then the responsibility of the LQC. Hearings must commence within 100 days of the officer being referred, unless the LQC determines that it is necessary to extend this period in the interests of justice.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Metropolitan Police Officers are working whilst under investigation for (a) misconduct, (b) gross misconduct and (c) discrimination in stop and search cases as of 1 February 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold this information
The Home Office collects and publishes data on public complaints and conduct matters, including whether the allegation was referred to misconduct proceedings. Data is published on an annual basis and the latest publication covered cases finalised in the year ending 31 March 2022. These data are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/user-guide-to-police-misconduct-statistics
These data includes cases which have been finalised and does not include ongoing cases. Furthermore, the Home Office does not collect information on whether officers under investigation are working or suspended.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce a closing date for applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are no plans to introduce a closing date for the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on implementing the 30 recommendations in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review independent review by Wendy Williams published in March 2020.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since the injustices of Windrush came to light, there has been a concerted effort across the Home Office to right the wrongs suffered by those affected. This work continues and the department is making sustained progress to deliver on the recommendations of the Lessons Learned Review (2020) and the commitments made in the Comprehensive Improvement Plan (2020).
In her report last year, Wendy Williams concluded that 21 of her recommendations have been met or partially met. She acknowledged that the scale of the challenge she set the department was significant and that change on this scale takes time.
We have made real progress in delivering against Wendy Williams’ recommendations:
As of the end of October 2022, the Home Office had paid out or offered £59.58m in compensation to Windrush victims. In June 2022, the ‘Serving Diverse Communities – Acting on Our Values’ learning package was launched across the Home Office, starting with Recommendations 24 and 29. The learning package for Recommendation 6 has been designed and will undergo final review prior to implementation.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional resources to help the Windrush Compensation Scheme to process applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Windrush Compensation Scheme remains fully focused on reducing the time taken to process claims. The Scheme is committed to recruiting additional staff and is working to increase Decision Makers to 154, by June 2023. This resource will further speed up the consideration of claims and ensure that every claimant receives the maximum amount available to them at the earliest point possible.