Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in Halton constituency were prosecuted for illicit drugs offences in each year since 2010.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office does not hold the information requested. Data on prosecutions are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers were employed in (a) Halton constituency and (b) Cheshire in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers employed by each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins.
The Home Office does not collect this information by constituency. The latest data available on the number of police officers in Cheshire, as at 30 September 2017, can be found in the Table 1 of the police workforce statistics published in January 2018:
Data on the number of police officers in Cheshire, as at 31 March each year 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: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2018 to Question 132251 on Asylum: Health Services, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Department of Heath and Social Care on the provision of health care for asylum seekers who will be housed in the proposed interim accommodation centre in Halton.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office and its Providers are in regular contact with other government departments and local authorities, including the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure there are arrangements in place to provide services to asylum seekers that are supported by the Home Office.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to answer Question 56679, tabled on 7 December 2016, by the hon. Member for Halton.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The hon. Member's question was answered on 19 December 2017.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2016 to Question 57440, how the safety of asylum seekers housed in initial accommodation centres is protected when such centres go through public consultations and the planning process.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The asylum seeker accommodation contracts require providers to liaise and consult with local authorities prior to accommodating asylum seekers in any address, to ensure that accommodation provided to asylum seekers does not adversely affect local authority developments or community plans.
Any accommodation used as Housing of Multiple Occupancy must, prior to use demonstrate or seek relevant planning consents in line with housing regulations. Providers must also take into account the cultural compatibility of the environment; capacity of local health, education and other support services; concentration of accommodation of service users within particular areas; and the assessment of social tension risks. Once an initial accommodation centre is operational we do not routinely comment on its location.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which (a) local authority areas and (b) Parliamentary constituencies new asylum hostels are planned to open in the next six months.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There are currently seven permanent Initial Accommodation centres located across the United Kingdom in the cities of Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, London, Wakefield and Glasgow. However, we cannot comment on the individual locations of the centres for the safety of the asylum seekers housed there.
The COMPASS Providers are currently exploring, with support from UK Visas and Immigration, the feasibility of additional initial accommodation centres to temporarily accommodate asylum seekers. However, no new sites have been confirmed and any that are proposed will be subject to consultation with the relevant local authority.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces have failed to meet their target for processing Disclosure and Barring Service checks in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Disclosure and Barring Service regularly publishes data on police force performance, which can be located through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572407/police_performance_Sept_16_xls.xls The Disclosure and Barring Service work closely with any force that fails to meet its targets to reduce turnaround times as quickly as possible, offering support where necessary.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2016 to Question 56678, on asylum: hostels, in which Parliamentary constituencies the initial accommodation centres are located.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There are currently seven permanent Initial Accommodation centres located across the United Kingdom in the cities of Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, London, Wakefield and Glasgow. However, we cannot comment on the individual locations of the centres for the safety of the asylum seekers housed there.