Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who had visas sponsored by Jhoots Group who had those visas renewed by Jhoots Group.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI does not produce published visa data related to individual sponsors.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who had visas sponsored by Jhoots Group who had those visas (a) transferred and (b) renewed to Allied Pharmacies in the last six months.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI does not produce published visa data related to individual sponsors.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help improve the capability of police officers in West Dorset to support people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing set the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health including their powers under section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.
The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice.
Police officers are not mental health experts, neither are they expected to be. However, the training available to police officers in respect of mental ill health or other vulnerabilities is aimed at equipping them to identify potential issues and to know when interventions from partner agencies and health professionals may be needed.
Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the training provided to police officers responding to mental health crises.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing set the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health including their powers under section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.
The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice.
Police officers are not mental health experts, neither are they expected to be. However, the training available to police officers in respect of mental ill health or other vulnerabilities is aimed at equipping them to identify potential issues and to know when interventions from partner agencies and health professionals may be needed.
Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken to process shotgun licence renewals in (a) rural areas and (b) West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners.
The Government has recently taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun applications that can be charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years and the Government will conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.
In the interests of consistency and transparency, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) Lead for Firearms Licensing has also for the first time published performance data for firearms licensing teams in all police forces. This includes the performance target for forces to complete applications for the grant or renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates within four months. This data is now being published by the NPCC on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will take steps to prioritise shotgun licence applications where the applicant requires a firearm for work purposes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners.
The Government has recently taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun applications that can be charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years and the Government will conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.
In the interests of consistency and transparency, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) Lead for Firearms Licensing has also for the first time published performance data for firearms licensing teams in all police forces. This includes the performance target for forces to complete applications for the grant or renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates within four months. This data is now being published by the NPCC on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide additional resource to Dorset Police to help process outstanding firearm and shotgun licence applications.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners.
The Government has recently taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun applications that can be charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years and the Government will conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.
In the interests of consistency and transparency, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) Lead for Firearms Licensing has also for the first time published performance data for firearms licensing teams in all police forces. This includes the performance target for forces to complete applications for the grant or renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates within four months. This data is now being published by the NPCC on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog of shotgun and firearm licence applications nationally.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners.
The Government has recently taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun applications that can be charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years and the Government will conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.
In the interests of consistency and transparency, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) Lead for Firearms Licensing has also for the first time published performance data for firearms licensing teams in all police forces. This includes the performance target for forces to complete applications for the grant or renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates within four months. This data is now being published by the NPCC on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of exposure to online drug marketing on teenage drug use in West Dorset.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential impact of online drug marketing on drug use among young people. We are committed to protecting young people from the harms of drug use through a range of universal and targeted prevention activity and are using the recent report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) ‘A Whole-System Response to Drug Prevention in the UK’ to inform our approach.
Furthermore, the Government is taking a co-ordinated approach to tackle harmful online content, which includes illegal drugs. This strategy combines law enforcement activity, stronger engagement with technology companies, improved education to raise awareness of risks and harms, and the introduction of measures that require internet companies to take responsibility for content on their platforms.
This includes strengthening the regulatory framework to address online harms. The unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023. In-scope providers are legally required to implement measures to protect their users and to remove illegal content from their platforms. Ofcom, as the independent regulator of the Act, is closely monitoring compliance with the regime.