Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner on police station closures and funding in West Dorset.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions regarding the management of local police resourcing and estates, including police stations, is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need and their experience, in line with their existing budgets. The Home Office does not collect data on the number or location of police stations, or the impact of their closure.
Police stations are just one of the ways in which people can access their local police, including reporting online and by phone 24/7 via 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergency calls.
A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams. We have also provided £200 million in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations have closed in West Dorset constituency since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions regarding the management of local police resourcing and estates, including police stations, is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need and their experience, in line with their existing budgets. The Home Office does not collect data on the number or location of police stations, or the impact of their closure.
Police stations are just one of the ways in which people can access their local police, including reporting online and by phone 24/7 via 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergency calls.
A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams. We have also provided £200 million in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department issue updated guidance for rural local authorities as part of the proposed review of Contest.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The delivery of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, is kept under constant review. Specific guidance will be considered at the point of publication of future iterations of the strategy.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many students from Gaza that were awarded UK scholarships in the 2024-25 academic year are unable to take up their places due to lack of access to biometric enrolment facilities.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently publish information on the number of Gaza students with UK scholarships for 2024-25 who are unable to enrol due to the absence of biometric facilities.
The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival in the UK for all Chevening scholars from Gaza. We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students in Gaza who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025. The Government is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK. The situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting biometric deferrals for students from Gaza who have been awarded UK scholarships but are unable to access biometric facilities.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for all Chevening Scholars from Gaza.
We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK, while accepting that the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.
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 her Department is taking to provide safe routes for students from Gaza who have secured UK scholarships but are currently unable to meet biometric requirements.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for all Chevening Scholars from Gaza.
We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK, while accepting that the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.
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 has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on biometric processing for students from Gaza seeking to take up scholarships in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for all Chevening Scholars from Gaza.
We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK, while accepting that the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to improve cross-border intelligence-sharing between regional counter-terrorism units and devolved Administrations.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Counter-terrorism – like all issues of national security – is a reserved matter. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlines the importance of working together with the devolved governments on a shared strategic response to the threat of terrorism posed across the UK. Regional counter-terrorism units work around the clock with the UK intelligence agencies, local communities and partners to keep us safe. For security reasons, we do not comment on specifics of intelligence or operations.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people referred to the Prevent programme were identified as linked to far-right extremism in West Dorset constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office produces annual statistics setting out the number of individuals referred to Prevent by type of concern and region. The number of referrals made to the Prevent programme in the South West region, in which the area you ask is contained, is provided in the table below. These are the latest published figures, year ending March 2024.
This information, together with further information about Prevent referrals and Channel cases can be found on GOV.UK Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme statistics - GOV.UK.
Referrals for the period April 2024 to March 2025 will be released later this year in the upcoming publication "Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme: to March 2025". As per official statistics guidelines under the Code of Practice for Statistics, we are unable to release these statistics ahead of the formal publication date. More information on this forthcoming publication will be pre-announced on the statistics release calendar which can be found on the GOV.UK website: Statistics release calendar (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to increase funding for technology to detect early online radicalisation in rural communities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office is strengthening action to tackle online radicalisation and protect young people from harm. The Independent Prevent Commissioner, Lord Anderson, recommended that we explore how evidence of online activity can be used to identify potential subjects for Prevent. To fulfil this, we will take steps to strengthen our approach to tackling online radicalisation through working with tech companies, like-minded international partners, and consider new approaches to identifying and supporting susceptible individuals online. This includes developing new capabilities to better equip Prevent to manage online radicalisation risks across all of our communities.
This renewed focus on online threats reflects the fact that the threat posed by radicalisation is not confined to a relatively small number of local authorities and is in fact increasingly diffuse. A local authority does not need to be high threat to be high risk. In response to this, we have evolved our Prevent local delivery model to ensure every local authority, including those in rural areas, has ready access to expertise, best practice, and support in tackling local radicalisation risks. Even while we continue to provide additional support and direct funding to those with the highest risk.