Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Monday 22nd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

5. What steps her Department is taking to tackle fraud.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

8. What steps her Department is taking to tackle fraud.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

13. What steps her Department is taking to tackle fraud.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Mohindra]

At my surgery in Sarratt last month I met Catherine, whose father was defrauded out of thousands after taking a call from a man who he thought worked for Virgin Media. Catherine only found out after her father unfortunately passed away and she found all the emails he had sent attempting to get his money back—a battle that Catherine has now taken on. Can the Minister tell the House what he is doing to stop vulnerable people being targeted by fraudsters?

[Tom Tugendhat]

May I offer absolute sympathy to Catherine? Sadly, although my hon. Friend is citing the case of an older man who was the target of crime, this is a crime that affects many people of all ages across our society. It is not specifically connected to the most vulnerable; rather, it predominantly affects people who are online more often, which, as one can imagine, includes many people across society. We are rolling out the nationwide economic crime victim care unit across England and Wales, for victims whose cases are not investigated by the police. This group will help victims to recover from fraud and cyber-crime, and will significantly reduce the likelihood of repeat victimisation.

Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith), a constituency neighbour. I understand that today is his birthday. I have done a little research and he is older than he looks, so I congratulate him on his fitness regime.

First, I thank Sarah Varley from my office for helping me research this debate. I have spoken about my beautiful constituency before; it is very much a green-belt area but 65% of it is agricultural land and rural crime unfortunately remains a big issue and is regularly brought up in my surgeries and in discussions and correspondence with my constituents.

Tradespeople and farmers are the workforce of our great country and we should do all we can to continue to support them, especially through these difficult economic times. The impact of the increased cost of living is very much felt by the frontline of our economy, which these individuals very much are. Some 89% of those in rural communities are concerned about inflation and the increase in the cost of living will, sadly, lead to an increase in rural crime.

Our farmers need our support. They have a very stressful job, working hard for extremely long hours, often with very few of the breaks and holidays that other sectors benefit from. Some 38% of respondents to a Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute survey said rural crime is a source of stress to them; they should not have to accept that additional stress. Rural crime fell during the pandemic, yet it still cost the UK about £40 million in 2021. However, costs were over 40% higher in the same period last year. Rural crime is clearly regaining momentum.

In a recent NFU survey, 43% of respondents reported having fallen victim to at least one theft incident in the last year. Utility vehicles such as all-terrain vehicles and quad bikes are essential to farmers: they save a significant amount of labour, and are used for checking livestock, moving animals around the farm and other important farming tasks. Quad and ATV theft reported to NFU Mutual cost £2.2 million in 2021, and there has now, unfortunately, been an upward trend: almost half of quad and ATV thefts reported to NFU Mutual last year took place between September and December.

I had a surgery in Flaunden in my constituency last month, where Helen Savage discussed rural crime and fly-tipping, which was mentioned earlier. The Bill does not cover that, but it remains a big issue.

I am lucky to have an excellent police and crime commissioner, David Lloyd, and I will have a meeting with him later this month, when I intend to bring up these issues again. I also have regular conversations with the NFU through the roundtable, so I hear at first hand from the farming community.

Unfortunately, 78% of tradespeople report having had their tools stolen, yet only 1% have ever had them returned. Suspects are 25% more likely to be charged for crimes in urban areas than in the countryside. In 2021, suspects were charged in less than 7% of all recorded crime in rural areas. These figures send the wrong message, and I know the Minister will do all he can to ensure that we get the right message across.

In conclusion, I once again congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham on this excellent piece of legislation. The additional support that it offers to tradespeople and farmers is warmly welcomed, as is the fact that it should be a deterrent for additional crime in the future. I wish the Bill a speedy passage in the other place and I look forward to it hopefully being warmly welcomed on both sides of the House and in the other place.

Crime and Neighbourhood Policing

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this important debate. I have listened with interest to contributions from both sides of the House. Although we may have different political views, we all care about our communities, so I want to take the tone down a bit to focus on them and on ensuring that we in this place do the right thing.

I thank Hertfordshire police, as well as the policemen and women who work on the parliamentary estate to keep us safe. I know from conversations with my local police force and with police around the estate that each and every one of them is passionate about ensuring that the few rotten eggs in the service are quickly removed, and rightly so.

My beautiful South West Hertfordshire constituency has unfortunately seen an uptick in attempted burglaries, so there is a fear and perception of increased crime, which, although not necessarily reflected in crime figures, has a material impact on my community. I will continue to work constructively with the excellent chief constable of Hertfordshire police, Charlie Hall, as well as with the excellent police and crime commissioner, David Lloyd, and his deputy, Lewis Cocking. They fully understand what is required to combat crime and how to ensure that my residents feel safe and secure.

I had the opportunity last week to speak to the Hertfordshire Police Federation about the issues its members are seeing on the frontline. While we will continue to talk about funding, the thing that my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes) spoke about that really struck me was recruitment and retention. Retention is a real issue that will be with us in the future, if not necessarily today, and I look forward to the Minister addressing those questions posed by my hon. Friend.

Rather opportunely, Sharon Long, the clerk of Chorleywood parish council, has sent me an email this afternoon, while I have been in this debate, that she had received from PC Waller of the local policing team in Chorleywood. Police advice on prevention is one of the things I wanted to talk about today. We can continue to be at the forefront of fighting crime with intelligence-led operations, which is the right way to do it, but that requires our community to do some basic things such as making sure their doors are locked and their alarms are on, particularly if they are going away. There are also such things as timer switches for lamps.

I will give a word of warning, if I may, about social media. I know all of us in this place use it, but if someone is likely to be away from their home or residence for a while—for instance, for a holiday—my strong steer is to post those trips and great memories after they have come back, otherwise all they are doing is advertising to potential burglars that they are not around, and therefore the burglars can take their time in scoping out the place and breaking in.

As the House will know, my beautiful constituency of South West Hertfordshire benefits from the M25. The downside of being so close to great transport links is that our communities are vulnerable to outside crime. As a former victim of crime, I know how devastating it can be when one’s home is burgled or burglary is attempted. I urge the Minister to continue to ensure that our communities are educated on the right things to do. That is not just the job of the police, however. As well as such programmes as neighbourhood watch, we have our great partners in local government, who inevitably have more contact with our communities than the police before things go wrong.

The police in Hertfordshire have reassured me that they will attend each and every burglary. A scene of crime officer will attend, a detective constable will be allocated to the crime team to investigate and a detective sergeant will review each and every burglary to make sure nothing is missed. The police have minimum standards of investigation to be completed. They will check CCTV, do house-to-house investigations and conversations and deliver burglary prevention packs. Intelligence-led operations are key to all this. I know that my constituents in Loudwater in Chorleywood are watching with eagerness. They want to feel safer, and I am sure my colleagues in Hertfordshire police will ensure that happens.

Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Bill

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 9th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

It is an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Laura Farris), and I commend my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) for bringing this Bill before the House. Listening to the speeches this morning has been a real eye-opener. We have heard some powerful arguments from Members across the House for why this legislation is unfortunately still necessary.

I repeat the plea of my right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes): hopefully this legislation will never have to be used. What I am hearing from across the House is that lived experience needs to be more widely shared. I became an uncle again last week to a beautiful little girl who we have nicknamed Jingles while her parents think of a more appropriate long-term name, and I want to be able to say to her and my other nieces, as well as to my sisters-in-law, my parents and all my female friends and family that we are on a journey to making sure that this is stamped out.

I was brought up in the Greater London area, and I remember walking the streets of east London and how I was intimidated back then. If I could speak to an equivalent of myself at that age now, I am pretty sure their life would be a lot easier, but that journey has not been as quick for women in this country. As a House, we recognise that, which is part of the reason we are debating this today, but there is much more that can be done. As someone who has spent a bit of time in the Home Office, I know that the Government are doing a lot on this. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) spoke about the terminology used in a particular report, and I hope that those on the Front Bench listened to that.

We need to continue to make men a bit more self-aware. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock spoke about a colleague being a bit self-conscious in the lift; that is absolutely the right type of attitude that we want to instil. We need to be conscious that when men walk down the local street or home from the tube station, we generally do not bat an eyelid in respect of our safety. When I was at university—I remember this shocking me at the time—each and every one of my female friends at the time had a story about feeling scared. If I repeated that exercise today, the likelihood is that unfortunately each person would have the same answer.

We have spoken about some stats; I would argue that a lot of those stats are probably hiding a lot of the issues. Although the stats show that 75% of females feel intimidated, I am pretty sure it is closer to 100%, but the other 25% do not yet feel confident enough to start to say, “Actually, I may have been a victim of harassment or other issues.”

We need to be more socially and culturally aware. As someone who thinks about doing the right things even when no one is watching, I know that there will have been instances when I was with a bunch of predominantly male friends, especially in my younger days, when we may have ended up with a herd mentality. We need to nip that in the bud.

I compliment British Transport police: on my commute in recent weeks and months I have seen advertising hoardings that tell people to call out bad behaviour and explain how to intervene safely and securely if they see a potential domestic violence issue on the London underground. Part of what we need to do today—I hope to take this away afterwards—is encourage further education for us all on how to nip things in the bud at an early stage. We spoke earlier about the pyramid model, and I do think that is correct. If we do not deal with bad behaviour early in someone’s trajectory, they could go on to bigger and worse offences that none of us wants to see.

I am conscious that I have probably spoken for longer than I intended, but I am grateful for being allowed to contribute.

Public Order Bill (Third sitting)

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 14th June 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Kerry McCarthy]

If I may just finish this point. They are entitled to make the decision to break the law and suffer the consequences. That is something that we accept in this country. People can choose to do that, provided they are willing to accept the consequences. To make that decision and exercise their democratic rights in that way, they need some certainty about how they will be treated by the law. It is a basic concept of operating in society that we ought to know how the criminal justice system will treat us.

What is likely to happen if the provision on excuses is invoked? If the clause is invoked when people do not feel it should be, the courts will acquit because it is unfair. I do not get a sense of clarity and I am looking for one from the Minister. We know that the clause will apply to the most serious cases, of people chaining themselves to planes. We know that it will not apply to a guy trying to superglue a hand to a sliding door at Bristol City Hall.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Why would it not?

[Kerry McCarthy]

The Parliamentary Private Secretary asks why not. That is quite worrying. Would that cause serious disruption, if he had one hand attached to the door and was wiggling backwards and forwards as everyone went in and out? That is exactly my point. If that is deemed to cause serious disruption, that is very worrying. I cannot think of many locking-on offences that would not be deemed serious disruption. It proves my point if the PPS thinks that the provision would cover a case as ludicrous and minor as that. That proves my point, so I will sit down and ask the Minister to explain where the middle ground and that clarity is.

Public Order Bill (Second sitting)

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 9th June 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Andrew Bridgen]

Q Steve, given Government policy regarding removals to Rwanda, do you see an increased risk to airports?

Steve Griffiths: Obviously, the Home Office determines those deportation-type flights and works with all of the UK airports. There is no doubt that that will become more public and more prevalent, and it does heighten the potential risk to us as an airport as well.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Q I put it on the record that I am a former Essex county councillor, since Essex has been referred to a couple of times now. My first question is about the international picture. Do other countries have this issue, and how are they combating it? Do our police have the necessary tools in place when compared with international comparators?

Steve Griffiths: Certainly from my perspective, I do not feel qualified to answer that question, unfortunately.

[Mr Mohindra]

Elizabeth, do you want to give it a go?

Elizabeth de Jong: I have not researched that myself, but the companies we represent are international companies. If it would be of interest to the Committee, I could ask how that operates for them as well. Let me know if that is something you would like me to follow up on.

[Mr Mohindra]

Q Elizabeth, you referenced petrol stations earlier as a bit of a gap in what is proposed in this Bill. Are there any other aspects that you think would be nice to have as part of this Bill? It would be useful for us to flesh that out, because we are trying to create a piece of legislation that will be effectively future-proofed, so that we do not have to revisit it in the months or years to come.

Elizabeth de Jong: That is exactly what we would be seeking as well. Just in the same way as we have seen an evolution in the last year of the types of protest down and around the supply chain, we would like the drafting to reflect the continued evolution of protests and to cover as much of the supply chain as possible, and what the next target might be. In terms of “key national infrastructure”, the “downstream oil” sector is very useful to have. I think it will give the police confidence that this is an area where they can intervene and make arrests. But we would like the definition of key national infrastructure to be more specific and to include roads as well as buildings, to include vessels—tankers, for example—and infrastructure under construction. All these things are important to the supply chain, but also very important for the safety of the protesters, staff and the public. Specifically, as I have mentioned, petrol stations have been excluded; we think that they are important for safety as well.

[Mr Mohindra]

Thank you. Steve, is there anything from you?

Steve Griffiths: No, nothing to add from me, thank you.

[Anne McLaughlin (Glasgow North East) (SNP)]

Q Much of what you have both described does sound extremely challenging. I understand that, but I am wondering whether you understand that many protesters are protesting because they have firmly held beliefs. I think we all agree that they should have the right to protest. Environmental campaigners’ concerns, for example, are that both your industries contribute to the climate crisis and, if more is not done more quickly, there will be no oil and no airports for them to protest at or for you to manage. If we all understand that, what would you suggest they could do to protest in a way that is safe and non-disruptive but also impactful, because there is no point in protest if it makes no impact? What is the middle ground? What is the compromise?

Elizabeth de Jong: Steve, you have said, and I would agree, that we absolutely support the right to peaceful protest. We absolutely support the right to free speech. That is really important to us as a trade association. Free speech—debate—is very important for you as well. However, what we are looking at here is the impact on people’s safety. That is also very important.

Metropolitan Police: Misogyny and Sexual Harassment

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 8th March 2022 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I am still here.

[Rachel Maclean]

Of course, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) is still here. I know that all our male colleagues support this, and so do our partners, husbands, sons, brothers and fathers. We are all united in the fight.

I want to spend a couple of moments to talk about education, which is vital and was referred to by my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke. From September 2020, relationships, sex and health education became statutory in schools. In primary schools, age-appropriate relationships education involves supporting children to learn about what healthy relationships are and their importance. It is important that we talk to our young people and children sensitively and carefully about the fraught issues of consent, in a world where they are all navigating the online space.

The Government are doing huge amounts of work through the draft Online Safety Bill to provide wider protections that will help our young people to use the internet safely and protect children from all sorts of violent threat, but such education has to start in our schools. That is why I work closely with my colleague at the Department for Education, the Minister for School Standards, my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), to ensure that that education is rolled out.

To update colleagues about what issues are covered, young children will be learning factual knowledge on sex, sexual health, sexuality, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex. We want young people to learn what a positive healthy relationship looks like and how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. We will be teaching and talking to children, in a sensitive and age-appropriate way, about what consent is and is not; the definition and recognition of rape, sexual assault and harassment; and the concepts of abuse, grooming, coercion and domestic abuse, in all its forms. We all know that one of the problems with domestic abuse is the difficultly that victims and survivors have in recognising what they are going through, especially when it comes to economic abuse and issues of coercive and controlling behaviour.

Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Friday 19th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

For many people I speak to, it is a shock for them to learn that child marriage is not illegal in this country already, and it happens far more often than one might think. In the last 12 months, the national charity Karma Nirvana has responded to 76 known cases of child marriage in England and Wales, with the youngest case concerning a seven-year-old girl. We know all too well the devastating impact that child marriage has on vulnerable children.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I commend my hon. Friend on the work that she has done over six years to bring this important Bill to the House, in collaboration with my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid). The current marriage laws enable 16 and 17-year-olds to marry, with permission from their parents, but this can lead to children being coerced into marriage. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to prevent children from being victim to this?

[Mrs Latham]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. The whole point of the Bill is to stop young people being victims, because they are. Even if there is a prosecution, we should not expect them to be criminalised, because it is not their fault; they are the victims in these situations. We should be supporting these young children.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Tom Pursglove)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Mrs Latham) for introducing this important Bill. It was terrific to have the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid), with us at the start of the debate. There was what I would characterise as an immaculate baton passing from him to my hon. Friend to allow this private Member’s Bill to progress in this Session. I look forward to her taking the Bill further and hope to see it complete its journey so that we can bring this law to the statute book. Perhaps all hon. Members will accept that, in the last few weeks, we have seen a lot of adversarial politics in the Chamber. I think it is refreshing that, this morning, the country sees a House of Commons coming together to deliver an important reform that we can all support.

The hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) spoke eloquently. I also found it chilling when she spoke of the experience of her friend. What her friend went through was horrendous, and it is right that we are coming together to take action to stop young people going through such experiences in future. It is impossible for anybody not to be hugely troubled by those experiences. The hon. Lady put her case well and effectively.

My hon. Friend the Member for Member for Mid Derbyshire did a brilliant job of laying out the provisions of the Bill, the purpose of which is to end child marriage and civil partnerships in England and Wales. There are two ways in which children can currently marry. First, they can have a legal ceremony at 16 or 17 with parental or judicial consent. That includes both civil and religious ceremonies such as those in the Church of England. That aspect of child marriage would be solved by raising the minimum age to 18. Secondly, children of any age can take part in marriage ceremonies that are non-legally binding, which often take place in a community or traditional setting. Those unregistered marriages will be addressed by expanding the offence of forced marriage to make it illegal to arrange for a child to enter marriage where coercion is not used.

Statistics demonstrate that girls are more likely to enter a legal marriage under the age of 18 and, therefore, more likely to be impacted by the adverse effects of child marriage that were so helpfully set out by my hon. Friend. In 2018 in England and Wales, 28 boys under the age of 18 married, compared with 119 girls.

[Mr Mohindra]

I welcome the Minister to his place—it is the first opportunity that I have had to do so. Does he think that Northern Ireland and Scotland will follow suit?

[Tom Pursglove]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are, of course, considering measures that relate to England and Wales. That sends out a very clear message about what our intentions are in this House and, as has been mentioned several times today, the point about the international example that we want to send out is an important one, too. I want the United Kingdom to live up to the rhetoric towards which we ask others to work. That is made more challenging when our law in this country does not reflect what we are asking others to do.

Scheduled Mass Deportation: Jamaica

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

I have already pointed out that these flights are nothing to do with the compliant environment; none of these individuals is in the scope of the Windrush compensation scheme. I must say that the hon. Lady is going a great disservice to those genuine victims of the Windrush tragedy—the Windrush scandal—by conflating them with dangerous offenders who are not British citizens and who are eligible for deportation under an Act that the Labour Government passed in 2007. She should reserve her indignation for those victims who have been affected by these terrible, terrible crimes.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

The British people will expect foreign national offenders who have violated our laws and our values to be removed from our country. Does my hon. Friend agree that this charter flight shows that we are acting in the interests of the British people and that we have their overwhelming support in taking this action?

[Chris Philp]

Yes, I strongly agree. The public watching this afternoon’s debate will be astonished to see some Opposition Members apparently not willing to stand up for our fellow citizens who have been victims of these terrible offences.

Public Order

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Monday 15th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. Our police have been under unprecedented strain and pressure, as we have all seen and as I said in my statement. I pay tribute to her police force and her chief constable, Ian Hopkins, who has been incredible throughout the whole covid period. With regards to that disgusting and disgraceful event at the weekend, again through police intelligence, planning and preparing, the police were able to go in, in the right way, to break it up and take the necessary course of action. She asks an important question about the type of intelligence out there that can help us to identify illegal gatherings, mass gatherings, protests—basically events that will lead to public disorder and hostility. Our police are working flat out, which is how they were able to map, through an intelligence picture, the type of activities taking place this weekend and to plan operationally—for police numbers, the type of policing, the tactics and the command operations put on standby and then enacted. It is important that we constantly stay in touch with the police—as all Members are aware, I speak to them every day—and that we use that information and intelligence to make sure they are protected, prepared, resourced and equipped to do the right thing to protect the public.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

As the House will be aware, we are going through the worst public health crisis in a century. It has killed more than 40,000 people in this country, many of them from the BAME community, and will sadly take more. Does my right hon. Friend agree that anyone attending large public gatherings, especially when not following distancing advice, is putting not only themselves at risk but the lives of their families and friends and of everyone in their communities?