Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with Humberside police on the pledge that a police officer will attend every burgled home.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows a 56% fall in domestic burglaries when comparing the year ending September 2023 with year ending March 2010. This is clearly good news; however, we recognise the impact domestic burglary can have on individuals and communities and we are committed to tackling and preventing this crime.
The public rightly expects that the police will visit them when a home burglary has been committed, which is why we welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on 8 June 2023 that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this attendance policy since March 2023. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglary.
The police commitment to attend home burglaries is supported by specific College of Policing good practice guidance on conducting residential burglary investigations: https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/residential-burglary.
We continue to liaise with Humberside Police and the NPCC who play a key role in tackling burglary through an array of different forums, including the Residential Burglary Taskforce and the National Policing Board. We are also working with police leaders across England and Wales to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public.
HMICFRS will be doing an inspection on Investigations shortly.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of the funding for the National Rural Crime Unit will be allocated to Humberside Police in each of the next five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to driving down rural crime. Whether someone lives in the countryside or a town or city, they should get the same service from the police if they fall victim to a crime.
The Home Office has provided £200,000 funding this financial year to help set up the National Rural Crime Unit, with an additional £100,000 from DEFRA. The National Rural Crime Unit has secured over £1m of funding from industry for the next three financial years, including from NFU Mutual, Network Rail and Construction and Equipment Association.
The National Rural Crime Unit aims to help police forces tackle rural crime priorities through the provision of specialist operational support, as well as through sharing best practice and encouraging regional and national approaches to tackling rural crime. Funding provided by the Government for the National Rural Crime Unit is not allocated to individual forces.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure the protective equipment supplied to fire-fighters is up to date.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fire and Rescue Authorities are responsible for the health and safety of their employees.
It is for individual fire and rescue authorities, as employers with responsibility for health and wellbeing, to ensure that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need to safely respond to the wide range of incidents which they attend, based on their assessment of local risk. Research being commissioned on carcinogens.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce (a) hare coursing, (b) theft and damage to farm equipment and (c) other rural crime; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to driving down rural crime, which is why we are providing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU).
The Home Office committed to provide one-off funding of £200,000 to the NRCU this year to assist with set up costs of the new unit. The NRCU will provide support to forces nationally in their responses to rural crime, such as the theft of farming or construction machinery, livestock theft, rural fly tipping, rural fuel theft and equine crime.
Police Uplift Programme (PUP) funding has been used to tackle rural crime by forces and led to the formation of new teams and to bolster capabilities.
New measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act came into force on 1st August 2022, which empower and equip the police and courts with the powers they need to combat hare coursing. These powers included creating two new criminal offences; trespass with the intention of using a dog to search for or pursue a hare; and being equipped to trespass with the intention of using a dog to search for or pursue a hare.
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which will help to prevent the theft of agricultural equipment such as quad bikes by requiring immobilisers and forensic markings to be fitted before new equipment is sold to customers, and equipment to be registered on a database. The Act gained Royal Assent on 20 July.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many existing legacy licences are in force for testing cosmetics ingredients on animals; how many animals have been used for (a) such testing and (b) testing for ingredients used in (i) cosmetics and (ii) other types of products in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and whether she is taking steps to phase out such licences.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit has granted seven project licences, or amendments to licences, that are currently active, that specifically authorise the testing on animals of chemicals used as ingredients in cosmetics under the REACH regulations.
A project licence authorises a programme of work within which the procedures are performed. Data are not collected on the specific numbers of animals used for individual tests.
The Home Office publishes annual statistics on the use of animals in scientific procedures. The statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-statistics
The Government is engaging with the relevant companies to review and determine a way forward on the remaining active licences.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits for early renewal of passports and reduction of pressure on HM Passport Office staff of allowing up to six months remaining validity of old passports to be added to new passports.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
When renewing a British passport between 2001 and September 2018, up to nine months of remaining validity of the old passport could be added to the new passport. Renewed adult passports could therefore be valid for up to 10 years and 9 months.
The UK was the last country to carry over unused validity to a new passport. However, international civil aviation guidelines are that an adult passport should be valid for a maximum of 10 years, and a passport for a child should be issued for a maximum of five years.
Alongside side this, each country, or group of countries, may set out a requirement for passport validity as a condition of entry. This includes passports held by a third-country national, such as a British citizen, not being permitted to enter countries within the Schengen Area with a passport that was issued more than ten years previously. For these reasons, there are currently no plans to return to the policy of adding remaining validity to new passports.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Nitrous oxide: updated harms assessment, published by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on 6 March 2023, what steps she plans to take to help prevent the misuse of nitrous oxide; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) published their report on nitrous oxide on 6 March, setting out the evidence as it currently stands and making seven recommendations.
The Government will consider the ACMD advice carefully along with any other available evidence, as appropriate, and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made in (a) reducing the number of animals used in experiments and (b) increasing the use of non-animal technologies in scientific experimentation; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office Regulator will only grant licences to use animals in science where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.
The Government is committed to the development of alternatives to using animals in scientific procedures and continues to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) for the use of animals in scientific procedures.
This is achieved through UK Research and Innovation’s funding of the National Centre for the 3Rs, which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of non-animal technologies, and through research into the development of alternatives by Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what records local police forces keep of the use of tasers by police officers; what assessment she has made of the (a) incidence of (i) temporary and (ii) permanent injury among and (b) other effects on those tasered; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes annual statistics on all police use of force, including Taser use. Police are required to refer all serious incidents, including serious injuries, to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Taser has been approved for use by police use, following stringent scientific, safety and medical tests which indicated that it is safe and effective for use in UK policing.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce rural crime in (a) East Yorkshire and (b) England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our manifesto committed us to use police resources to tackle rural crime. As well as recruiting 20,000 additional police officers, we are also taking steps to address issues that we know affect rural communities. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act empowers and equips the police and courts with the powers they need to combat hare coursing. The Government is also providing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
As at 30 September 2022, Humberside Police has recruited 263 additional uplift officers against a total three year allocation of 322 officers. As of the same date, 15,343 additional uplift officers have been recruited in England and Wales through the Police Uplift Programme, 77% of the target of 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. The deployment of these officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables.