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 - Shadow Home Secretary
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 - Shadow Home Secretary
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.
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 the number of experiments carried out on animals each year; and if she will make it her policy to phase out the use of cats in scientific procedures.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), cats (together with dogs, horses, and non-human primates) are specially protected species. This means that greater oversight is required of establishments holding these species and of projects using these species.
Government policy is to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved through funding UK Research and Investment who fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and fund further research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure the safety, security and reliability of technology (a) during and (b) following the upgrade of the Police National Computer; what processes have been followed to ensure value for money from money spent from the public purse on adopting a new computer system for the police; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Police National Computer (PNC) hardware and software support contracts have been extended through to March 2026 to ensure the continued safety, security, and reliability of this nationally critical operational policing data service.
The upgrade of the PNC mainframe computer hardware completed in August 2022. 19 of 21 recommendations resulting from the Lord Hogan-Howe review into the ongoing support and protection of the PNC service have been closed with the remaining 2 recommendations anticipated to be closed in the coming weeks.
The replacement of the PNC with a new and modern Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS) has commenced with some services already live and being used by policing. The replacement is planned to complete in 2025, allowing PNC to be retired in advance of its formal end of life.
LEDS is delivered via a diverse supply chain including a combination of civil service and contingent labour, Home Office central contracts and 3rd party contract mechanisms each of which are fully underpinned by formal commercial governance supported by the both the Home Office Commercial Directorate and by the Cabinet Office, ensuring fair and open competitive tendering processes.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the current prevalence of metal cable theft from telecommunication networks including in rural areas; and what further steps she plans to take to deter such thefts.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government is concerned at the current prevalence of metal cable theft and is working closely with police and industry partners to drive down acquisitive crime, including metal theft.
The Home Office provided seed corn funding in 2021 to set-up the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP). The NICRP ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle crime affecting infrastructure companies including telecommunications and utility companies, rail networks, agricultural and construction companies. The NICRP shares intelligence between police and industry partners to understand emerging trends and share best practice; as well as working with police to target offenders. The NICRP also alerts its members to crimes in local areas to ensure companies can implement crime prevention measures.
The British Transport Police, through the NICRP, has conducted three national weeks of action targeting scrap metal dealers, focused on metal theft, catalytic converter theft and money laundering in the waste industry. This action has resulted in 92 arrests, over 2,000 site visits and recovery of over 1,000 stolen catalytic converters. The NICRP has also trained over 1,600 officers in enforcement powers to deal with scrap metal dealers.
Policing partners have plans for further weeks of actions and we will continue to support the NICRP and NPCC lead for acquisitive crime, ensuring effective prevention and enforcement against metal theft and other crime affecting infrastructure companies.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects the National Economic Crime Centre to conclude its investigation into alleged signatory fraud by banks; what steps she is taking to help ensure that the investigation is concluded in a timely way; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen McPartland
The National Economic Crime Centre received a significant amount of material from the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign and is continuing to assess the material submitted to them.
The National Crime Agency does not routinely confirm or deny whether an investigation is taking place.