Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of No Recourse to Public Funds rules on levels of rough sleeping in (a) Southwark, (b) London and (c) the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on the total number of people rough sleeping in Southwark, London or across the UK who are subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to reduce the incidence of rough sleeping among non-UK nationals. The Home Office’s Rough Sleeping Support Service (RSSS) also offers an enhanced service for local authorities and registered charities to establish whether a rough sleeper has access to public funds. Part of this service includes the RSSS contacting Home Office casework teams (where there is an open application) to request that the case is prioritised.
The NRPF is a condition applied to most temporary migrants, who are required to demonstrate that they can maintain and accommodate themselves and their families in the UK when they make an immigration application. However, individuals whose basis of stay in the UK is based on their family life or human rights can apply to have the NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘change of conditions’ application if there are exceptional circumstances related to financial circumstances, to avoid destitution and rough sleeping. Other groups, such as refugees, are exempt from the condition.
The Home Office has published its policy equality statement on the impact of the No Recourse to Public Fund (NRPF) policy on migrants on the 10-year human rights route. It can be found at:
To avoid destitution and sleeping rough, those without immigration status, who also have no recourse to public funds, should regularise their stay or leave the UK. There is support available to do this through the Voluntary Returns Service which offers practical support for people who are in the United Kingdom with no right to reside, as well as those who have, or are claiming, asylum and have decided they want to return home. This is with the exception of Foreign National Offenders, who are not eligible for the service.
With regard to the cost to local authorities of supporting households with no recourse to public funds, the Government has provided unprecedented support of over £8 billion of funding to local authorities in England to help councils manage the impacts of Covid-19 to respond to the spending pressures they are facing, including £4.6 billion which is not ringfenced. Funding provided to local authorities under the Covid-19 emergency response will be paid through a grant, recognising that local authorities are best placed to decide how this funding is spent. The Government has also provided additional funding for the devolved administrations under the Barnett formula as part of the wider government response.
More information on the support available to migrants during the pandemic, including those with NRPF, can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-get-support-if-youre-a-migrant-living-in-the-uk.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to move people seeking asylum out of military barracks.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Use of these sites for contingency initial asylum accommodation is temporary whilst pressures in the asylum system are addressed.
People are routinely moved between asylum accommodation venues for a variety of reasons.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the effect of the covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced on 4 January 2021 on the rate of reported instances of domestic abuse during that period.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Throughout this pandemic we have worked closely with police forces and domestic abuse support services to understand the impact of national measures on victims of domestic abuse.
In the twelve month period to September 2020, we have seen a 10% increase in overall police recorded domestic abuse incidents compared to the previous year. However, sexual offences and domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police do not provide a reliable measure of trends in these types of crime. We know that improvements in police recording practices and increased reporting by victims have contributed to increases in recent years. The figures do, however, provide a good measure of the crime-related demand on the police.
We also know that, the rises in police recorded data on these crimes don’t always match the increases in demand for help from victim support services. Sadly, victims do not always report domestic abuse to the police. What is critical is that victims are able to reach out for advice or support if they need to do so. That is why this government has invested unprecedented levels of funding in response to the increase in demand for help from victim support services.
Alongside this, our successful #YouAreNotAlone awareness raising campaign has reached almost 25 million UK adults and secured over £130 million followers on social media through paid advertising. Our campaign provides vital information about where victims can access support and we recognise that many concerned friends and family members of potential victims have also been able to access this support.
We also launched our Ask for ANI Codeword scheme this January to ensure that those seeking support could do so safely and discretely from participating Pharmacies.
We continue to further examine available data from police and partner organisations to better understand the impact of the pandemic on domestic abuse incidents and will continue to adapt our response in light of the evidence.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of fixed penalty notices that have been issued by people designated by local authorities in relation to businesses breaching covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold this data.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to provide racial bias training to every police officer in the Metropolitan Police Service.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The public rightly expect police officers to meet high standards of professional conduct. In this country, the power of the police to fulfil their duties is wholly dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour and on their ability to secure and maintain this public respect.
The College of Policing, which sets and maintains training standards for policing, published the Code of Ethics in 2014. This includes a set of principles for policing, including that all officers and staff should take active steps to oppose discrimination and make their decisions free from prejudice. This is a cornerstone of police training and development.
The College of Policing’s foundation training for all those entering the service includes substantial coverage of police ethics and self-understanding, including the effects of personal conscious and unconscious bias. Initial training covers hate crimes, ethics and equalities, and policing without bias.
Forces also provide local training and development at several different levels ranging from initial entry, leadership and ongoing development to reflect and reinforce organisational values.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that stop and search is not disproportionately affecting (a) black men and (b) BAME communities.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is clear no one should be stopped and searched based on race or ethnicity?and there are safeguards to ensure that this does not happen.?These include Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 which sets out the statutory requirements for conducting a search, the use of body worn video to increase accountability, and HMICFRS inspections where force level disparities are examined.
Last year, the Home Office asked the College of Policing to update?its guidance on stop and search to provide better practice to forces on community engagement and scrutiny.? The Home Office also publishes extensive data on police powers, including the use of stop and search, which allows Police and Crime Commissioners and others to hold forces to account.?The latest publication?is here:?https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police officers in the Metropolitan Police Service are of a black or ethnic minority background.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the ethnicity and rank of police officers in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area, on an annual basis. The latest available data, covering the situation as at 31 March 2019, can be found in of the Open Data Tables, published alongside the 'Police Workforce, England and Wales' statistics, available here:
Data as at 31 March 2020 are due to be published in July 2020.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police officers at Chief Superintendent level or above in the Metropolitan Police Service are of a black or ethnic minority background.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the ethnicity and rank of police officers in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area, on an annual basis. The latest available data, covering the situation as at 31 March 2019, can be found in of the Open Data Tables, published alongside the 'Police Workforce, England and Wales' statistics, available here:
Data as at 31 March 2020 are due to be published in July 2020.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to increase the number and proportion of police officers from a black and ethnic minority background in (a) the Metropolitan Police Service and (b) police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Police forces have worked hard to improve equality and diversity in policing and the workforce is more diverse than ever before, however we know that we cannot be complacent. Our drive to recruit 20,000 officers gives us a significant opportunity to attract a wide range people into a career in policing and support the police to become more representative of the communities they serve.
At 31 March 2019, there were 8,329 black, Asian and minority ethnic officers representing 6.9% of all police officers in England and Wales, compared with 4.7% in 2010.
The Metropolitan Police Service has the highest proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) officers in England and Wales (15.0%) and had almost 4,500 BAME officers in total. One in four new recruits joining the Metropolitan police were from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background in 2018/19.
We continue to work across policing to support forces in addressing under-representation in the recruitment, retention and progression of officers, including those from BAME backgrounds.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detainees have died from covid-19 in immigration removal centres in England and Wales since the start of the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The safety and health of people in the detention estate is of the utmost importance. We are following all Public Health England guidance and have robust contingency plans in place.
Any death in immigration detention is subject to investigation by the police, the coroner (or Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) and the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
As of 14 May 2020, there have been no deaths in immigration removal centres as a result of COVID-19.
As of 18 May 2020, there are no cases of Coronavirus in Immigration Removal Centres.