Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of (a) escort services to and from Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre and (b) legal firms’ travel expenses relating to travel to that centre from the 1st January 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
The Home Office contract for the provision of escorting services for detained individuals is provided by Mitie Care and Custody Ltd from 1st May 2018. Details of this contract can be found upon the Contracts Finder website. https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/8e94f338-6049-48f7-8b82-9dea24af8857?p=1
The escorting service contract is split into service lines for invoicing purposes, and the costs for escorting around the UK, including to and from Derwentside, are included within the In-Country Escort service. The department does not hold the costs for movements to and from Derwentside separately. The Home Office publishes payments in excess of £25K on its website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-spending
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential benefits and dis-benefits of transferring the Home Office UK Football Policing Unit to the National Police Chiefs' Council; and whether she has plans to do that.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There are strong strategic reasons for locating the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) within policing, rather than as a central Government body. UKFPU’s current set-up as a civil service outfit constrains its ability to direct operational policing teams and unambiguously contribute to, and shape, the national football policing strategy.
Locating UKFPU in policing – rather than the Home Office – would bring it closer to its customer base, helping to provide a better service to the police and do more on the frontline to tackle football disorder.
It would also streamline and strengthen accountability, making clear that the police are responsible to the public for decisions that are made about policing, and preventing, football disorder on the ground. For these reasons I have asked my officials to take the work forward, in order to move the UKFPU into the NPCC later this year.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to include HGV drivers on the list of shortage occupations list to allow people who reside in the UK with work permitted status, who hold the correct qualifications, to take up such work.
Answered by Kevin Foster
For an occupation to be placed on the Shortage Occupation List, it needs to be eligible under the Skilled Worker route of the Points Based System.
The independent Migration Advisory Committee found the occupation of HGV driver did not meet the requirements under the Skilled Worker route to be eligible.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2020 to Question 53408 on Drugs: Organised Crime, what work is currently being undertaken by her Department in collaboration with (a) the Department for Health and Social Care, (b) the Ministry of Justice, (c) the Department for Education and (d) local authorities to tackle county lines drug trafficking and safeguard vulnerable children from exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
County lines drug trafficking is a growing threat and one that this Government is determined to tackle. A cross-government approach is essential to identify and support children and young people who are criminally exploited by these ruthless gangs.
We are working across government to enhance the response to children and young people who are subject to criminal exploitation from county lines. Through our county lines programme, the Home Office is investing £860,000 this financial year to provide specialist one-to-one support for children and young people who at risk or involved in county lines. We are also working in collaboration with other government departments to monitor and respond to the impact of COVID-19 on county lines activity and exploitation.
We are also committed to taking forward national learning and are working with the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Health and Social Care to examine the recommendations from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report ‘It was Hard to Escape’, as well as those from other safeguarding reviews relating to child criminal exploitation, in order to identify areas for improvement, put in place support for vulnerable children, raise awareness of criminal exploitation from county lines and ensure that the criminal justice response to county lines is as effective and robust as possible.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timeframe is for the introduction of the Online Harms Bill.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be online. DCMS and the Home Office are working at pace to develop the legislation. We will publish a full government response later this year, and legislation will be ready this session.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle county lines drug trafficking and safeguard vulnerable children form exploitation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are investing £25m to crack down on county lines gangs in 19/20 and 20/21. Through our county lines programme we are expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, increasing disruption on the rail networks by British Transport Police, delivering operational intensification in the three key exporting areas, investing in new technology including Automatic Number Plate Recognition and providing increased support for victims of county lines exploitation.
Our investment is already delivering results; as a result of the first phase, between November 2019 and March 2020, police forces have made over 650 arrests, closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over £3 million, and made over 100 weapons seizures. Officers have also safeguarded scores of individuals, including 140 children, from being exploited by these gangs.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to strengthen support for children in the Domestic Abuse Bill through provision of a statutory right to specialist support services.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Domestic Abuse Bill, as introduced on 3 March, includes a new statutory duty on tier one local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation. Paragraph 207 of the Explanatory Notes which accompany the Bill provides examples of the support that may be provided, including children’s support such as play therapy and child advocacy.
To enable us to better understand the complex landscape for community-based support for all victims, including children, the Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner has agreed to undertake an in-depth exploration of the current community-based support landscape over 2020/21.
The Government will then work with the Commissioner to understand the needs identified and develop options on how best to address them.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect children and young people from child sexual abuse (a) at home and (b) online during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are acutely aware that the necessary guidelines about social distancing and self-isolation may leave the victims of hidden crime, such as child sexual abuse, feeling especially vulnerable. For some children, home is not the safe-haven it should be, and more time spent online means children may be at increased risk of online harms.
We have responded swiftly to the risks posed by COVID-19, working closely with Law Enforcement, the UK Intelligence Community, safeguarding partners and the third sector to assess the threat and ensure they have the resources they need to tackle offending and provide the greatest protection for vulnerable children.
We are further working across government and agencies to ensure that teachers, parents and carers have access to the support they need to help keep children safe online. As part of this the National Crime Agency have launched the #OnlineSafetyAtHome campaign, the Department for Education has published interim safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges encouraging them to disseminate advice on online safety and we have published guidance for parents and carers on gov.uk.
As part of this the Government made £1.6 million available immediately for the NSPCC to expand and promote its national helpline for adults. We also worked across government, with the NCA and industry to ensure that teachers, parents and carers have access to the support they need to help keep children safe online.
On 21st May, the Prime Minister hosted a virtual summit focused on ‘hidden harms’, including child sexual abuse. The virtual summit brought key decision makers together to share insight, best practice and agree an approach for tackling these crimes as we move towards easing lockdown measures.
Ahead of the summit, the Home Secretary announced that £9.86 million is being allocated to the National Crime Agency to improve its ability to tackle perpetrators seeking to offend against children via the Dark Web. An additional £3.36 million is being committed to further improve our understanding and tackle all aspects of the child sexual abuse threat. We will also launch a £2.8 million transformation fund to promote and embed best practice in Child Sexual Abuse victim support.
Following the Summit, we have sought to engage stakeholders within communities who could support in identifying vulnerable children, by delivering communications that highlight how to spot the signs of abuse and neglect, as well as where to report concerns. The aim is to improve our collective ability to detect and respond to a range harms, including at home.
The Home Office will distribute £7.8 million in emergency support for charities helping vulnerable children who have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. We are working closely with other government departments to identify an approach for disbursing the proportion of the £360 million charities funding allocated directly from government departments to vulnerable children’s charities, with the aim to implement the approach as soon as possible.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Maritime Information Centre holds live records on the range of merchant shipping that is UK-owned.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The National Maritime Information Centre (NMIC) plays an integral role in the delivery of the UK National Strategy for Maritime Security. One of the NMIC’s roles is to monitor and track maritime activity around the UK and in areas of national interest around the globe in response to taskings from Government departments or agencies. This is achieved by using a variety of systems which include the interpretation of Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder data which enables the NMIC to identify and monitor all vessels transmitting on the AIS system. The systems available to the NMIC can identify all Red Ensign Group vessels using AIS, that is vessels registered on one of the international shipping registries operated by the UK (including a Crown Dependency or an Overseas Territory). There are vessels owned by UK entities that are registered in other states and therefore fly the flag of that state. It may not be immediately apparent that such vessels have a UK owner, however, they will still appear on the NMIC systems.