Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his French counterparts on the construction of a new detention centre near Dunkirk.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Secretary has regular contact with his French counterpart, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. They most recently met in January where they discussed our ongoing cooperation to stop small boat crossings, which last year saw a 36% reduction in small boat arrivals compared to 2022.
The new detention centre is part of the agreement reached by the Prime Minister and President Macron in March 2023. This detention centre, once operational, will allow France to more effectively return migrants to their home countries or safe third countries.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with police forces 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 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 engage with the NPCC and the police on tackling burglary through an array of different forums, including the Residential Burglary Taskforce and the National Policing Board. We will be working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other police forces on the cost to the public purse of policing protests relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary and Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Fire speak to chief constables on an ongoing basis on a range of subjects. As set out in the Home Affairs Select Committee’s recent report, NPCC and MPS leaders indicate that the costs of the policing Israel-Hamas-related protests was at least £25million between 7 October and 17 December. However, this figure includes the costs of community patrols, engagement and investigations that have taken place in efforts to tackle issues related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas-related conflict.
While we expect all police forces to hold reasonable levels of contingency funding for unplanned operations, it is open to Police and Crime Commissioners and their equivalents to request additional funding through the Police Special Grant. Criteria and guidance are published on gov.uk Special grant guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It should be noted that the Metropolitan Police has the highest level of officers and funding per capita of all forces in England and Wales and a third more funding than similar areas like Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department work on policy relating to immigration as of 4 March 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Migration and Borders Group (MBG) provides the immigration policy advice for the Home Office. The most recent published data for the group as a whole in the Home Office Accounts for 2022-23 show 910 full time equivalent (FTE) working in MBG. Not all of those FTE are specifically part of the policy profession but they will contribute to the development of Home Office immigration policy. Further information will be available in the Home Office 2023-24 accounts, which will be published shortly.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of international undergraduate students at universities in England applied for indefinite leave to remain after their studies in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Student route is a temporary immigration route and does not lead to settlement in the UK. However, students may apply to extend their leave on other routes to remain in the UK, provided they meet the requirements.
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people granted settlement each year by initial immigration route in dataset MJ_D02. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions about how neighbourhood policing is delivered, including the size, composition and prioritisation of neighbourhood policing teams are for operationally independent Chief Constables. They are best placed to use their local knowledge and experience to serve local communities. Democratically elected PCCs, or mayors with these functions, are responsible for holding Chief Constables to account for their running of the force. As set out at the National Policing Board on 31 January, we do however, expect Chief Constables and PCCs to put neighbourhoods at the heart of local policing plans, and to ensure abstractions of officers from core policing roles are minimised.
This government is giving policing the resources it needs to police local communities and fight crime. We have delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak before the Police Uplift Programme, in March 2010.
As a result of our investment, as at 31 March 2023, Lincolnshire Constabulary recruited 189 additional officers against a total three-year allocation of 166 officers. As at 31 March 2023, in Lincolnshire, there were 652 full time equivalent police officers employed in local policing roles, an increase of 7.7% (46 FTE) on the previous year when there were 605 FTE police officers in local policing roles. Those working within local policing roles in Lincolnshire accounted for 56.9% of all officers as at 31 March 2023.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police officers served in Lincolnshire in (a) February 2014 and (b) February 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on police officers in post as February 2014 and February 2024.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
The data are collected as a snapshot at 31 March and 30 September each year only. Data on the number of police officers in Lincolnshire, as at 31 March each year, from 2007 to 2023, on a full-time equivalent and headcount basis, can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172892/open-data-table-police-workforce-260723.ods.
Whilst the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin is the key measure of the size of the police workforce, as part of the Police Uplift Programme, between October 2019 and March 2023, the Home Office published data quarterly on the number of officers (headcount terms only) in England and Wales, broken down by PFA and month. Data can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-officer-uplift-statistics.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse is of housing (a) owned and (b) rented by his Department for people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which local authorities his Department (a) owns and (b) rents housing for people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has paid (a) Serco, (b) Clearsprings, (c) Mears and (d) other contractors to provide accommodation to asylum seekers since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential. Therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).