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 steps she is taking to tackle online grooming of children.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are committed to working across government to take robust action to better safeguard children from all forms of child sexual abuse, including online grooming, and to ensure victims and survivors receive appropriate care and support while perpetrators face the full force of the law.
The Home Office funds a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to groom or otherwise sexually abuse children.
Through the Online Safety Act, for the first time, tech companies will be held accountable to an independent regulator to keep their users safe. All in scope companies will need to take action to prevent the use of their services for criminal activity. Child sexual exploitation and abuse is categorised as priority illegal content, which includes grooming. In addition, officials engage directly with a range of tech companies to ensure they are taking a safety-by-design approach and are tackling the risks of child sexual abuse and exploitation on their platforms including grooming.
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 police officers have (a) been recruited by and (b) left the National Crime Agency since January 2023.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The NCA recruits officers using the Civil Service Recruitment Principles of fair and open competition and appointment by merit. For campaigns run on this basis, it does not centrally record candidates’ originator organisations. I am therefore unable to provide the breakdown of numbers of Police Officers who have been recruited into the agency since 2023 and Police Officers who have left.
The NCA also runs a programme of secondment only recruitment campaigns which are targeted at Police Forces and offer opportunities for Police Officers to work at the NCA for fixed periods of time before returning to their original force. Since April 2023, 20 officers have joined the NCA on secondment from Police Forces. The secondment route makes up only a very small proportion of our overall workforce planning process.
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 raids were carried out by Border Force in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our published data on enforcement visits is available at:
Statistics relating to Illegal Migration - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Information about enforcement visits by constituency is not currently available in our published data.
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 she plans to take steps to amend the statutory guidance entitled Non-crime hate incidents: code of practice, published on 3 June 2023, on only recording personal data relating to non-crime hate incidents if it is deemed proportionate and necessary to do so in order to mitigate a real risk of harm.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is vital that the police can capture data relating to non-crime hate incidents when it is proportionate and necessary to help prevent serious crimes which may later occur.
We are carefully considering how best to protect individuals and communities from hate whilst balancing the need to protect the fundamental right to free speech, and ensuring the police can spend their time dealing with issues that matter most to communities.
We will set out next steps in due course.
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 her planned timetable is for publishing details of the locations of youth hubs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to rolling out a network of Young Futures Hubs which will bring together local services to improve the delivery of support for young people at risk of being drawn into crime or facing mental health challenges.
We will require input and expertise from across the sector to design these hubs and will be engaging with local communities, the police, charities and other key partners over the coming weeks to seek views on the design of the programme and explore options for their delivery. This will include considerations around their location and how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from the support.
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 steps she is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in town centres.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
We will put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and provide residents with a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.
We will also crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets by introducing tougher powers via a Crime and Policing Bill, including a new Respect Order to tackle repeat offending.
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 she has had discussions with her Rwandan counterpart since 5 July.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Yes, the Home Secretary and the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, have spoken since 5 July. They discussed how they will work together on the process of bringing an end to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda.
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 steps she is taking to help tackle online fraud targeted at elderly people.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government takes the issue of online fraud seriously and is dedicated to protecting all members of the public from this devastating crime. We are acutely aware of the impact fraud can have on the lives of vulnerable people, including the elderly.
The Online Safety Act (OSA) will make tech companies responsible for blocking fraud and fraudulent adverts on their platforms, to better prevent the public from encountering fraud at source. The OSA’s final Codes of Practice on illegal harms are expected by end of 2024 with tech firms needing to be compliant a year after (2025). Codes on the Act’s fraudulent advertising duties are set to follow in 2026.
The City of London Police have also created a new police Fraud Protect Network, designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent advice to victims of fraud. The network will provide targeted safeguarding advice, with a key focus on vulnerable groups.
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 funding her Department plans to allocate to the Border Security Command in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are exploring appropriate funding options and models for the new Border Security Command (BSC) moving forward. More detail on the costing will be available after a spending review.
We are working closely with stakeholders including operational partners to determine how much funding will be needed to achieve the objectives of the BSC, ensuring that value for money is achieved for taxpayers. We will smash the gangs – disrupting the supply chain of their boats and engines and prosecuting those responsible.
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, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a licensing regime for the sale and purchase of crossbows.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
A call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024. It tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows. The call for evidence also asked whether broadhead arrows should be prohibited.
The call for evidence received 2,991 responses. We are reviewing the responses and considering whether further controls on crossbows need to be introduced,