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Written Question
Immigration Controls: Airports
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will review the ability of European Union citizens to use e-gates at UK airports.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

EU and EEA citizens are currently eligible to use eGates at UK airports. We keep border security under review and operate border controls in the best interest of the UK, balancing border security with passenger flow.

In the New Plan for Immigration, the Government has set out our ambition to increase the use of automation and eGates by those currently eligible and investigate options to extend eGate eligibility to further cohorts.


Written Question
National Police Air Service
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the fleet is of the National Police Air Service.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a police-led service that provides police air support to 44 police forces across England and Wales, including the British Transport Police.

NPAS owns a fleet of 20 helicopters (19 operational and 1 training aircraft), and four fixed winged aircraft.


Written Question
Cybercrime: Solihull
Thursday 18th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-related crime in Solihull constituency.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

Tackling cyber crime is at the heart of the Government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022-25, which is supported by £2.6 billion of investment through the National Cyber Fund.

Key to delivery is ensuring that local policing has the resources needed to deal with the cyber threats we face. In 2023/24, the Home Office is receiving £18 million from the National Cyber Fund to provide a range of capabilities and resource to tackle and respond to cyber crime. This funding is supplemented by a further £16 million of Home Office funding through the Police Settlement Programme.

This funding continues to build law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional, and local levels to ensure they have the capacity and expertise to deal with the perpetrators and victims of cyber crime. We directly fund a specialist Cyber Crime Unit at West Midlands Police, which covers Solihull, and another, more specialist team, at the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU). This ROCU team is integral to our response to high-harm, high-impact crimes like cyber extortion.

This Regional Cyber Crime Unit for West Midlands (RCCUWM) also works with businesses and organisations based in Solihull, across the private and public sectors, and at community level. Under the Local Resilience Forum, RCCUWM work with Solihull Council, amongst others, to build stronger cyber security and resilience. A key part of RCCUWM’s work is to ensure the integrity of our Critical National Infrastructure providers, and they have a long-standing partnership with NHS Birmingham Solihull (BSOL) Integrated Care System and NHS England.

We have also rolled out Regional Cyber Resilience Centres in London and each of the nine policing regions, including the West Midlands.  These are a collaboration between the police, public, private sector and academic partners to provide cyber security advice to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises so that they can protect themselves better in a digital age. Details of the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands can be found at Cyber Resilience | The Cyber Resilience Centre For The West Midlands (wmcrc.co.uk)

All vulnerable victims of fraud and cyber crime in Solihull receive contact and Protect advice from law enforcement, specifically aimed at helping them to protect themselves in future from revictimization.

The specialist RCCUWM Prevent Team also work to intervene if people are deemed at risk of becoming involved in cyber offending. RCCUWM deliver the National Cyber Choices programme and have delivered multiple initiatives across Solihull, including working with schools to help them identify those at risk. Solihull local police officers support these important safeguarding interventions.


Written Question
Fraud: Solihull
Wednesday 17th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle fraud-related crime in Solihull constituency.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

In May 2023, the Government published the Fraud Strategy which set out a national response to combat the threat.

Through the new Online Safety Act and the Online Fraud Charter the Government is working to prevent the British public encountering fraud at source. The Fraud Strategy also committed £100m of investment in law enforcement, and created a new National Fraud Squad, to increase the disruption and prosecution of fraudsters. Furthermore, fraud will be made a priority for local police forces through the Strategic Policing Requirement.

Overall, fraud in England and Wales has reduced 13% compared to last year. There has also been a 5% decrease in the number of fraud reports made in the West Midlands, demonstrating progress on the Fraud Strategy’s commitment to protecting the public’s hard-earned money.

We will shortly be launching a new national Anti-Fraud campaign, which will further equip the public with the tools they need to spot and take preventative action to avoid fraud.


Written Question
Metropolitan Police: Complaints
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints were received by the Independent Office for Police Conduct about the Metropolitan Police in 2023; and how many of those complaints were upheld.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Independent Office of Police Conduct routinely publishes statistics on complaints they have received on their website: Police complaints statistics | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)


Written Question
Police: Complaints
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the complaints submitted to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in 2023 were upheld.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Independent Office of Police Conduct routinely publishes statistics on complaints they have received on their website: Police complaints statistics | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)


Written Question
Police: Complaints
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints were submitted to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in 2023.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Independent Office of Police Conduct routinely publishes statistics on complaints they have received on their website: Police complaints statistics | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: Deportation
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal migrants his Department deported in 2023.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The Home Office published provisional data on returns of migrants who do not have a legal right to stay in the UK in the ad-hoc ‘Statistics relating to Illegal Migration’ release. Total numbers of returns by month and return type (including enforced returns of which ‘deportations’ are a subset) are published in table IMB_05 of the accompanying data tables. The latest data relates to 27 December 2023.

The term ‘deportations’ refers to a legally defined subset of returns, which are enforced either following a criminal conviction, or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is beneficial to the public good. The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily. Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.

Alongside the above ad-hoc statistical release, the Home Office publishes quarterly data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data go up to the end of September 2023. Data to end December will be published in the next release on 29 February.


Written Question
Immigration: Enforcement
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

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 each local authority area in 2023.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

We do not routinely publish the information you have requested, and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Asylum: Rwanda
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with charter airlines on the possibility of providing flights between the UK and Rwanda for the purposes of transporting asylum seekers to that country in the last six months.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The Department engages with commercial partners where required to deliver on its responsibilities. The details of any such discussions are commercially confidential.