Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which spending programmes their Department devolves for administration to (a) local government in England and (b) other local spending bodies; and what the budget is of each such programme for each year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has set itself a mission that, by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal, with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, with a simplified, long-term funding settlement.
At Spring Budget, the government announced the trailblazer devolution deals with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and West Midlands Combined Authorities (WMCA), which included a commitment to introduce single funding settlements at the next Spending Review for these MCAs. At Autumn Statement, the Government published a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GMCA and WMCA, setting out how the single settlements will work.
The Government also announced an ambitious new ‘level 4’ of the devolution framework, including a single transport funding settlement for eligible institutions, and a ‘consolidated’ pot at the next multi-year SR covering two DLUHC investment themes – local growth and place, and housing and regeneration. Following successful delivery of the ‘consolidated’ pot, and learning from the trailblazers, Level 4 institutions will then become eligible to receive a single settlement from the subsequent multi-year Spending Review.
Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which month she plans that the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme will go live.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We intend that the scheme will become operational in 2024. The work to deliver this, including establishing a Scheme Management Unit and supporting IT and developing relevant guidance is happening at pace. A public consultation on guidance for the scheme is currently live until 01 December on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/foreign-influence-registration-scheme-draft-guidance).
The Government expects to publicise the intended ‘go live’ date a number of months in advance to give those affected by the scheme time to prepare.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many criminal investigations into financial sanctions evasion have been initiated on the basis of Suspicious Activity Reports received by the Financial Intelligence Unit since February 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Breaches of UK sanctions are reportable to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), not via the SARs regime, unless there are associated suspicions around money laundering.
For reasons of operational security, we are not able to provide further details publicly.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of proscribing the United Party of Russia under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Whilst the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.
The UK and our allies condemn the Russian Government’s unprovoked and premeditated invasion of Ukraine. We have considerable powers to sanction the Russian Government, which we have used with our allies to significant effect. The Government has implemented the strongest set of economic sanctions ever to degrade Russia’s war.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will (a) list the spending programmes her Department devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies and (b) specify the value for each programme for every year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not record the information sought to the level of granularity required.
Identifying individual spending programmes which are devolved to local government or other local spending bodies can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will set out (a) the number of FTE's and (b) the resources devoted to the Kleptocracy cell in the National Crime Agency.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Crime Agency welcomes the announcement on the Combatting Kleptocracy Cell to focus on corrupt elites laundering their assets within the UK.
They have already surged additional officers to support existing efforts and will move at pace to enhance the unit further to drive forwards what are inevitably complex and lengthy operations.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Minister approved the catalogue of data collection fields on the UK Passenger Locator Form.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Passenger Locator Form data capture field requirements are agreed by officials across government, predominately in health and transport departments to ensure alignment with Ministerial decisions on travel requirements and contact tracing strategy.
The Passenger Locator Form is a system for all four nations, so data fields are also included to align with requirements set by the devolved Administrations for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) policies and (b) grant and funding programmes her Department has introduced to provide support to individuals and organisations in response to the covid-19 outbreak; and what funding has been allocated to each of those programmes in the 2020-21 financial year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Details of the Home Office’s additional funding for domestic abuse support services during the Covid-19 pandemic is available on Gov.uk, where the Home Office has allocated £2m of funding to charities with a national or regional presence and for which the other domestic abuse-focused funding streams were not specifically designed. Please refer to the link below.
Funds launched in response to covid-19 outbreak include: the Covid-19 Vulnerable Children National Charities Strategic Relief Fund
and Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund.
The Home Office has also awarded other grants to provide support to individuals and organisations in response to the covid-19 outbreak. The details of these grants will be published by Cabinet Office in due course
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations he has received from the Mayor of the West Midlands on police funding.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Secretary last met with the Mayor of the West Midlands on 7 August 2018 where they discussed a range of issues including police funding and devolution
Ministers meet regularly with Police and Crime Commissioners and Mayors to discuss a range of topics. This includes significant recent engagement on demand ahead of the publication of the Provisional Police Funding Settlement last month.
Under these proposals total funding for West Midlands Police could increase by up to £34.2 million to £568.6 million in 2019/20, including funding from council tax, if the Police and Crime Commissioner uses the full precept flexibility provided.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times he has met with the Mayor of the West Midlands since 1 November 2018.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Secretary last met with the Mayor of the West Midlands on 7 August 2018 where they discussed a range of issues including police funding and devolution
Ministers meet regularly with Police and Crime Commissioners and Mayors to discuss a range of topics. This includes significant recent engagement on demand ahead of the publication of the Provisional Police Funding Settlement last month.
Under these proposals total funding for West Midlands Police could increase by up to £34.2 million to £568.6 million in 2019/20, including funding from council tax, if the Police and Crime Commissioner uses the full precept flexibility provided.