Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) domestic abuse and (b) violence against women and girls in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG), including domestic abuse, within a decade, and we will treat it as the national emergency that it is. We will go further than any Government has before to deliver a cross-Government transformative approach to tackling VAWG, underpinned by a new strategy to be published later this year.
We have already set out a number of measures to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse, increase protections for victims, and hold perpetrators to account. Starting in early 2025, a new approach called "Raneem's Law" will place domestic abuse specialists within 999 control rooms to advise on risk assessments, collaborate closely with officers on the ground, and expedite referrals to appropriate support services for victims. We are working with the police to develop a national framework utilising data-driven tools and algorithms to track and target high-harm offenders involved in domestic abuse, sexual assault, harassment, and stalking.
In December, we also we set out a new package of six measures to tackle stalking including statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identities of online stalkers to protect victims, and a review of the stalking legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose.
These measures are important steps in tackling domestic abuse and violence against women and girls across the country, including in Beckenham and Penge.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) shoplifting, (b) retail crime and (c) crime and violence against shop workers in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the last year of the previous government shoplifting soared to a twenty-year high, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe on the job.
This Government will end the effective immunity, introduced by the previous Government, granted to shop theft of goods under £200. This will remove any perception that offenders will escape punishment.
We will also introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
As set out in the Autumn budget 2024, we will provide law enforcement with over £7 million over the next three financial years to help support police in tackling retail crime.
I remain committed to regular engagement with both the retail sector and policing through the Retail Crime Forum, to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement, which had its inaugural meeting at the end of 2024.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect (a) people with dementia and Alzheimer's and (b) other vulnerable people from (i) financial abuse, (ii) fraud and (iii) scammers.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The impact of fraud extends beyond financial losses. It is important that victims of fraud receive the critical support that they are rightly entitled to.
Improving support for victims is a key part of the Fraud Strategy and the replacement of Action Fraud over the course of 2025 will improve the service victims receive.
All 43 police forces in England and Wales have now also rolled out the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit service to ensure victims receive tailored support. Furthermore, we are supporting National Trading Standards in the rollout of their Multi Agency Approach to Fraud, bringing together local services to improve support to the most vulnerable victims.
Through the Fraud Strategy we also continue to tackle the ways in which vulnerable people might be targeted by fraudsters. We are working with Ofcom to stop malicious number spoofing and prevent mass texting services from abuse by fraudsters.
Under our Telecommunications Charter, the industry has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. Finally, we legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams, ensuring more victims get their money back.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) financial scams and (b) fraud nationally.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.
We have committed to completing the outstanding commitments of the Fraud Strategy set out by the previous government and are determined to do more. We will be working closely with partners to develop our new, expanded strategy over the coming months. Details of our approach will be set out in due course.
In the meantime, the Government brought together key partners across law enforcement, industry and victim groups at the Joint Fraud Taskforce last month, launching an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to reduce insurance fraud.
In parallel, we have taken steps to ensure a new corporate criminal liability offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud comes into effect next year and played a central role in the adoption of the first ever UN resolution on fraud, which will strengthen the international response.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve neighbourhood policing in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
This includes getting thousands of neighbourhood police personnel back on the beat, ensuring local people have a named officer who they can turn to when things go wrong, and cracking down on the street crime, shop theft and anti-social behaviour which has made communities feel less safe for far too long.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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 we will crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets by introducing tougher powers, including new Respect Orders to tackle repeat offending.