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Written Question
Police: Recruitment
Wednesday 13th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current levels of police recruitment in England and Wales.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The government has delivered its manifesto commitment to deliver 20,000 additional officers. At the end of March 2023, we had the highest number of officers on record in England and Wales, with 149,566 officers in post surpassing the previous peak of 146,030 officers in post in March 2010.

We expect police forces to maintain officer numbers and Chief Constables will be held to account for ensuring that officer numbers continue to match. The next available data on officer numbers will be published as part of the Police Workforce Statistics for England and Wales on 24 January 2024.


Written Question
Immigration Controls
Friday 24th November 2023

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) strengthen, and (2) protect, the UK's borders.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office priority will always be to keep our citizens safe and our borders secure and we will not compromise on this.

Border Force officers work tirelessly to protect our borders at 140 sea and airports right across the UK, working closely with law enforcement agencies to share intelligence.

The Home Office has a clear long-term vision to transform the UK Border.

This includes making visible changes to security, flow and passenger experience by harnessing new technical solutions for automation and focusing Border Force Officers' expertise on high harm cases.


Written Question
Fraud: Internet
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that UK citizens are protected from online fraud and the rise in social media and text messaging scams.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government is committed to doing everything we can to stop criminals abusing online platforms and telecommunications networks for fraud. This is why we published the Fraud Strategy, setting out how we will address the threat of this crime. One of the three pillars included in the strategy focuses on blocking frauds from happening in the first place, which includes actions to prevent online fraud and telecommunications-enabled fraud.

We are currently working with tech companies to create an Online Fraud Charter which will include a number of voluntary actions to help design out fraud. The Online Safety Bill will also tackle online harms, including fraud and fraudulent advertising. This means that social media and search engine companies will have to take robust, proactive action to ensure that their users are not exposed to these crimes in the first place. We expect this to have a strong impact on some of the highest harm fraud types.

In October 2021, we launched the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter which includes actions to block scam calls and smishing texts. In the strategy, we also announced the launch of a consultation with a view to ban SIM farms. These are devices that allow fraudsters to send hundreds of thousands of scam texts in short time and at low cost. We are consulting on making it illegal to sell, purchase, possess, or use SIM farms. Following the consultation, we will rapidly bring forward legislation to ensure criminals can no longer use them to scam UK citizens.

Whilst it is vital we continue to target the criminals behind fraud and work with industry to make it harder for them to operate, one of the best ways to safeguard the public is to also ensure they are well-informed about how to protect themselves. That is why raising awareness and safeguarding victims forms another of the three pillars in the Fraud Strategy.


Written Question
Organised Crime: Republic of Ireland
Tuesday 28th September 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of cross-border cooperation in stopping (1) criminal gangs, and (2) people smugglers, entering the UK from the Republic of Ireland.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

There is a high level of cooperation on border security between both the UK and Irish Governments to ensure we are taking all the necessary measures to protect and secure the Common Travel Area, this includes people travelling from Ireland to the UK.

The Home Office, Ireland’s Garda National Immigration Bureau and Border Management Unit, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and other police forces work together to tackle abuse of the CTA by conducting intelligence-led checks and enforcement operations.

We continue to take a whole route approach in pursuing the crime groups who facilitate people smuggling to the UK and who exploit vulnerable migrants, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations.


Written Question
Police: Mental Health
Tuesday 28th September 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline police officers.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Our police have continued to dedicate themselves to protecting the public during the pandemic. We recognise that this has been a hugely challenging time for them and looking after their mental health and overall wellbeing is a priority for this Government as we deliver the aims of the Police Covenant.

In addition to my previous answer to your question of 24 March, the National Police Wellbeing Service, funded by the Home Office, undertook the annual national police wellbeing survey for 2020-21 with Durham University. The survey was conducted during the pandemic and adapted to include a question set to give an indication of the impact on officers and staff. Over 22,000 responses were received from police officers and staff. The main findings, published on 6 July, show that whilst some factors influencing overall wellbeing have improved, others remain a concern.

The results of the survey are enabling the wellbeing service to prioritise work at a national level, for example, continuing the rollout of the Emergency Services Trauma Intervention Programme. The findings of this survey are also included in the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Covid-19 workforce recovery plan.


Written Question
UK Border Force and UK Visas and Immigration: Staff
Wednesday 21st July 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many full-time staff there have been in (1) UK Visa and Immigration, and (2) UK Border Force, in each year since 2017.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Information relating to the staffing in the Home Office including UK Visa and Immigration and Border Force is contained in the annual report and accounts since 2017.

2016/2017

UK Visa and Immigration total staff 6,467

Border Force total staff 7,670

The full report for 2016/2017 can be found at:

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2016 to 2017

2017/2018

UK Visa and Immigration total staff 7,680

Border Force total staff 7,734

The full report for 2017/18 can be found at:

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2017 to 2018

2018/2019

UK Visa and Immigration total staff 9,058

Border Force total staff 8,197

The full report for 2018/19 can be found at

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2018 to 2019

2019/2020

UK Visa and Immigration total staff 10,254

Border Force total staff 9,027

The full report for 2019/20 can be found at:

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2019 to 2020

The Home Office Annual reports and accounts for 2020 to 2021 will be published in due course.

UKVI regularly reviews its capacity plans and resources. Redeploying and recruiting staff where necessary to help meet and maintain service standards for individual services.

Border Force is confident the resources to meet anticipated overall operational requirements are in place as well as recruiting sufficient additional frontline staff and continuing to build staffing levels during 2020/2021.


Written Question
Police Custody: Mental Illness
Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of forensic beds available for people with mental health conditions held in police custody.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Police custody healthcare services provide care to detainees to support their physical and mental health needs. These services do not extend to the provision of forensic beds within police custody.

The forensic, or secure, mental health estate provides inpatient hospital services to people with severe mental illness who need specialist care.

Patients may be referred by a psychiatrist to these services, or they may be placed there following a court conviction, or they may be transferred there from a prison. People in police custody may be assessed and detained under the Mental Health Act, in some cases the referral may be to a secure service.


Written Question
Human Trafficking: Organised Crime
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to tackle gangs involved in people smuggling and organised immigration crime.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The Government stands resolute in its commitment to tackle Organised Immigration Crime (OIC). We continue to pursue the Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) who facilitate illegal travel to the UK and who exploit vulnerable migrants, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations.

In March 2021, the Government published the New Plan for Immigration which contains provisions to establish legislation to deter illegal entry into the UK, thereby breaking the business model of criminal trafficking networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger. We continue to work at pace to bring this legislation forward so we can crack down on the despicable criminal gangs behind people smuggling.

The Government has taken steps to tackle OIC on social media platforms, reducing the space in which OCGs operate. In March 2021, the Immigration Compliance and Justice Minister met with the National Crime Agency and senior representatives from social media companies to discuss how they can more effectively tackle OIC online. As a result, all partners agreed to develop a joint action plan to tackle content advertising illegal OIC services. This action plan is currently awaiting agreement before implementation.

Reinforcing this commitment to tackle OIC activity online, in June 2021 the Home Secretary wrote to CEOs of key social media companies urging them to do substantially more to proactively identify and remove posts promoting OIC, particularly illegal Channel crossings.

We continue to take steps to tackle highly dangerous entry methods facilitated by these OCGs. As a result of our efforts, more than 4,000 people have been prevented from making the Channel crossing to the UK so far this year. In June 2021, the Government bolstered this effort by utilising the UK G7 Presidency, calling for firmness amongst member states in dealing with ruthless criminality that puts lives in danger and poses a risk to our border security.

The Government will continue to work tirelessly to stop the criminal networks facilitating OIC and protect the lives of those they wish to exploit.


Written Question
Extradition
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have been extradited from the UK in each year since 2018.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The following represents the number of people extradited from the UK under Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003:

YEAR

NUMBER

2018

16

2019

26

2020

21

2021 (APRIL)

5

TOTAL

68

All figures are from local management information and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change. The figures do not include Scotland, which deals with its own extradition cases.

Extraditions from the UK under Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 are handled by the National Crime Agency and statistics are published on their website:

https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/how-we-work/providing-specialist-capabilities-for-law-enforcement/fugitives-and-international-crime/european-arrest-warrants


Written Question
Police: Mental Health
Thursday 8th April 2021

Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline police officers.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Our police do a very demanding job and continue to dedicate themselves to protecting the public during this hugely challenging time. We recognise that the pandemic will have no doubt had an impact on their wellbeing. The Government and police leaders take this matter very seriously and are working to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all police officers and staff.

This includes providing ongoing funding to the National Police Wellbeing Service in England and Wales, which is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, developing work around building resilience, as well as supporting those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Government has also accelerated work to introduce a Police Covenant for England and Wales, which will ensure our police get the support and protection they need. The Covenant will be enshrined in law as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, introduced to Parliament on 9 March. The legislation provides a statutory duty for the Home Secretary to report annually to Parliament on the work undertaken. Our focus will be on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support for families, with a real emphasis on mental health support.