Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all historic data of criminal convictions in the UK affected by the technical issues with the Police National Computer, reported in January, have now been passed to relevant EU member states; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK’s Criminal Records Office (ACRO) has worked closely with technical teams in the Home Office who manage the Police National Computer (PNC) to implement a technical fix to ensure the data is shared with affected Member States.
Each affected Member State was informed when the historic data held on the PNC became available. ACRO has now sent the majority of those notifications to Member States.’
The latest issue on PNC deletions does not affect our transmission of data to the EU.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in resolving the issues which caused EU member states to not be notified of criminal convictions in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK’s Criminal Records Office (ACRO) has worked closely with technical teams in the Home Office who manage the Police National Computer (PNC) to implement a technical fix to ensure the data is shared with affected Member States.
Each affected Member State was informed when the historic data held on the PNC became available. ACRO has now sent the majority of those notifications to Member States.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021; and what plans they have to introduce similar legislation in relation to retail workers in England.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Justice is a devolved matter in Scotland and so the introduction of any new offence in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government and Parliament to consider and we will monitor the effects of the new Scottish legislation.
The Government is committed to keeping our retail environments safe by driving down violence and abuse towards shop staff. We are working with retail stakeholders through the National Retail Crime Steering Group to ensure the response to these crimes is as robust as it can be. A wide range of offences already exist which cover assaults against any worker, including shop workers. In all cases, the fact that an offence has been committed against a person serving the public will be considered an aggravating factor for the purpose of passing sentence.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 14 January (HLWS704), when their proposed reforms to the pre-charge bail process will be implemented.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government will be legislating to bring in pre-charge bail reforms at the earliest opportunity.
During the passage of any relevant legislation through both Houses, the Home Office will continue to work closely with the policing sector and those involved in the pre-charge bail process to ensure that any new measures can be understood and adopted, and that sufficient time is given for implementation.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the safety and security of consumers, and (2) the prevalence of criminal activity, in the secondhand mobile phone market.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
To help keep the public safe from crimes related to their phones, the Government works closely with the police, industry and other partners. As part of this work police forces issue advice to the public on keeping their property safe, including ensuring that the range of security features on devices are activated by consumers to prevent them being used if stolen.
The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (year ending March 2019) shows that the proportion of mobile phone owners who experienced theft of their devices in the last year continued to follow a downward trend, falling to less than 1% compared with 2.1% in March 2009 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of restrictions on the supply of nitrous oxide to young people; and what plans they have to strengthen those restrictions.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (‘the 2016 Act’) provides the legislative framework for restrictions on supply of psychoactive substances, which includes nitrous oxide. The 2016 Act makes it an offence (with limited exemptions) to intentionally supply psychoactive substances , where the person knows, or is reckless as to whether, the psychoactive substance is likely to be consumed by a person for its psychoactive effects. A review of the Act was published in November 2018, concluding that it had been effective in addressing the open sale of psychoactive substances. Further action in relation to addressing online harms, including online supply of psychoactive substances for their psychoactive effect, is set out in the Online Harms White Paper which aims to make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially for children and other vulnerable groups.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fines have been issued to people arriving in the UK who have failed to provide an address to the authorities when requested as part of the measures to fight COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
No Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued as a result of failure to supply an address.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a backlog of applications for passports; if so, what is the size of the backlog; and when they expect this backlog to be cleared.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Due to COVID-19, Her Majesty’s Passport Office continues to operate at reduced staffing levels so its people can continue to socially distance. It is therefore taking longer than usual to process passport applications.
As part of its contingency arrangements, HM Passport Office is rapidly increasing its capacity for processing passport applications, in line with public health guidance, which will help to ensure it continues to meet the travel needs of its customers.
As at 7 July 2020, work in progress of approximately 126,000 passport applications is 31% higher than at the same period last year. There are a further 284,000 applications which will need to be worked through in the coming weeks once initial documentation has been received and allocated, which is an increase of 172% from last year.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to hold an amnesty of acids and other dangerous substances in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government currently has no plans to hold an amnesty of acids and other dangerous substances in the UK. We recently strengthened the law on corrosives through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 with legislative measures specifically stopping the sale and delivery of corrosive substances to under 18s and making it an offence to possess a corrosive substance in a public place. The Act requires the publication of statutory guidance before a number of the measures can be commenced, including the corrosives measures, and this guidance will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when was the last firearms amnesty in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The National Ballistic Intelligence Service (NABIS) has coordinated several national firearms surrender campaigns removing thousands of potentially lethal items from getting into criminal hands.
Surrender campaigns were held in 2014 and 2017 with the last campaign running between 20 July and 4 August 2019.
The 2019 campaign had two key purposes. Firstly, to remove firearms from criminal availability, and secondly, to allow the public to safely surrender, without prosecution, firearms held illegally or without knowledge of the legislation, providing the opportunity to dispose of a firearm or ammunition by handing it in to the police.