Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces and (b) local authorities on the (a) effectiveness of current legislation on and (b) adequacy of resources for encouraging responsible dog ownership in public areas.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police and local authorities with a range of flexible tools and powers, including Community Protection Notices, Civil Injunctions and Public Spaces Protection Orders, that they can use to tackle irresponsible dog ownership.
Appropriate use of the powers is a local decision for police, local authorities and other agencies; however, the Home Office regularly engages with police and local authority partners to discuss the effectiveness of the legislation.
Set against our Safer Streets Mission, this government is committed to reducing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We are making changes to some of the powers in the 2014 Act via the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament last month, to ensure the powers – based on engagement with police and local authorities – are as effective as possible. These changes include increasing the upper limit for a fixed penalty notice for breaches of Community Protection Notices and Public Spaces Protection Orders from £100 to £500 to act as a stronger deterrent to ASB.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including pension fraud as part of the Government's forthcoming fraud strategy.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government committed in our manifesto to introduce an expanded Fraud Strategy, which will cover all relevant types of fraud where criminals target the UK public and businesses, including pension fraud.
We will be engaging all relevant stakeholders in the development of the Strategy, and further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support the long-term funding of Leicestershire Police.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The 2024-25 police funding settlement provides Leicestershire Police with funding of up to £256.0 million in 2024-25. The Home Office will provide additional government grant funding of £175 million to policing in 2024-25 to support the costs of the 2024 police pay award, from which Leicestershire will receive a further £2.4 million.
The Budget published on 30 October confirmed that the core government grant for police forces in England and Wales will increase in 2025-26. Further details and force level allocations will be set out at the forthcoming provisional settlement in December.
Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase 2 of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) police chiefs, (b) other statutory bodies and (c) third party bodies and community organisations to progress the her Department's objective to halve knife crime in a decade.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government has launched a coalition to tackle knife crime with campaign groups, charities and victims’ families alongside key partners.
The coalition will bring together key stakeholders and work with experts to develop an extensive understanding of what causes young people to be involved in knife crime as well as holding government departments to account for progress in halving knife crime in a decade
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what initial steps her Department is taking to progress the Government’s objective to halve knife crime in a decade.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Halving knife crime over the next decade is a moral mission for this Government and we are already taking a range of initial steps to realise this ambition.
We implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes approved by Parliament in April. It is now illegal to manufacture, supply, sell or possess these dangerous weapons. We will also introduce a ban on Ninja swords as soon as possible. We will be launching a consultation shortly and plan to introduce the legislation afterwards when Parliamentary time allows.
Intervening early to stop young people being drawn into crime is a fundamental part of our approach and that is why we are creating a new Young Futures Programme. It is vital that we have a system to identify and support this cohort who need it most and we will be introducing Local Prevention Partnerships and Young Futures Hubs to help deliver this.
The Prime Minister launched a Coalition to tackle the scourge of knife crime last month. The Coalition will bring together key stakeholders to work with experts to develop an extensive understanding of what causes young people to be dragged into violence.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will undertake a review of levels of public awareness of the roles and responsibilities of Action Fraud in investigating fraud-related crimes.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We are working with City of London Police to replace Action Fraud with a new and improved national police reporting service for fraud and cyber crime. The new service will use the latest technology to improve reporting tools and support services for victims, providing far greater intelligence to policing for investigations, and allowing for greater prevention and disruption at scale.
In the meantime, Action Fraud have developed a calendar of campaign activity underpinned by data and insight, to encourage reporting to the service, increase public confidence and impact behaviour.
Action Fraud and Cyber Protect also deliver national campaigns and helped to amplify national campaign activity from a host of partners, including the National Crime Agency (NCA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre, and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK-based websites have been closed down by (a) a law enforcement agency and (b) an internet service provider for (i) selling and (ii) marketing drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. As part of our 10-year Drugs Strategy, the Government is committed to driving down drugs supply in the UK, including through tough law enforcement against the sale of drugs online.
Law enforcement agencies work routinely with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be selling drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, however, data on the number of websites closed down is not collected.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken with (a) law enforcement agencies and (b) internet service providers to remove social media posts that (i) sell and market drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and (ii) commit other offences in the last (A) 12 months and (B) five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. As part of our 10-year Drugs Strategy, the Government is committed to driving down drugs supply in the UK, including through tough law enforcement against the sale of drugs online. Law enforcement agencies work with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be selling drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and committing other offences.
Further measures to tackle the sale of controlled drugs and other offences are included in the Online Safety Bill, which was introduced on 17 March 2022, and is currently undergoing passage through Parliament. Under this legislation tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content online. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker. Illegal content covered will include terrorist material, child sexual exploitation and abuse material, hate crime, fraud and the sale of illegal drugs or weapons.
The Government has invested in specialist investigation teams at regional and national level to provide the relevant knowledge, skills and capabilities for enforcement online. This includes a number of harm-specific units that refer illegal content to social media companies so it can be taken down, in accordance with platforms’ terms and conditions.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on tackling the (a) marketing and (b) sale of illegal steroids in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Drugs ruin lives and devastate communities, which is why the Government is committed to tackling both the supply and demand for drugs, including illicit anabolic steroids. Our ten-year Drug Strategy, From Harm to Hope, sets out a whole system approach to combat illicit drugs, through its three priorities: breaking drug supply chains; delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system; and achieving a significant reduction in demand for illicit drugs.
Anabolic steroids are controlled as Class C substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 because of the physical and psychological harms they cause. It is an offence to produce or supply steroids without a licence, unless a lawful exemption applies. It is also an offence to possess, import or export steroids with the intent to supply them, unless a licence or an exemption (for example, in healthcare) applies.
Law enforcement agencies continue to work with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences such as selling or marketing drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. And further measures to tackle the sale of controlled drugs – including the unlawful supply of anabolic steroids - are included in the Online Safety Bill, with companies required to take action to prevent criminal activity. If they fail to comply, they risk stiff financial penalties or in the most serious cases, having their sites blocked by the independent regulator, Ofcom.