Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of progress made on tackling violent crime since the implementation of the Serious Violence Strategy.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to delivering on the people’s priorities by tackling violent crime and giving the police the resources and powers they need to fight crime. Building on the implementation of the 2018 Serious Violence Strategy, in January this year we announced the biggest funding increase in a decade for the police system and we are recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers over next three years including 6,000 additional officers by the end of financial year 2020/21.
In the 18 Police Force areas worst affected by serious violence, we have invested a total of £176.5 million over 2 years (2019-21) to deliver a whole-systems response. Of this funding £106.5 million has been deployed to enhance the Police’s operational response and £70 million has funded the establishment of local, multi-agency Violence Reduction Units to address the drivers of serious violence. Tackling serious violence will be backed with £119 million in 2020-21, which includes £20 million to tackle county lines drug dealing.
In 2018, this Government also invested £200 million in a 10-year Youth Endowment (YEF) Fund to prevent children most at risk, from becoming involved in violent crime. An extra £5 million has been awarded to the YEF in 2020 to develop a National Centre for Excellence to help transform how the UK tackles serious violence.
It was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 19 December that we will be bringing forward legislation that will place new duties on a range of specified agencies across different sectors to work collaboratively, share data and information, and put in place plans to prevent and reduce serious violence.
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 she is taking to support individuals of all ages to gain British Citizenship after being born to parents serving in the UK armed forces overseas.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Under current legislation a person born overseas to a member of the UK armed forces will be a British citizen automatically if this parent is a British citizen.
A person born after 13 January 2010 to a parent who is not a British citizen but was serving in the UK armed forces has an entitlement to register as a British citizen.
In other cases, a child under the age of 18 can apply for registration at the Home Secretary’s discretion; adults would need to meet the requirements for naturalisation. The Ministry of Defence will provide the necessary support and guidance, with the tri services welfare teams and Family Federation welfare groups providing a reliable source of information for those who may be eligible for this.
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 she is taking to ensure that Windrush compensation payments are processed and resolved efficiently.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
We are processing claims as quickly as possible, but all claims are different, and the time taken will depend on many factors, including the complexity of the case. We are committed to working with the claimant to ensure all possible information is taken into account and this will have an impact on the length of time it takes to process the claim. Wherever possible, we make interim payments on parts of the claim that are straightforward to determine, such as immigration fees, thereby speeding up the provision of compensation.
Our recently published statistics on the payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme, show a clear increasing trajectory of payments: £362,997 paid in the first 12 months of the scheme, of which £300,799 was paid in the most recent three months of that period.
The Home Office has now offered a total of more than £1 million in compensation through the scheme. Once the offers are accepted by the applicants, the payments will be made.
We work with claimants throughout the process to obtain as much information about the claim as possible. This approach ensures that claimants receive the maximum possible amount to which they are entitled under the scheme.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, what steps her Department is taking to protect individuals from abusive partners during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We are working closely with domestic abuse charities, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and police to monitor the impact of covid-19 on incidents of domestic abuse.
The Government has posted advice regarding national helplines on gov.uk to guide victims to the most appropriate support for their individual needs. This has been extensively promoted through our awareness raising campaign #YouAreNotAlone.
The Home Office has provided £2m of funding including to help bolster such helplines at this time; £1.2m of this has been allocated. This is in addition to the £750 million funding package announced by the Chancellor, £76 million of which will support survivors of?domestic abuse, sexual violence and modern slavery?as well as ensure that vulnerable children and young people continue to get the help they need. From this funding the HO launched a £2m fund for national and regionally based domestic abuse organisations, bids to which are currently being assessed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government's press release of 2 May 2020, Emergency funding to support most vulnerable in society during pandemic, how much of that funding has been allocated to support survivors of domestic abuse in Bosworth constituency.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office, Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have all published guidance on bidding for the additional funding designed to support domestic abuse charities during this period. The bidding and assessment processes are currently underway.
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 she is taking to prevent an increase in the level of domestic violence cases during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is working to ensure that support services continue to be available to those that need them that information on these is widely available, and that perpetrators will be brought to justice. The police will continue to respond to any reports of domestic abuse and to prioritise 999 calls. We have made clear that advice to remain at home does not apply to those who need to leave home for safety reasons.
The Chancellor has announced a funding package of some £750m to support charities including those providing domestic abuse services to support vulnerable adults and children during the crisis.
The Home Secretary has announced £2 million of funding to immediately bolster technological capabilities of domestic abuse services to ensure that those at risk of domestic abuse, including vulnerable adults and children, are able to access support they need.
The Government has also launched the #YouAreNotAlone awareness raising campaign to signpost those at risk of domestic abuse to support.
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 she is taking to ensure the adequacy and appropriateness of immigration policy during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office regularly reviews immigration policy and has taken a number of steps to ensure no one will be penalised for circumstances outside of their control.
We have acted on feedback from customers and stakeholders and worked with other Government departments to take a compassionate and pragmatic approach to an unprecedented situation.