Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what transitional support will be provided to the families who are already on Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are not changing the rules for those who have already gained settled status. Similarly, no reforms are planned that would remove settlement from those people already holding that status legitimately.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing additional safeguards to protect victims of rape, including the bail conditions of those charged with rape.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We recognise the devastating impact sexual violence can have and are absolutely committed to tackling rape and sexual offences and achieving the best possible outcome for victims.
We are providing £13.1m to the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP), which is driving forward Operation Soteria, ensuring police forces better support and safeguard victims of rape and use every tool at their disposal to disrupt perpetrators and bring them to justice. Tools including imposing appropriate bail conditions and applying for protective orders, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Sexual Risk Orders at the earliest opportunity.
We know there is further to go to ensure people have the confidence to report these offences and trust they will be taken seriously when they do. We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available to tackle sexual crimes.
This includes ensuring there are specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force and introducing independent legal advice for victims of adult rape, to help them to uphold their legal rights.
We are going further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG), underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published as soon as possible.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that women have confidence that they will be believed when reporting (a) assault, (b) abuse and (c) rape to the Metropolitan Police.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims. Victims must feel confident in the police’s ability to handle their case.
We know these crimes disproportionately affect women and girls and are underreported, and we will take action to ensure victims coming forward get the response they deserve. This is why we are carefully developing options to deliver key commitments including ensuring specialist rape and sexual offence teams in all police forces and fast-tracking rape cases.
We are providing £13.1 million in 2025/26 to the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) which is supporting all police forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, to ensure they relentlessly pursue perpetrators who pose the greatest risk to women and use all the tools at their disposal to protect victims and get dangerous offenders off the streets. This includes continuing to drive forward Operation Soteria, which is supporting officers to build the strongest possible, suspect-focused rape cases.
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we are going further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published as soon as possible.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Metropolitan Police leaders on safeguards to protect whistleblowers who report (a) misogyny and (b) racism.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary and I have regular meetings with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and other police leaders on a range of issues including police conduct.
Police officers have a statutory duty to report wrongdoing by their colleagues when they see it, and the College of Policing’s Code of Practice for Ethical Policing puts a duty on Chief Officers to facilitate and protect whistleblowers. The Metropolitan Police Service has a specialist unit to handle any concerns raised by “whistleblowers” with provision to come forward anonymously and to provide additional support to those who are accorded “whistleblower status” over and above their protections in wider employment and whistleblowing law. In addition, the Independent Office for Police Conduct runs a dedicated telephone line for police officers and staff.
Part 2 of the Angiolini Inquiry is also considering a range of cultural issues in policing, including whistleblowing processes, and the Government will consider any recommendations it makes carefully.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Metropolitan Police leaders on the use of metrics to assess the efficacy of cultural reform programmes introduced following the Casey Review.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is clear that discriminatory attitudes and behaviours have no place in policing. All Londoners, including women and ethnic minorities, deserve to have trust and confidence in their police force. As part of our mission to take back our streets, we have committed to restoring neighbourhood policing and halving violence against women girls and knife crime in a decade.
Since the Casey Review’s publication in March 2023, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has set out his ‘New Met for London’ plan to improve confidence in the force. The London Policing Board holds the Commissioner to account for delivery of the plan, and I engage regularly with both the Commissioner and Mayor of London on progress.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help the Metropolitan Police restore public confidence among women and ethnic minorities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is clear that discriminatory attitudes and behaviours have no place in policing. All Londoners, including women and ethnic minorities, deserve to have trust and confidence in their police force. As part of our mission to take back our streets, we have committed to restoring neighbourhood policing and halving violence against women girls and knife crime in a decade.
Since the Casey Review’s publication in March 2023, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has set out his ‘New Met for London’ plan to improve confidence in the force. The London Policing Board holds the Commissioner to account for delivery of the plan, and I engage regularly with both the Commissioner and Mayor of London on progress.