Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) individuals and (b) family groups with a noted connection to West Ham constituency her Department is monitoring for inclusion within the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme is not yet open and remains under development.
As set out in the ‘Dear colleague’ letter to MP’s in September, the circumstances in Afghanistan are such that information regarding constituents’ friends and family members is not possible to obtain or may change very quickly. Regrettably, the Home Office is therefore unable to provide a response to correspondence relating to individuals still in Afghanistan.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the cases of constituents' family members raised by hon. Members are considered under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme is not yet open and remains under development.
As set out in the ‘Dear colleague’ letter to MP’s in September, the circumstances in Afghanistan are such that information regarding constituents’ friends and family members is not possible to obtain or may change very quickly. Regrettably, the Home Office is therefore unable to provide a response to correspondence relating to individuals still in Afghanistan.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the resource impact for (a) police services and (b) Home Office Immigration Enforcement of increases in the population under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements supervision.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (“MAPPA”) are a framework of statutory arrangements, under which the Police and Prison and Probation Services, with the co-operation of other agencies, are required jointly to assess and manage the risk presented by known sexual and violent offenders in order to reduce re-offending and protect the public.
We have provided the police with the resources they need to fight crime and protect the public, which would include their responsibilities under the MAPPA framework. In 2021/22, we increased funding for policing by up to £636 million compared to the previous year. This follows the largest increase in funding for more than a decade in 2020/21. Moreover, Home Office Immigration Enforcement (HOIE) are responsible for supporting MAPPA in the management of certain foreign national offenders and remain committed to meeting their ongoing obligations. This includes representation at MAPPA meetings or providing updates where requested, and allows any issues to be raised and escalated, if needed.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on trends in the level of hate crimes occurring as a result of (a) the content hosted on lilycade.com during recent months and (b) the BBC’s reporting on Lily Cade on 26 October 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Home Office hold no data in relation to any specific impact on the risk of hate crimes arising from the content hosted on lilycade.com. We keep all hate crime trends and risks under regular review.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent abuse of the Interpol red notices system for political reasons by states abusing the human rights of (a) Uyghur people, (b) political opponents of the Russian Government, (c) human rights activists in China and (d) journalists.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government strongly supports INTERPOL in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character. The Government views any allegation of misuse of INTERPOL’s systems very seriously and works closely with INTERPOL to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
All Red Notices are subject to review by a multidisciplinary Notices and Diffusions Task Force in INTERPOL prior to publication to ensure legal compliance and prevent abuse of INTERPOL systems. In November 2019 the Home Office seconded a senior lawyer to INTERPOL to support the work of the Taskforce.
The UK is committed to the principle of non-refoulement and has repeatedly called on other countries to respect their obligations not to force persons to return to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of an expert-led public awareness campaign on male violence against women and girls, following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We have recently published the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets.
The new strategy commits this government to using communications to create behaviour change that targets and challenge perpetrators, educates young people about healthy relationships and consent, and ensures victims can recognise abuse and non-contact sexual offending. The Strategy was informed by an unprecedented 180,000 responses from the general public and stakeholders as part of our Call for Evidence.
The campaign follows the swift action at the beginning of the pandemic last year where the Government launched the #YouAreNotAlone campaign. The campaign raised awareness of domestic abuse and the support available to those suffering from it, signposting those seeking support to the gov.uk domestic abuse support page Domestic abuse: how to get help - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) where they can access support services, including Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline. The campaign reached millions of people through digital advertising, and specialist community engagement activity with campaign materials translated into 16 languages.
We also launched and promoted the ‘Ask for ANI’ codeword scheme which provides a simple and discreet way for domestic abuse victims to signal that they need immediate help using a codeword in participating pharmacies. Almost half of all pharmacies across the UK, including Boots, are now participating in the scheme, following the launch in January 2021.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report, What Works For Ending Public Sexual Harassment published by Plan International UK in September 2021, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations on pages 56 and 57 of that report.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is absolutely committed to tackling all forms of abuse against women and girls, including sexual harassment. No one should feel unsafe while going about their daily life.
Our new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published on 21 July 2021, confirmed that:
In our examination of the existing law and our delivery of the non-legislative commitments set out above, we will pay close attention to the responses which we received to the Call for Evidence for the VAWG Strategy, and to the work of specialist campaigners in this area, including Plan International UK.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the statement, Government prioritises wellbeing and mental health of officers in new package to support police, published on 10 July 2019, what progress her Department has made in improving the mental health services available to police officers in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
It is important that police officers have the training and skills to be able to identify when a person is vulnerable and intervene appropriately with people experiencing a mental health crisis. This does not mean that the police should be able to diagnose specific illnesses or disabilities, but they need to know when intervention from partner agencies – such as health professionals – may be necessary.
Training on mental-ill health is integrated throughout the initial police learning programme which all new recruits must complete. Many individual forces have also developed their own training programmes, including joint training with partner agencies, including local Mental Health trusts.
Street Triage schemes also exist, where mental health professionals and the police work together to co-ordinate the right response to people experiencing a mental health crisis. These schemes have been shown to make an immediate and positive impact on the lives of people when they are particularly vulnerable.
In relation to the mental health of police officers, the Government and police leaders take this 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.
Since the announcement on 10 July 2019, the Government has 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 is on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support for families, with a real emphasis on mental health support. Our initial priorities for the Covenant include ensuring occupational health standards are embedded in forces, the consideration of appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing in England and Wales, and the development of pre-deployment mental health support. This will all help towards improving the consistency and quality of wellbeing support police officers receive.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page nine of the report, Picking Up The Pieces, by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, published in November 2018, what plans she has to help improve the consistency and quality of mental health services available to police officers in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
It is important that police officers have the training and skills to be able to identify when a person is vulnerable and intervene appropriately with people experiencing a mental health crisis. This does not mean that the police should be able to diagnose specific illnesses or disabilities, but they need to know when intervention from partner agencies – such as health professionals – may be necessary.
Training on mental-ill health is integrated throughout the initial police learning programme which all new recruits must complete. Many individual forces have also developed their own training programmes, including joint training with partner agencies, including local Mental Health trusts.
Street Triage schemes also exist, where mental health professionals and the police work together to co-ordinate the right response to people experiencing a mental health crisis. These schemes have been shown to make an immediate and positive impact on the lives of people when they are particularly vulnerable.
In relation to the mental health of police officers, the Government and police leaders take this 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.
Since the announcement on 10 July 2019, the Government has 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 is on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support for families, with a real emphasis on mental health support. Our initial priorities for the Covenant include ensuring occupational health standards are embedded in forces, the consideration of appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing in England and Wales, and the development of pre-deployment mental health support. This will all help towards improving the consistency and quality of wellbeing support police officers receive.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Home Department, with reference to page 53 of the 2020-21 annual Victims Commissioner Report published on 21 July 2021, how she plans to create confidence and trust in the Criminal Justice System for rape victims who are considering reporting an offence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In the recently published end-to-end rape review the Government set out its position that victims of rape should feel confident that only data that is relevant to their investigation will be taken from their digital devices.
We will enable this by providing strong protections for victims’ most sensitive personal information in law, enabled by the appropriate technology.
The information extraction clauses under Chapter 3 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will ensure that only information that is necessary and proportionate for an investigation is asked for from a victim.
The Code of Practice that will accompany the PCSC Bill provides detailed guidance on when and how these powers should be used. The code makes clear that device users have the right to refuse, and it also contains specific guidance on the use of the powers with victims who may be vulnerable due to the trauma they may have experienced and who may need more support.
However, legislation is only part of the solution. Whilst there are some promising new technologies, existing data extraction technology does not always provide the ability to limit appropriately what is being taken from a digital device.
To directly tackle this challenge, we will be bringing the Criminal Justice System and industry together through a joint Ministerial led technology summit to develop rapid, innovative, technological solutions. With digital evidence increasing in volume and prevalence, it is vital that we harness technology to find solutions to challenges in capacity and in our capability to effectively extract, analyse and review only relevant data from digital devices in a way which fast and not intrusive for the victim,
Using the Summit to identify innovative solutions, we will work with the policing sector to trial technologies through via Operation Soteria to identify where innovations can be scaled up at pace to make a difference for victims. The Summit will also build valuable, sustainable partnerships to ensure we continue to innovate, at pace, as threats and challenges evolve.