Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money Lancashire Constabulary was allowed to keep under section 298 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017; what that money was used for; and to which organisations that money was donated.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The amounts returned to Lancashire Constabulary from cash forfeited under section 298 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in the relevant financial years is given in the table below.
2014/15 | £308,066.04 |
2015/16 | £313,404.91 |
2016/17 | £289,835.26 |
The use of returned money is a matter for the individual agencies, but there is an expectation that it will be used for driving up asset recovery performance and for reducing harm; including community project funding. In monitoring the use of the money, we are aware that most of the amount returned to Lancashire Constabulary has been used to build and maintain a financial investigation capacity and capability.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of reasons for the recent rise in recorded hate crimes; and whether the Government has plans to identify crimes committed against people from alternative sub-cultures as hate crimes.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The increases in recorded hate crime is thought to be driven by general improvements by the police in how they record crime, better identification of hate crimes, willingness of victims to come forward, and a genuine increase in these offences around certain events such as the EU Referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017.
We have recently published a refreshed Hate Crime Action Plan. As part of this, we have asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of the coverage and approach of current hate crime legislative provisions. This will include consideration of whether there should be additional protected characteristics, which could include alternative sub-cultures.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that charities suspected of extremist activities are not able to register with the Charities Commission.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is determined to defeat extremism in all its forms and cut off the funding for it, which is why we conducted a review of the funding of Islamist extremism in the UK. The review found that the majority of Islamist extremist funding comes from private charitable donations in the UK; and that some extremist organisations seek to avoid regulatory oversight.
The Government’s response therefore includes working with the Charity Commission to increase the proportion of organisations registered as charities; and encourage the public to carefully consider the credentials of the organisations they donate to.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has plans to introduce legislative proposals to enable the use of artificial intelligence and recognition technology to monitor people in the UK.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government has no plans to introduce legislation in this area. Like other organisations the police are already subject to data protection and human rights legislation, and their use of image technology is also governed by the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the Fire and Rescue Services since the Winter Hill moorland fire in Lancashire.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government has provided the fire and rescue services with the support they need to tackle the Moorland fires. This includes providing specialist capabilities, including high volume pumps.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2018/19. In 2018/19, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority will receive £53.9 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 0.9% compared with 2017/18. In addition, at March 2017, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority held £36.5 million in reserves, equivalent to 68.5% of core spending power.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many live applications there are for the Windrush free citizenship scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The number of live applications is subject to frequent change. As set out in the Home Secretary’s letter to the HASC on 10 July, the next HASC update will provide further detail on those applying under the Windrush Scheme and decisions made.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for free citizenship have been made by people of the Windrush generation in Preston.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The specific information requested is not routinely collated or published geographical area by the Home Office.
To break down the number of applications in the level of detail requested would be overly resource intensive.
As set out in the Home Secretary’s letter to the HASC on 10 July, the next HASC update on the work of the Taskforce will provide further detail on those applying under the Windrush Scheme and granted citizenship.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Police UK statistics, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in the number of violence and sexual offences in Preston in the last two years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Data on the number of crimes recorded by police forces in England and Wales are published quarterly. The latest figures for Preston Community Safety Partnership (CSP) show increases in recorded violence against the person and recorded sexual offences in the years ending March 2017 and March 2018 as set out below.
|
|
| Year ending |
|
| |
| Mar-16 | Mar-17 | Mar-18 | |||
| % change | Volume | % change | Volume | % change | Volume |
Violence against the person | n/a | 3,074 | 19% | 3,657 | 38% | 5,045 |
Sexual offences | n/a | 292 | 3% | 301 | 65% | 497 |
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
The most recent national crime figures are published by the Office for National Statistic in ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018Overall, violence recorded by police forces in England and Wales increased by 19% in the year ending March 2018, and recorded sexual offences increased by 24% over the same period. The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said that this increase is largely due to improvements in crime recording by police forces, and the increased willingness of victims to report such crimes to the police. The ONS has also noted that there have been genuine rises in some low-volume, high-harm categories of violence, notably knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our Serious Violence Strategy, published on 9 April, puts greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote a strong law enforcement response.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how he plans to commemorate Anti-slavery Day on 18 October 2018.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Anti-slavery Day is marked by the UK annually to raise awareness of the horrific crime of modern slavery. I will announce my own plans for a range of events to mark the day in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle the use of drones over (a) power plants and (b) prisons.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We are taking decisive steps to tackle the use of drones by criminals to convey contraband into prisons. Last year saw the launch of Operation Trenton, a joint team of specialist police and prison investigators, working together to intercept drones and track down the criminals behind them. To date, there have been at least 30 convictions related to drone activity, with those sentenced serving a total of more than 100 years in prison.
Government and industry take the protective security of all energy infrastructure very seriously. As the lead department for energy, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy works with industry partners to review and assess all risks to ensure that energy networks are resilient to disruption, be that from malicious attack or hazards such as adverse weather conditions. The Government has outlined plans to explore options related to 'No Drone Flying Zones' around national infrastructure sites including power stations.
Government introduced The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018 on 30 May, which when fully implemented in 2019, will create a mandatory registration scheme for drone operators. The legislation will also require drone operators to obtain an acknowledgement of competency from the Civil Aviation Authority.