Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the UK Municipal Bonds Agency; and what the (a) number and (b) value of loans it has provided to local authorities has been in each year since its establishment.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the current system, authorities are responsible for their own borrowing and investment decisions and are accountable to their electorate. Authorities have wide freedoms to borrow from any source, provided it is affordable. Authorities must however, ensure they comply with their statutory duties under the Prudential Framework, and have regard to the four statutory codes that set out best practice.
The Government collects aggregate data on local authorities borrowing and investment activity commensurate to its stewardship function and monitoring of risk, but does not routinely assess the use of borrowing from specific sources such as the UK Municipal Bonds Agency (UKMBA) or the effectiveness of lenders. The UKMBA is owned by local government, central government has no role in the operations of the agency.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on the establishment of a new national cyber crime force; and what recent steps her Department has taken to provide the police with new technologies to help reduce crime.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Fraud is a national threat and often cases can be complex and sophisticated. It is therefore paramount our policing colleagues have what they need to keep pace with criminals and encourage innovation within industry. That is why, through the Spending Review 21 settlement and the Economic Crime Levy an overall package over the next three years of circa £400 million is being used to tackle economic crime, including fraud.
This funding will be used to replace and upgrade Action Fraud with a new national Fraud and Cyber Reporting and Analysis Service which will gather better analysis to improve the number, quality and timeliness of information packages given to police and expand fraud investigation teams across all Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) and increase investigative capacity in the City of London Police (CoLP). This funding will also support the National Crime Agency, (NCA) to increase their capabilities on fraud.
The pilot of a national cyber crime force focused on fraud, based in the NCA was set out in the 2021 Statement of Progress on the Economic Crime Plan. The NCA’s pilot has delivered new tasking, intelligence and strategic communications capabilities in the NCA. This new national cyber crime force focused on fraud will be fully established by 2025.
Later this year, we will publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud. This will further set out how we will work with law enforcement to tackle fraud and bring offenders to justice.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, what steps she has taken to improve the (a) safety and (b) security of public venues.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government, working with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) and the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), continues to ensure that all stakeholders have access to the advice, training and guidance to ensure they understand terrorist threats and measures which can be taken to protect their staff and the public.
To further support delivery across the public and private sector and sharing of CT content, the Home Office has collaborated with NaCTSO and Pool Reinsurance to develop a new interactive online platform; ProtectUK. The platform was released at Security & Policing 2022 and is gathering feedback ahead of a more formal, public launch later this year.
Whilst our engagement and advice has done much to improve security and preparedness measures at public places, this is undertaken on a voluntary basis. This Government announced our intention to introduce a ‘Protect Duty’ in legislation. The new duty will seek to improve the safety and security at public venues through the application of proportionate security measures.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 20 June 2022 to Question 19015 on Medical Treatments: Innovation, if his Department will take steps to help ensure that research and data collected by the (a) Innovative Medicines Fund and (b) Cancer Drugs Fund will be shared with NHS bodies in the devolved legislatures.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There are existing mechanisms in place where the outcomes of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) and the Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) are available to the devolved administrations. Medicines funded through the CDF and subsequently from the IMF are re-appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to determine whether the products can be routinely funded by the National Health Service, including with evidence generated through the CDF and IMF. NICE publishes the papers considered by its appraisal committees online, including the outcomes from data collected through the CDF and IMF on outstanding clinical uncertainties.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) help tackle unauthorised encampments established by travellers, (b) introduce new powers for the police to seize (i) vehicles and (ii) other property owned by people who trespass and (c) make intentional trespass a criminal offence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which received Royal Assent in April, strengthened the police’s powers to arrest and seize the vehicles and other property of those who set up unauthorised encampments and cause damage, disruption or distress.
The measures also extend the powers of the police to direct trespassers to leave land.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to strengthen the accountability of Police and Crime Commissioners; what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Police and Crime Commissioner position since it was established; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In March 2022 we completed a two-part Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Review, delivering on the manifesto commitment to strengthen and expand the role of PCCs. Ten years on from the introduction of the PCC model, it is right to have stepped back and evaluated the role of PCCs to ensure we can continue to evolve the model.
Recommendations from the Review will sharpen local accountability, improve transparency and enhance the public’s ability to hold their PCC to account for their record on reducing crime.
The package of reforms will also ensure that PCCs have the necessary tools and levers to cut crime in their local areas; turning the dial on their involvement in the criminal justice system, including establishing the foundations for a greater role in offender management; improving their levers in local partnerships; and increasing their access to criminal justice data.
We are working closely with our partners to implement these important reforms as quickly as possible, including legislating when parliamentary time allows.
Recommendations from Part One of the review were announced to Parliament on 16 March 2021 here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-03-16/debates/21031653000006/PoliceAndCrimeCommissionerReviewConcludingPartOne.
Recommendations from Part Two of the review were announced to Parliament on 7 March 2022 here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-03-07/hcws664.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to establish a National Crime Laboratory.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Establishing a National Crime and Justice Laboratory is part of the Government’s ambition to make better use of data in the fight against crime.
We are working closely with stakeholders from across the Criminal Justice System to deliver this manifesto commitment. This has included a project working with stakeholders and suppliers to explore the technical requirements needed to underpin its development.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on recruiting new police officers; and what the breakdown of operational officer numbers was for each of the past seven years in (a) the UK and (b) North Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office publishes a quarterly update on the number of officers (in headcount terms) in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA). Data are available here: Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Home Office collects and publishes information on officers in England and Wales only.
The latest statistics show that as at March 2022 police forces in England and Wales have recruited 13,576 additional officers as part of the Police Uplift Programme. In North Wales 164 additional officers have been recruited.
While the ‘Police officer uplift’ statistical bulletin provides a timely update on overall officer numbers, the Home Office also collects and publishes data on the size and composition of the police workforce in England and Wales on a biannual basis in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. These biannual statistics remain the key measure of the size of the police workforce and provide information on both a headcount and a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis.
Information on the total number of officers in England and Wales in each financial year since 2003 can be found in table H3 of the data tables which accompany the latest publication:
Information on the number and proportion of officers performing frontline roles (both visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline) by financial year is published in table F5.
Both these tables are presented in full-time equivalent terms and should therefore not be directly compared with the ‘Police officer uplift’ statistics, which are published in headcount terms.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has taken steps to reduce the number of assessments a disabled person is required to go through in order to access support when a significant change in their circumstances is unlikely.
Answered by Chloe Smith
In 2018 we introduced updated PIP guidance which ensures that those people who receive the highest level of support, and where their needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten-year point.
We have also made good progress in reducing repeat assessments. For example, through the Severe Conditions criteria, we have stopped repeat assessments for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit for people with the most severe and lifelong conditions.
We also announced in the Green Paper last year that we will test a new Severe Disability Group (SDG) so that those with severe and lifelong conditions can benefit from a simplified process to access PIP, ESA and Universal Credit without needing to go through a face-to-face assessment or frequent reassessments. We will consider the test results once complete to influence thinking on the next stages of this work.
We have and will continue to look at our benefit processes and procedures to ensure that the overall claimant experience is what they rightly expect and deserve.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken for a person charged with knife possession to have their first appearance before a magistrate is; and what that average length of time was in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.
Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.
We are investing £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of new magistrates. Over the next three financial years we are aiming to recruit 4,000 new magistrates.
As a result of these measures, in the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022.
The table below sets out timeliness of magistrates' courts cases for charge to first listing before a magistrate (known also as first hearing, or first appearance) for the offences of:
Calendar Year | Charge or laying of information to first listing (mean days) | Charge or laying of information to first listing (median days) |
2017 | 19 | 16 |
2018 | 21 | 17 |
2019 | 23 | 17 |
2020 | 32 | 21 |
2021 | 35 | 20 |
Notes
1) Data excludes a small number of cases with identified data quality issues and breaches.
2) Only one offence is counted for each defendant in the case. If there is more than one offence per defendant that complete on the same day, a set of validation rules applies to select one offence only and these relate to the longest duration, seriousness and the lowest sequence number of the offence.
3) Data includes cases completed in the magistrates' courts during the specified time period, where no further action is required by the magistrates' courts.
4) Data includes cases that are sent to the Crown Court.
5) Following a technical issue a small amount of data (less than 1% of case disposals) was not included for a single day in September.
Further information on Magistrates' Courts Timeliness can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2021.