Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of benefits and compensation for special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Special constables are not paid for their duties but receive out-of-pocket expenses and forces may work with local partners to provide discretionary benefits such as free local travel or council tax rebates.
Many special constables, like volunteers in other parts of society, are not motivated by financial reward.
It is important that we recognise the contribution of special constables and we continue to work with policing partners to ensure they feel valued and supported.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the rate of diversity in relation to special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Police forces that reflect the communities they serve are crucial to tackling crime in a modern diverse society. The police have worked hard to improve equality and diversity in policing and the workforce is more representative than ever before.
The Special Constabulary are currently the most ethnically diverse part of the police workforce. As of 31 March 2019, approximately 11 per cent of all special constables who have stated their ethnicity identified as black and minority ethnic background. This compared with 6.9 per cent of regular police officers who have stated their ethnicity in the same period. Females accounted for 29 per cent of all special constables, slightly lower than for full-time police officers where 30.4 per cent are female.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people from the Kurdistan Region in Iraq were refused an entry visa to the UK in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not publish the information requested. Available information on entry clearance visa applications can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2019.
Our commercial partner, TLS Contact, operates the User Pay application point in Erbil which operates five days a week (Sundays to Thursdays) between 0900 and 1600 and offers 42 appointment slots each day. The operating frequency of our outsourced operations are dictated by demand.
The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. Decisions on changes are always taken in the round and reflect key facets of the bilateral relationship with the country concerned. These will vary globally, but often include security, compliance, returns, reciprocal arrangements for UK nationals, logistics and prosperity.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to improve the visa application system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not publish the information requested. Available information on entry clearance visa applications can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2019.
Our commercial partner, TLS Contact, operates the User Pay application point in Erbil which operates five days a week (Sundays to Thursdays) between 0900 and 1600 and offers 42 appointment slots each day. The operating frequency of our outsourced operations are dictated by demand.
The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. Decisions on changes are always taken in the round and reflect key facets of the bilateral relationship with the country concerned. These will vary globally, but often include security, compliance, returns, reciprocal arrangements for UK nationals, logistics and prosperity.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether fire evacuation guidance issued by his Department includes information on the additional time required to evacuate vulnerable people.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all non-domestic premises, including parts of multi-occupied residential premises that are used in common by occupants of more than one dwelling. The Government makes available a suite of premises-specific guidance to help those with responsibilities under the Fire Safety Order to comply, including the requirement to provide suitable escape routes and emergency exits.
Supplementary guidance, which provides extra information on accessibility and means of escape for disabled people, is also made available on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department is taking to increase fire safety in (a) care homes and (b) other residential blocks.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to care homes and the parts of multi-occupied residential premises that are used in common by occupants of more than one dwelling. The Fire Safety Order requires those responsible for a premises to undertake and review regularly a fire risk assessment and put in place and maintain adequate and appropriate fire protection measures to mitigate the risk to life from fire to as low as is reasonably practicable.
The Home Office recently launched a Call for Evidence on the Fire Safety Order to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The call for evidence runs until 31 July 2019.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of potential links between serious violence, in particular knife crime, and school exclusions.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In April 2018 the Government published the Serious Violence Strategy which sets out our analysis of the risk and protective factors for involvement in serious violence. The evidence in the Strategy showed that being in care and school exclusions are markers for increased risk of both victimisation and perpetration of serious violence.
The Home Office and Department for Education continue to work together to deliver the commitment in the strategy to consider support for pupils at risk of exclusion as well as for those who have been excluded, to reduce the risk of them being drawn into crime and associated pathways.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much funding from the apprenticeship levy the House of Commons has spent in the 2018-2019 financial year to date.
Answered by Tom Brake
The expansion of the programme began in late 2018 due to procuring new training providers to fully meet the requirements of the House and, following their appointment, the programme has expanded quickly and will continue to do so. As a result for the financial year 2018–2019 the House has spent just £38,452 (9%) of its Levy, all of it on training apprentices.
The House has approximately £383,500 of the Levy remaining to the end of the 2018–19 financial year. The House is already using this amount for the full expansion of its apprenticeship programme and the ongoing enrolment of apprentices onto training. This includes the portion of the Levy funds allocated to be spent by Parliamentary Digital Services, who are planning their apprenticeships for 2019.
Of the 2018/2019 funds remaining the House will continue to spend these on apprenticeships for the coming year. These funds are not constrained by the financial years and are available on a rolling basis.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the Commission has plans to increase the (a) number and (b) range of apprenticeship programmes provided by the House of Commons.
Answered by Tom Brake
The House does not currently meet the public sector apprenticeship target but plans to meet or exceed it by March 2021. That would require around 55 apprentices per year based on current headcount. A new lead provider was appointed in September 2018 with a broader training offering. Work is also ongoing across the House to identify apprenticeship roles including upskilling of existing employees through an apprenticeship, and recruitment of new apprentices.
The House’s priority is to meet the 2.3% target by March 2021. However, if in a position to do so we will review this to see what more can be done, once the target has been met.
The number of apprenticeships offered has increased from 10 per year (2012–2018) to 12 in January 2019, with further enrolments planned over the coming months to reach around 25 to 30 apprentices by April 2019.
The range of apprenticeship programmes on offer has been expanded from two to fourteen Standards since September 2018 and this is expected to be expanded further during 2019.
A ‘Standard’ is the name of the apprenticeship training which replaced the older style ‘Frameworks’ training when the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in May 2017.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many apprentices employed by the House of Commons are working towards a degree apprenticeship qualification.
Answered by Tom Brake
At present, none of our apprentices are working towards a degree apprenticeship but we are still expanding our offering and have the capability to offer apprenticeships at this level
We are working closely with our providers to ensure that each apprenticeship is an appropriate match with the learner level and the role they are doing. In our plans for the future we envisage degree apprenticeships as part of a structured approach to our development across House teams.
We do not hold information for the House of Lords.
(a) Three apprentices are working towards a Level 2 qualification and this will rise to 16 apprentices in April;
(b) Five apprentices are working towards a Level 3 qualification with a further four apprentices enrolling in March and another four planned for later in the year
(c) One apprentice is working towards a Level 4 qualification; and
(d) Three apprentices are working towards a higher apprenticeship qualification.