Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on improving educational opportunities for special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We continue to work closely with National Policing leads to ensure consistency across forces in order to strengthen the national approach to special constables, including their development.
It is the responsibility of individual police forces to ensure that special constables receive the training required to carry out the role and decisions on how to train Special constables are taken locally by the Chief Constable.
The College of Policing provides bespoke training programmes for special constables as well as national guidance on police standards, including training, which forces can access.
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 potential merits of using online education for training special constables.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We continue to work closely with National Policing leads to ensure consistency across forces in order to strengthen the national approach to special constables, including their development.
It is the responsibility of individual police forces to ensure that special constables receive the training required to carry out the role and decisions on how to train Special constables are taken locally by the Chief Constable.
The College of Policing provides bespoke training programmes for special constables as well as national guidance on police standards, including training, which forces can access.
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 potential merits of online modules in the teaching of the Special Constabulary curriculum.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We continue to work closely with National Policing leads to ensure consistency across forces in order to strengthen the national approach to special constables, including their development.
It is the responsibility of individual police forces to ensure that special constables receive the training required to carry out the role and decisions on how to train Special constables are taken locally by the Chief Constable.
The College of Policing provides bespoke training programmes for special constables as well as national guidance on police standards, including training, which forces can access.
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 potential merits of special constables being paid.
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 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.