Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is offering additional support to the London Fire Brigade in light of the recent wildfires.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government intends to research the issue further, looking at the impacts of portable and disposable barbecues on the environment. This research will also include the impact of sky lanterns which may be a factor in causing wildfires.
Should the evidence indicate that these items represent a risk, we will of course examine the most appropriate options available to protect our precious natural environment for ours and future generations.
At a local level, each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfires) through their Integrated Risk Management Plan. This will include plans to prevent and respond to incidents and Fire and Rescue Services will have regard to other key local responders including landowners and other emergency services in their planning.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to future proof fire brigades in tackling wildfire and other fire incidents as a result of extreme weather events.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government intends to research the issue further, looking at the impacts of portable and disposable barbecues on the environment. This research will also include the impact of sky lanterns which may be a factor in causing wildfires.
Should the evidence indicate that these items represent a risk, we will of course examine the most appropriate options available to protect our precious natural environment for ours and future generations.
At a local level, each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfires) through their Integrated Risk Management Plan. This will include plans to prevent and respond to incidents and Fire and Rescue Services will have regard to other key local responders including landowners and other emergency services in their planning.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure Ukrainian refugees have safe access routes to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine Scheme can be applied for online from abroad and the Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Extension Scheme can be applied for from within the UK.
The UK Government rapidly created three Ukraine visa schemes to support Ukrainians who wish to seek refuge in the UK or extend their existing stay here, each for a 3 year period with full access to benefits and the right to work and rent.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to help protect women and girls in (a) the home environment and (b) public places who are at risk of domestic violence.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms. The landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021 established a wide-ranging statutory definition of domestic abuse that incorporates a range of abusive behaviours beyond physical violence, and brings in important new protections including Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPNs) and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) to provide flexible, longer-term protection for victims from all forms of domestic abuse.
Accompanying this legislation, in July 2022 the Government published detailed statutory guidance outlining the many forms domestic abuse can take to ensure that domestic abuse is properly understood by public agencies seeking to tackle this abhorrent crime and provide adequate support to victims.
In July 2021, the cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy was published to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets. In March 2022 we published a complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022 which seeks to transform the whole of society’s response to prevent offending, support victims, pursue perpetrators. In the Plan, Government committed to:
To help protect women and girls in public places and raise awareness of VAWG, in March 2022, the Government launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and to help create an atmosphere in which women and girls can report such crimes to the police with confidence.
These measures will strengthen protections and support for women and girls at home and in public places, who are at risk of domestic violence and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what precautionary safety mechanisms her Department is helping to establish and support in London to tackle and prevent violence against women.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is determined to tackle and prevent VAWG wherever it occurs.
To support preventing and tackling these crimes in London, we have:
In addition, the Metropolitan Police are rolling out Domestic Abuse Matters training to their officers, to support their response to domestic abuse incidents.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to tackle the recent increase in violence against women in North East London.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is determined to tackle and prevent VAWG wherever it occurs.
To support preventing and tackling these crimes in London, we have:
In addition, the Metropolitan Police are rolling out Domestic Abuse Matters training to their officers, to support their response to domestic abuse incidents.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle the root causes of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a government priority. VAWG is an unacceptable, preventable issue which blights the lives of millions.
One year on from the publication of the Tackling VAWG Strategy, we have made significant progress and delivered a number of key commitments to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online, at work and in public spaces. This includes action to tackle the causes of these crimes. We have:
o supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for VAWG, DCC Maggie Blyth, to help strengthen the police response;
o ratified the Istanbul Convention on 21 July 2022, demonstrating to women in the UK and to our partners overseas our commitment to tackling VAWG;
o launched the first phase of our national communications campaign, ‘Enough’, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society, educate young people about healthy relationships and consent, and ensure victims can recognise abuse and receive support;
o announced that we will add VAWG to the Strategic Policing Requirement meaning it will be set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse;
o allocated £55 million to communities through the Safer Streets Fund and Safety of Women at Night Fund, including for extra CCTV, streetlighting and work to change attitudes and work to preventing VAWG in public spaces at night;
o published a refreshed National Statement of Expectations and accompanying VAWG Commissioning Toolkit to outline the activity that local areas should undertake to ensure victims and survivors of VAWG get the help and support they need;
o criminalised virginity testing, to send a clear message that this practice is wholly unacceptable in our society;
o appointed joint Transport Champions to help make public transport safer for women and girls; and
o piloted a tool, StreetSafe, which enables the public to anonymously report areas where they feel unsafe.
In addition, in May 2022, the Home Office launched a competition on What Works to prevent violence against women and girls. This will provide multi-year funding to providers and be accompanied by extensive evaluation to increase our understanding of what works.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent engagement her Department has had with charities specialising in support for victims of domestic violence.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In July 2021, the Government published a cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, at work, online and on the streets. This was followed by the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in March 2022.
In developing these strategies, we engaged closely with charities and organisations on the frontline supporting victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. We also worked with police and other public agencies, as well as engaging victims with lived experience through the public Call for Evidence, which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses. We held stakeholder roundtables with representatives from both the charity and public sector, held focus groups with expert organisations and professionals and received written submissions from expert respondents which provided information on scope, scale, and prevalence of these crimes.
In November 2021, as part of wider Domestic Abuse Act 2021 implementation, the role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner was placed on a statutory footing to represent victims through engagement with the sector and promoting best practice in the response to domestic abuse. The Home Office also ran wide-reaching public consultations for the recently published Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and draft Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance, inviting all interested stakeholders to respond.
We also hold regular VAWG stakeholder engagement meetings to keep the sector directly informed of upcoming work and developments in this area, respond to questions and invite stakeholder feedback.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent engagement her Department has had with charities helping to tackle violence against women and girls.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In July 2021, the Government published a cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, at work, online and on the streets. This was followed by the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in March 2022.
In developing these strategies, we engaged closely with charities and organisations on the frontline supporting victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. We also worked with police and other public agencies, as well as engaging victims with lived experience through the public Call for Evidence, which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses. We held stakeholder roundtables with representatives from both the charity and public sector, held focus groups with expert organisations and professionals and received written submissions from expert respondents which provided information on scope, scale, and prevalence of these crimes.
In November 2021, as part of wider Domestic Abuse Act 2021 implementation, the role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner was placed on a statutory footing to represent victims through engagement with the sector and promoting best practice in the response to domestic abuse. The Home Office also ran wide-reaching public consultations for the recently published Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and draft Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance, inviting all interested stakeholders to respond.
We also hold regular VAWG stakeholder engagement meetings to keep the sector directly informed of upcoming work and developments in this area, respond to questions and invite stakeholder feedback.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's timeframe is for making a decision on cases referred to UK Visas and Immigration Chief Casework Unit.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) for individual cases referred to the Chief Caseworker Unit is 14 days.
The Chief Caseworker Unit’s purpose is to put the customer at the centre of what we do. The unit receives referrals that seek additional support in their decision making. The unit will help overcome barriers to effective decision making, using discretionary and ethical consideration as appropriate. The centralised position of the unit can identify potential cross cutting issues and so will act as an interface with partners/policy and operational areas to develop longer term and sustainable solutions.