Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has provided to fire and rescue services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Government funding for fire and rescue services in England is provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through the Local Government Finance Settlement in the form of revenue support grant (RSG) and retained business rates.
The amount of funding that fire and rescue services receive is determined and distributed using a formula owned by MHCLG. The amount of funding received by fire and rescue services in each of the last five years is as follows:
Year | Funding amount |
2020/21 | around £2.3 billion |
2021/22 | around £2.3 billion |
2022/23 | around £2.5 billion |
2023/24 | around £2.6 billion |
2024/25 | around £2.9 billion |
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Retail Crime Action Plan.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all police forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there are reasonable lines of enquiry, actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.
Early indications suggest that there has been improved police attendance at the retail crime incidents prioritised. This has been echoed by major retailers.
Though this is a welcome step from policing, we know more needs to be done. That’s why, on 10 April, we launched the Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Policing Productivity review on levels of theft from shops.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government recognises the impact shoplifting has on businesses and communities. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% compared to findings from 2010; however, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting has risen by 34%, showing the police are acting.
We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting. In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. All forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify offenders. This builds on the NPCC commitment that police will follow up on all reasonable lines of enquiry.
The Government published an enhanced Action Plan, "Fighting Retail Crime: More action" on 10 April. This Plan highlights key areas of work to tackle retail crime, including introduction of a new standalone office for assaults on retail workers; additional electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters; and increasing use of facial recognition technology.
The Policing Productivity Review was published on 20 November 2023, which concludes there is the potential to free up around 38 million hours of police time per year within five years. This equates to over 20,000 police officers. The Government is working with policing to consider its recommendations, freeing up police officers’ time which can be reprioritised to enable officers to spend more time fighting crime on the front line, in line with local priorities set by Police and Crime Commissioners. This additional police time could be used to support delivery of the Retail Crime Action Plan. Evaluation on the impact of the Policing Productivity Review will be part of the remit of the new Centre for Police Productivity which was announced at the Spring Budget 2024.
We are continuing to work closely with the retail sector, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help ensure that UK visa offices in (a) China and (b) India process visa applications for students planning to study at UK universities in the academic year 2020-21; what estimate his Department has made of the number of days those offices have been closed since 28 March 2020; and what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on ensuring that overseas student applications for the academic year 2020-21 are not disrupted by closure of those offices during the covid-19 outbreak; and if she will have discussions with the Home Secretary on prioritising visa applications of overseas students with travel, reception and quarantine arrangements in place.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Visa applications are processed by UK Visas & Immigration in the Home Office. All visa applications for students planning to study in the UK are processed by the student immigration case working team based in the UK, this includes those submitted overseas and in the UK. Immigration case-working operations have been impacted by COVID-19, with most locations going into lockdown at the end of March although we have continued to make decisions where we have been able to.
Students, like other visa applicants, are required to attend a visa application centre (VAC) to provide documents and enrol their biometrics. VACs in China and India have been closed since January and March respectively, but as restrictions continue to be lifted by host governments, overseas VACs are reopening, enabling students to apply for the required visa to study in the UK. Our Visa Application Centres in China began to open on 2nd June 2020 and all centres currently have available appointments. Our Visa Application Centres in India will reopen from 6 July.
As centres reopen, details of these will be published on our commercial partner websites. Unless exemptions apply, all travellers to the UK are required to comply with the border health measures. UKVI operations and the Education sector are working closely to ensure that student applications are not impacted by earlier closures as a result of Covid-19.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to revise the requirements of routes to post-study work for international students.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Migration Advisory Committee recently published its report on the impact of international students in the UK. The report makes several recommendations regarding the current post-study work offer. The Government is carefully considering the recommendations and will be setting out its full response in due course.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many primates have been used in animal research in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Home Office publishes Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-of-scientific-procedures-on-living-animals.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to phase out the use of primates in animal research.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Home Office has no plans to phase out the use of primates in animal research.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many breaches of the regulations controlling the use of primates in research have been identified in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Home Office publishes all cases of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act on an annual basis. The reports are available in the Home Office Regulator’s Annual Report at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit-annual-reports.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have applied to come to the UK to work as (a) doctors, (b) engineers, (c) teachers, (d) in IT, (e) healthcare professionals and (f) in professional services have been turned down for visas under the Tier 2 Cap in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The available information on applications and outcomes (i.e. grants, refusals, withdrawn and lapsed cases) of entry clearance visas in the ‘Tier 2 & pre-PBS equivalent’ category are published quarterly in ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018/list-of-tables#visas.
Neither a breakdown by profession, or applications and outcomes, is available in the published entry clearance visas data.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have applied to come to the UK to work as (a) doctors, (b) engineers, (c) teachers, (d) in IT, (e) healthcare professionals and (f) in professional services have been turned down for visas under the Tier 2 Cap in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The available information on applications and outcomes (i.e. grants, refusals, withdrawn and lapsed cases) of entry clearance visas in the ‘Tier 2 & pre-PBS equivalent’ category are published quarterly in ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018/list-of-tables#visas.
Neither a breakdown by profession, or applications and outcomes, is available in the published entry clearance visas data.