Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of (a) human trafficking, (b) labour exploitation, (c) sexual exploitation, (d) criminal exploitation and (e) domestic servitude were identified in Sheffield in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
May. 23 2024
Source Page: Thematic review of quality of work undertaken with womenFound: Women at risk of, or who are victims of, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, sex work, human
May. 23 2024
Source Page: Thematic review of quality of work undertaken with womenFound: Women at risk of, or who are victims of, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, sex work, human
Special Report May. 23 2024
Committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (Department: Northern Ireland Office)Found: the extent to which the PSNI and other crime agencies currently utilise the powers contained in the Human
Found: sleeping) on streets or in other public places, or in places or structures not designed for human
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle (a) antisocial behaviour and (b) other (i) dangerous and (ii) illicit acts caused by illegal drug cultivation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Last year the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools and powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour. Under the Plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are taking a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour, including by toughening up the police response to drugs, expanding testing on arrest and banning nitrous oxide.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with his Pakistani counterpart on religious minorities being subjected to bonded labour in that country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to eradicating all forms of modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking anywhere in the world. Lord [Tariq] Ahmad, Minister for South Asia, raised his concerns about the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan and the need for legal action to protect minority faith communities with Human Rights and Law Minister Azam Tarar on 15 April. The UK's Aawaz II Accountability, Inclusion and Reducing Modern Slavery Programme and Asia Regional Child Labour Programme are working with partners, including the Government of Pakistan, to reduce child and bonded labour. We will continue to raise the issues affecting religious minorities in Pakistan at the highest levels of Government.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of people who are victims of (a) controlling prostitution for gain, (b) causing or inciting prostitution for gain and (c) trafficking for sexual exploitation advertised for prostitution on adult services websites in Hull North.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government keeps legislation under review to ensure it keeps pace with the evolving threat of crime.
Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is a strict liability offence. That means that, for the police to charge a case they need evidence that the suspect had paid for sexual services from an individual, and that that individual was subjected to force or control by another. They do not need to prove criminal intent. The penalty for a Section 53A offence is a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (up to £1,000). In gathering evidence of a Section 53A offence, the police will prioritise actions that may lead to charges for more serious offences, such as modern slavery or causing or inciting or controlling prostitution for gain. The penalty for modern slavery is up to life imprisonment and for the latter offence up to 7 years’ imprisonment.
The Home Office publishes police recorded crime data for the exploitation of prostitution offences (sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) and modern slavery offences, but information about the facilitation of those crimes is not held centrally. Data is not available at the requested geographical level, however data by police force area can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables.
The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a duty on adult service websites to proactively identify and remove content linked to criminal activity and a duty to prevent illegal content relating to sexual exploitation appearing on their sites. Companies will need to adopt systems and processes to identify, assess and address sexual exploitation and human trafficking activity based on a risk assessment.
Law enforcement is also running an adult service website referral pilot where adverts are referred to the Tackling Organised Exploitation capability (housed in Regional Organised Crime Units) to gather intelligence and identify organised criminal activity.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising the maximum penalty for offences committed under Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government keeps legislation under review to ensure it keeps pace with the evolving threat of crime.
Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is a strict liability offence. That means that, for the police to charge a case they need evidence that the suspect had paid for sexual services from an individual, and that that individual was subjected to force or control by another. They do not need to prove criminal intent. The penalty for a Section 53A offence is a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (up to £1,000). In gathering evidence of a Section 53A offence, the police will prioritise actions that may lead to charges for more serious offences, such as modern slavery or causing or inciting or controlling prostitution for gain. The penalty for modern slavery is up to life imprisonment and for the latter offence up to 7 years’ imprisonment.
The Home Office publishes police recorded crime data for the exploitation of prostitution offences (sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) and modern slavery offences, but information about the facilitation of those crimes is not held centrally. Data is not available at the requested geographical level, however data by police force area can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables.
The Online Safety Act 2023 will place a duty on adult service websites to proactively identify and remove content linked to criminal activity and a duty to prevent illegal content relating to sexual exploitation appearing on their sites. Companies will need to adopt systems and processes to identify, assess and address sexual exploitation and human trafficking activity based on a risk assessment.
Law enforcement is also running an adult service website referral pilot where adverts are referred to the Tackling Organised Exploitation capability (housed in Regional Organised Crime Units) to gather intelligence and identify organised criminal activity.
Correspondence May. 23 2024
Committee: Human Rights (Joint Committee)Found: Correspondence from the Minister of State for Minister of State for Countering Illegal Migration regarding the Human