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  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many investigations into crimes categorised as violent crimes and sexual offences were assigned an outcome of investigation complete – no suspect identified in (a) each year since 2010 and (b) the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Mike Penning

    In April 2014, the Government reformed crime outcome data to give greater transparency to the public about the investigation and prosecution of crime.

    The requested outcomes data have been provided for the first available year (12 months to March 2015) and the most recent rolling year (12 months to September 2015) in the accompanying table. These have been given as proportions of recorded crimes recorded during the period rather than numbers as some forces were unable to supply data based on the new outcomes framework at the start of the period. The table also includes the proportion of crimes under active investigation awaiting an outcome from each period for further context.

    More recent figures for the year to December 2015 will be published on Thursday April 21, 2016.

  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will put safeguards in place to ensure that (a) out of country entry clearance applications are rigorously checked, (b) all supporting documents for such applications are fairly considered and (c) applicants’ details are not confused with other cases.

    James Brokenshire

    All out of country entry clearance applications are subject to an extensive range of mandatory and discretionary checks. These include, but are not limited to, biographic and biometric identity checks against national and international police records and against previous immigration history, as well as document verification.

    Applications are submitted at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) and are individually bundled. The bundles are sent to Decision Making Centres to be assessed by an Entry Clearance Officer, before being returned to the VAC. The application remains in individual bundles throughout the process to prevent applicants’ details being confused with other cases.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many new cases have opened after the establishment of the Complex Casework Directorate; and how many such cases were resolved by way of granting a leave.

    James Brokenshire

    Complex Casework Directorate was set up to be responsible for the remaining un-concluded asylum cases where the initial asylum application was lodged before March 2007. The work to review and communicate decisions to the cohort of older asylum cases was completed by the end of December 2014, other than for a small number of cases that were on hold, although work continues to progress the removal of applicants who received a negative decision from the Home Office and who otherwise have no lawful basis to remain in the United Kingdom.

    As of 31 December 2015 there were 524 older asylum records requiring review, and a further 742 were on hold. These cases were on hold for legitimate process reasons. There are no dormant records.

    The older asylum records relate to asylum applications made prior to 5 March 2007, and there are therefore no new cases, although cases that are reopened following contact with an individual whose record was previously closed are added to the cohort of older live asylum records. It is not possible to say how many reopened cases were subsequently granted leave without incurring disproportionate cost.

    Information relating to older asylum records is published as part of the Asylum Transparency Data. This data includes the work in progress, on take of people who enter the cohort and the number of individuals granted leave.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases are (a) awaiting a decision and (b) dormant at the Complex Casework Directorate in Liverpool.

    James Brokenshire

    Complex Casework Directorate was set up to be responsible for the remaining un-concluded asylum cases where the initial asylum application was lodged before March 2007. The work to review and communicate decisions to the cohort of older asylum cases was completed by the end of December 2014, other than for a small number of cases that were on hold, although work continues to progress the removal of applicants who received a negative decision from the Home Office and who otherwise have no lawful basis to remain in the United Kingdom.

    As of 31 December 2015 there were 524 older asylum records requiring review, and a further 742 were on hold. These cases were on hold for legitimate process reasons. There are no dormant records.

    The older asylum records relate to asylum applications made prior to 5 March 2007, and there are therefore no new cases, although cases that are reopened following contact with an individual whose record was previously closed are added to the cohort of older live asylum records. It is not possible to say how many reopened cases were subsequently granted leave without incurring disproportionate cost.

    Information relating to older asylum records is published as part of the Asylum Transparency Data. This data includes the work in progress, on take of people who enter the cohort and the number of individuals granted leave.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for discretionary leave to remain have been (a) received, (b) rejected and (c) treated as invalid in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many such applications were rejected owing to (i) failure to pay the fee and (ii) refusal of fee waiver.

    James Brokenshire

    Our records indicate that 12,656 (a) applications for further discretionary leave to remain were received from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015.

    164 (b) were rejected for failure to pay the fee or Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and

    175 (c) rejected as invalid.

    Of the 164 rejections 55 (i) were rejected owing to failure to pay the application fee and 89 (ii) owing to refusal of a fee waiver. 20 were also rejected solely due to failure to pay the IHS.

    Notes:

    • The data relates to applications for Further Discretionary Leave to Remain.

    • The 12,656 (a) applications were made by 12,430 people (due to repeat applications).

    • The data provided is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

    • All of the statistics referred to in the answer come with necessary caveats about the accuracy of the data. The data provided to answer (b), (c), (i) and (ii) above has been drawn from manual records on the Home Office Case Information Database, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible human errors with data entry and processing.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the consultation into mandatory reporting.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government will launch a full 12 week public consultation later this year.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that all police officers are aware of restrictions around the use of drones in public areas and where permits are necessary.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Aircraft Accident investigation Bureau investigation into the collision will be made public. However, the separate, ongoing criminal investigation, and any decision to release the results of the investigation, is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police, as the investigatory authority.

    Guidance has been circulated to Police Forces to assist them when dealing with incidents involving misuse. A decision on whether to investigate and prosecute is made on an assessment of threat, risk and harm.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that terrorists cannot get into the UK from the Republic of Ireland.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government is working with Ireland to better safeguard our citizens from international terrorism by strengthening the external border of our shared Common Travel Area (CTA).

    There is a high level of collaboration on a joint programme of work which includes, investment in border procedures, increased data sharing to inform immigration and border security decisions, interoperable passenger data systems, including the collection and processing of Advance Passenger Information (API) on intra and extra CTA routes, and harmonised visa policy and processes.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the contribution of the Minister for Policing, Fire and Criminal Justice and Victims of 10 February 2016, Official Report, column 1594, on the Police Grant Report (England and Wales), how many operational on-duty frontline police officers there were in (a) the latest period for which figures are available and (b) 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The number and proportion of full time equivalent police officers employed in operational frontline roles as at 31 March 2015, the latest period for which figures are available, and 31 March 2010, are provided in the table.

    As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

    Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to encourage greater co-operation between police forces in the constituent parts of the UK to better enable them to address online crime.

    Mr John Hayes

    Online crime covers a vast range of criminality; what is illegal offline is also illegal online. However, the internet has enabled crime to be committed in a different way, which requires a different type of approach from Law Enforcement. That is why this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.

    The 2015 Strategic Policing Requirement states that ‘capabilities will be delivered locally by police forces but may need to be brought together nationally through collaborative arrangements between forces or with other partners when the threat or risk demand joint working’. In some cases they are combined to provide an ongoing regional resource that provides a national network of capabilities to disrupt serious and organised crime, for example, through the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs).

    The Government has invested over £90 million in ROCUs, over the last three years. In addition to at least a further £20 million in 2016/17, in order to increase and sustain the specialist capabilities required in law enforcement to respond to Serious and Organised Crime including online crime, and to support local forces to investigate online crime in a collaborative way in England and Wales.

    Action Fraud, within the City of London Police also plays an important role in educating and assisting local forces to investigate cyber crime and cyber enabled fraud, with a particular focus on improving the service to victims.

    The National Crime Agency (NCA) operates UK wide and works in close collaboration with all UK police forces and other law enforcement partners, including PSNI and Police Scotland (including through two-way tasking and coordination processes). The NCA leads some investigations, whilst supporting and coordinating others.