Category: Criminal Justice

  • Matthew Rycroft – 2022 Letter to Priti Patel on Rwanda Plan

    Matthew Rycroft – 2022 Letter to Priti Patel on Rwanda Plan

    The letter sent by Matthew Rycroft, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 13 April 2022.

    Dear Home Secretary,

    MIGRATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

    This letter summarises my assessment of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) as the responsible Accounting Officer.

    You are looking to enter into an agreement with the Government of Rwanda (GoR). The negotiated agreement will enable the processing of asylum claims which are inadmissible under our current asylum system in Rwanda. Under this approach the UK’s legal obligations end once an individual is relocated to Rwanda, and GoR takes on the legal responsibility for that individual and for processing their claim in line with the Refugee Convention.

    You have made clear the rationale behind the MEDP, with the underlying policy acting as part of a suite of measures in the New Plan for Immigration to break the business model of people smugglers while maintaining a fair and robust immigration and borders system. The policy is also intended to support the Government in its objectives of preventing tragic loss of life in the Channel, deterring hazardous and illegal journeys to the UK and maintaining public trust and confidence in border controls. I also recognise the scale of the issue we are facing. The asylum system is costing the taxpayer over £1.5 billion per annum – the highest amount in over two decades, and current spend on hotels is c. £4.7 million per day including those who have arrived through resettlement programmes. I note the priority you have placed on these measures over the last year.

    My role as Permanent Secretary is to ensure that the Home Office delivers your objectives. It is also my personal responsibility as Principal Accounting Officer to ensure that the Department’s use of its resources is appropriate and consistent with the requirements set out in Managing Public Money (MPM).

    The Accounting Officer advice that I have received comprises a rigorous assessment of the regularity, propriety, feasibility and value for money of this policy, drawing on legal, policy and operational expertise. I have satisfied myself that it is regular, proper and feasible for this policy to proceed. We have incorporated learning from Windrush in developing this policy and the plans for its implementation.

    However, this advice highlights the uncertainty surrounding the value for money of the proposal. I recognise that, despite the high cost of this policy, there are potentially significant savings to be realised from deterring people entering the UK illegally. Value for money of the policy is dependent on it being effective as a deterrent. Evidence of a deterrent effect is highly uncertain and cannot be quantified with sufficient certainty to provide me with the necessary level of assurance over value for money.

    I do not believe sufficient evidence can be obtained to demonstrate that the policy will have a deterrent effect significant enough to make the policy value for money. This does not mean that the MEDP cannot have the appropriate deterrent effect; just that it there is not sufficient evidence for me to conclude that it will.

    Therefore, I will require your written instruction to proceed. I consider it is entirely appropriate for you to make a judgement to proceed in the light of the illegal migration challenge the country is facing. I will of course follow this direction and ensure the Department continues to support the implementation of the policy to the very best of our abilities.

    Should you issue a direction, I am required to copy all relevant papers to the Comptroller and Auditor General (who will inform the Public Accounts Committee) and the Treasury Officer of Accounts. I anticipate publishing our exchange of direction letters as early as practicable.

    Yours sincerely,

    Matthew Rycroft CBE
    Permanent Secretary

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Letter to Matthew Rycroft on Rwanda Plan

    Priti Patel – 2022 Letter to Matthew Rycroft on Rwanda Plan

    The letter sent by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to Matthew Rycroft, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, on 13 April 2022.

    Dear Matthew,

    MIGRATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

    Thank you for your letter of 13 April setting out your current assessment of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda as the responsible Accounting Officer. As you know, tackling the longstanding issue of illegal migration is a top priority for this Government.

    Working together we have already successfully ended free movement and introduced our new Australian style points-based system, introduced the Government’s New Plan for Immigration and the Nationality and Borders Bill. Through these efforts and others, we will deliver a fair but firm immigration system. That means having an asylum system that prioritises support via safe and legal routes for the truly vulnerable, rather than one that is open to gaming by economic migrants and people smugglers, resulting in the loss of life.

    As we continue work to deliver these changes, despite best efforts, Home Office modelling forecasts that small boat numbers are expected to rise again this summer.

    As Home Secretary my primary responsibilities are to protect the British public and to act in their interest. That means taking steps to address the risks to human life, as well as the soaring costs to the UK taxpayer, that illegal migration entails. Those costs are now at their highest level in over two decades. The cost of the Asylum system stands at over £1.5 billion a year and we are spending over £4.7 million each day to accommodate migrants in hotels.

    We know there is no single solution to tackle the issue of illegal migration. While we understand it is not possible for HMG to accurately model the deterrent effect from day one, together with Rwanda, we are confident this policy is our best chance at producing that effect.

    It is only by introducing new incentives and effective deterrents into the system, as our international partners like Denmark, Greece, and Australia have succeeded in doing, that we can take on the criminal gangs facilitating illegal entry and break their lethal business model.

    I recognise your assessment on the immediate value for money aspect of this proposal. However, I note that without action, costs will continue to rise, lives will continue to be lost, and that together we have introduced safeguards into our agreement to protect taxpayer funding. And while accepting the constraints of the accounting officer framework set out by HM Treasury, I also think there are credible invest-to-save arguments in the long term.

    Finally, I also want to recognise the efforts of our frontline staff who have professionally and unstintingly responded a series of unpredictable migration flows to the UK as a result of events outside of their control. Each day I am struck by the extremely challenging work we are asking Home Office officials and Border Force operational staff at all levels to undertake. It is with this in mind that I also believe there is an imperative to act now to mitigate the impact on staff wellbeing as well as departmental operational and financial pressures in the longer term.

    It would therefore be imprudent in my view, as Home Secretary, to allow the absence of quantifiable and dynamic modelling – which is inevitable when developing a response to global crises influenced by so many geopolitical factors such as climate change, war and conflict –– to delay delivery of a policy that we believe will reduce illegal migration, save lives, and ultimately break the business model of the smuggling gangs. I am therefore formally directing you as Accounting Officer to take forward this scheme with immediate effect, managing the identified risks as best you can. I am grateful for our joint work on this issue, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to deliver for the British people.

    Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
    Home Secretary

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 12 April 2022.

    Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public.

    They must both resign.

    The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2022 Statement on Imran Ahmad Khan (Withdrawn)

    Crispin Blunt – 2022 Statement on Imran Ahmad Khan (Withdrawn)

    The statement made by Crispin Blunt  on 11 April 2022 and withdrawn on 12 April 2022.

    I am utterly appalled and distraught at the dreadful miscarriage of justice that has befallen my friend and colleague Imran Ahmad Khan, MP for Wakefield since December 2019. His conviction today is nothing short of an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world.

    I sat through some of the trial. The conduct of this case relied on lazy tropes about LGBT+ people that we might have thought we had put behind us decades ago.

    As a former minister, I was prepared to testify about the truly extraordinary sequence of events that has resulted in Imran being put through this nightmare start to his justice career.

    I hope for the return of Imran Ahmad Khan to the public service which has exemplified his life to date. Any other outcome will be a stain on our reputation for justice, and an appalling own goal by Britain as we try to take a lead in reversing the Victorian era prejudice that still disfigures too much of the global statute book.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on David Amess After Murder Conviction

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on David Amess After Murder Conviction

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 11 April 2022.

    Today I am thinking of Sir David Amess, of the dedicated public servant that he was.

    A champion of Southend and of his constituents. My heart goes out to David’s wife and children, and all those who knew him.

    Threats to our democracy will never prevail.

  • Imran Ahmad Khan – 2021 Comments Before Being Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting a Minor

    Imran Ahmad Khan – 2021 Comments Before Being Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting a Minor

    The comments made by Imran Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, on 15 July 2021. The MP for found guilty of the allegations in April 2022.

    It is true that an accusation has been made against me.

    May I make it clear from the outset that the allegation, which is from over 13 years ago, is denied in the strongest terms.

    This matter is deeply distressing to me and I, of course, take it extremely seriously.

    To be accused of doing something I did not do is shocking, destabilising and traumatic. I am innocent.

    Those, like me, who are falsely accused of such actions are in the difficult position of having to endure damaging and painful speculation until the case is concluded.

    I ask for privacy as I work to clear my name.

  • Bernard Hogan-Howe – 2022 Comments on Live Facial Recognition

    Bernard Hogan-Howe – 2022 Comments on Live Facial Recognition

    The comments made by Bernard Hogan-Howe, the crossbench Peer, in the House of Lords on 4 April 2022.

    My Lords, I generally support the extension of facial recognition technology, although I take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, that it needs serious consideration. Technology is moving forward so fast that I think it is hard for all of us keep track of it. The three principles that the Minister might agree should underpin that are transparency of use, accountability about its use and that people should have a remedy. If things are done wrong, they should be able to check to see what they can do about it.

    But the benefits are pretty outstanding. I know that, post the riots of 2011, we had to deploy 800 officers to look at 250,000 hours of rioters on CCTV footage. This allowed us to arrest 5,500 people over 18 months, but it took us 800 people. There has to be a smarter way of doing that. That would have been a retrospective use. Therefore, does the Minister agree that careful improvements in the future are wise, and that we should not stop, as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, suggested, the use of it altogether?

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Work of the Home Office

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Work of the Home Office

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since my statement of 16 December 2021. The Department is committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and will continue to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom.

    The Home Office’s humanitarian response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and our delivery of robust economic crime measures

    I am working with the Ukrainian Government and international partners to hold Putin to account and support the brave people of Ukraine.

    The Government launched two humanitarian schemes to provide a safe route for Ukrainians who want to come to the UK, quickly standing up the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. We streamlined the process to allow Ukrainians with valid passports to apply purely online and continue to work with partners to ensure that Ukrainians arriving here can access the right support.

    The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act provides greater powers to sanction oligarchs and businesses associated with the Russian Government. The Government have brought forth an additional 428 sanction designations since Royal Assent on 15 March. The legislation also introduces a new register of overseas entities, requiring those behind foreign companies which own UK property to reveal their identities, and strengthens the unexplained wealth orders regime.

    The oligarch taskforce is helping build cases against its list of oligarchs. Internationally, we are clamping down on sanctions evasion across jurisdictions through the Russian elites, proxies and oligarchs international taskforce. The National Crime Agency’s Combating Kleptocracy Unit is providing operational capability to target corrupt elites as well as the professional enablers of these corrupt elites and support criminal cross-HMG sanctions delivery and enforcement.

    Reducing crime

    We are focused on delivering our beating crime plan, making Britain safer with less crime, fewer victims and safer streets.

    As of 31 December 2021, we have recruited over 11,000 police officers, against our target of 20,000 by March 2023.

    Our work on serious violence has provided services to those communities most affected. We launched round four of the safer streets fund which directs funding to projects tackling acquisitive crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. We are making progress on our work to tackle violence against women and girls; we have published our violence against women and girls strategy, published the first ever stand-alone domestic abuse plan and launched the “Enough” communications campaign which highlights the action people can take to safely challenge violence against women and girls.

    The Angiolini inquiry, set up to better understand how a serving police officer was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard and ensure that lessons for policing are identified and learned, started work in January 2022. The independent inquiry to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess was formally established on 17 March 2022.

    Reducing the risk from terrorism to the UK and UK interests overseas, securing a safe and prosperous UK

    In February, the threat to the UK from terrorism was reduced to substantial from severe. Whilst positive, the security landscape remains complex, volatile and unpredictable as the attack outside Liverpool women’s hospital and the killing of Sir David Amess sadly reminds us. The Home Office continues in its efforts, working with operational partners, to build improvements into the UK’s counter-terrorism response.

    Enabling the legitimate movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity

    Since launching the points-based immigration system, we have continued to attract worldwide talent and skills whilst encouraging business to invest in British people. Latest statistics show the number of visas issued across work and study routes is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels, 677,000 in 2021.

    We will in the coming period implement the plan for growth measures, including the launch of the new global business mobility routes, high potential individual route and scale-up route, which support inward trade and investment and provide UK businesses access to a more flexible pool of highly-skilled workers.

    Alongside new routes, we expanded capability for a fully digital application process in December 2021, improving our ability to re-use and re-check biometrics, allowing more people to benefit from a fully digital journey.

    We have supported the care sector to boost their workforce by expanding eligibility for the health and social care visa to include health care assistants.

    I announced a joint National Crime Agency and leading social media companies action plan to foster greater collaboration against crime groups that use online platforms to advertise illegal migration services; relevant illegal online content is already being removed.

    Tackling illegal migration, removing those with no right to be here, and protecting the vulnerable

    The Home Office is working to deliver a fair but firm system to ensure that we can better support those in genuine need of asylum, deter illegal migration, break the business model of criminal smuggling networks and remove from the UK those with no right to be here.

    Last year, I launched and consulted on my new plan for immigration and introduced the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is advancing through Parliament on its path to Royal Assent.

    The Bill will reset the legislative framework to meet objectives including the reduction of small boat crossings and deterring illegal entry into the UK. It incorporates tougher criminal offences for those attempting to enter the UK illegally by introducing a suite of asylum reforms and expedited processes to allow rapid removal of those with no right to be here.

    We have worked with France to dismantle 21 small boat organised criminal groups and secured over 500 arrests. Our joint activity with France prevented more than 23,000 crossings in 2021. Over 4,500 crossings have already been prevented in 2022, nearly three times the number to this point in 2021.

    I signed landmark agreements with Serbia and Albania to return those nationals who have no legal right to be in the UK.

    Our new and bespoke Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) opened on 6 January. This is one of the most ambitious resettlement schemes in British history. The first people to be resettled under the scheme included some of the c. 15,000 people who arrived in the UK under Operation Pitting, the largest humanitarian aid operation since the second world war, which prioritised those at particular risk, including women’s rights activists, prosecutors, and journalists.

    Windrush

    Our commitment to righting the wrongs done to the Windrush generation has not faltered. The “Windrush Lessons Learned Review—Progress Update” was published today. There is still more to do, but I am proud of our achievements and will ensure we can make the Home Office an even better place, serving the public with compassion, respect, collaboration and courage at the heart of everything it does.

  • Dominic Raab – 2022 Statement on the Parole System and Public Protection

    Dominic Raab – 2022 Statement on the Parole System and Public Protection

    The statement made by Dominic Raab, the Secretary of State for Justice, in the House of Commons on 30 March 2022.

    Today, the Government are publishing the “Root and Branch Review of the Parole System: The Future of the Parole System in England and Wales”.

    As Secretary of State for Justice, I am committed to protecting the public and improving victims’ experience of the criminal justice system. The parole system has a critical part to play in ensuring both aims are met; it prevents criminals that continue to pose a threat from leaving prison and helps victims to feel they have the information they need and a voice in the process. So, it is paramount to maintaining public confidence that our parole process functions effectively. In recent years, a number of decisions to release offenders who have committed heinous crimes have led to a loss of public confidence in the parole system. People have questioned how safe it really is to release certain offenders and why those recalled to prison were allowed to leave in the first place. I share these concerns, which is why I am determined to refocus the system to put public protection at the forefront of all parole decisions.

    I want to see the parole process take a more precautionary approach when it comes to decisions affecting public protection. In particular, in cases which involve those who have committed the most serious crimes, it is right that Ministers should provide a measure of oversight and be able to intervene more directly in decisions on release. The key proposed reforms set out in this review will ensure public protection is the overriding consideration for release decisions.

    The current release test used by the parole board has moved away from Parliament’s original intention. A court judgment in the case of Bradley in 1991 stated that the role of the Board is to

    “carry out a balancing exercise between the legitimate conflicting interests of both prisoner and public”.

    The statutory test has therefore changed over time to become a “balancing exercise” between public protection and the rights of the prisoner. We will revise the test to reinforce it, so its overriding focus is on public protection.

    At present, 5% of all parole board members come from a law enforcement background. We will increase substantially that number, because those with operational law enforcement experience have greater first-hand experience in dealing with serious offenders and the risk they present. This will ensure a greater focus on public protection.

    The review also announces our intention to introduce ministerial oversight over parole decisions to release serious offenders in the top-tier of higher risk cases. That top-tier will be defined as offenders serving sentences for murder, rape, terrorism and causing or allowing the death of a child. Where the parole board has directed release, the Secretary of State will be able to review the release decision of any “top-tier” cohort offender. We will further consider the details of the procedural mechanism and set out two options in this review for how this power could operate in practice.

    Alongside this is the Government commitment to increase victim participation in the parole process. For the first time, we will allow victims to attend a parole hearing in full should they wish to do so. In addition, we will require the board to take account of submissions made by victims and allow for victims to ask questions in those submissions.

    The review also outlines the new process on the transfer of life and other indeterminate sentenced prisoners to open prison conditions. Similar considerations of risk and public concern arise here, and in December 2021,1 changed the process to introduce a ministerial check on such decisions, delivering greater oversight to the process in the interests of public protection and public confidence.

    Protecting the public is this Government’s top priority and the proposals in this review will reinforce public safety and increase confidence in our justice system. As we continue to develop policy and begin legislating, we will consider fully the impact of the proposals and have due regard to the requirements of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Domestic Abuse Plan

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Domestic Abuse Plan

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 30 March 2022.

    Today, I am pleased to announce we are publishing the new cross-Government tackling domestic abuse plan.

    The plan sets out the Government’s vision to drive down domestic abuse and domestic homicide cases. And ensure that those who experience domestic abuse get the support they need.

    It was developed using responses to the tackling violence against women and girls call for evidence, which included the brave and harrowing testimonies of domestic abuse victims and survivors. These were invaluable in the development of the plan. It is also closely aligned with the tackling violence against women and girls strategy and shares the same four pillars:

    Prioritising Prevention, which includes measures to identify and address the root causes of domestic abuse, including teaching children about healthy relationships.

    Supporting Victims, which sets out a wide-ranging package of support for victims and survivors, including a minimum of £15.7 million per annum ringfenced for community-based services supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, with the offer of multi-year funding for providers to aid delivery of high-quality support. In addition, there will be a minimum of £81 million to fund 700 independent domestic violence advocate and independent sexual violence advocate roles, with more funding for an additional 300 roles to be confirmed later this year. The pillar also includes a commitment to review whether the existing statutory leave provisions do enough to support domestic abuse victims and survivors.

    Pursuing Perpetrators, which, along with the wider plan, delivers the statutory requirement to produce a strategy for the prosecution and management of domestic abuse perpetrators. The approach it outlines is uncompromising and unrelenting. It involves electronic monitoring, £75 million for perpetrator interventions and research, as well as a commitment to explore tougher ways of managing perpetrators including the creation of a register of domestic abusers.

    A Stronger System, which explains how we will identify more cases, improve co-ordination and collaboration between agencies, and improve our data on and knowledge of domestic abuse. This will be done through up to £7.5 million investment in interventions in healthcare settings, trialling the innovative Ask for ANI codeword scheme in Jobcentre Plus offices and reforms to Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), including steps to increase the number of suicide cases referred for DHRs.

    Today, we are also publishing updated versions of the violence against women and girls national statement of expectations and violence against women and girls commissioning toolkit. These documents will support local areas in commissioning effective support services.

    We are also publishing a supporting male victims document today in recognition of the specific challenges which may be faced by men and boys who experience crimes considered violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse.

    The tackling domestic abuse plan has been laid before Parliament as a Command Paper (CP 639). The national statement of expectations, the commissioning toolkit and the supporting male victims document will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. All documents will be made available on gov.uk.