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  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons applicants who reside in Liverpool, Wavertree constituency who have outstanding asylum claims are no longer given a timeframe for completion of that application.

    James Brokenshire

    Asylum Operations has existing processes that ensure claimants and legal representatives have contact details should they wish to discuss case progression. In addition, all claimants and representatives are kept informed should an initial decision on their asylum claim be delayed beyond 6 months with this correspondence outlining the reason for delay and providing an approximate timescale as to when a decision can be expected.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles have been used in terrorist offences in the last 10 years.

    Mike Penning

    The National Ballistics Intelligence Service regularly assesses the volume and type of legal and illegal firearms in criminal use in the UK. The information is operationally sensitive and is not suitable for release.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles have been used in criminal offences in each of the last 10 years in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.

    Mike Penning

    I can confirm that the information requested on the number of .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles held by certificate holders in England and Wales is available. However, as it takes time to extract this information from our systems, I will write separately with our response and place a copy of the reply in the House Library.

    The licensing of firearms in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland and the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland. Information in respect of firearms in those jurisdictions is not held centrally by the Home Office.

    I am unable to provide the information requested on the number of legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles used in criminal offences as it is not collected centrally.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles are held by firearm certificate holders in (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland; and how many of those rifles are conditioned for the purpose of (i) shooting vermin and ground game and (ii) target shooting.

    Mike Penning

    I can confirm that the information requested on the number of .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles held by certificate holders in England and Wales is available. However, as it takes time to extract this information from our systems, I will write separately with our response and place a copy of the reply in the House Library.

    The licensing of firearms in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland and the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland. Information in respect of firearms in those jurisdictions is not held centrally by the Home Office.

    I am unable to provide the information requested on the number of legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles used in criminal offences as it is not collected centrally.

  • Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution of 16 November 2015, Official Report, column 365, if she will bring forward proposals on a national database of communication for refugees.

    James Brokenshire

    On 7 September the Prime Minister announced that 20,000 Syrian refugees would be resettled during this Parliament, and that he wanted 1,000 to arrive before Christmas. We have now achieved this, and are working closely with a range of partners to put in place the plans and structures to further expand the Syrian Vulnerable Persons scheme.

    It is currently up to individuals to determine how to maintain contact with other refugees in the UK; however, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) does link family groups so we can seek to allocate them to the same local authority. We also try and place them close to any family members already residing in the UK.

  • Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cautions have been given for any offence in each police force area in each of the last three years.

    Mike Penning

    The number of cautions recorded in each police force area during 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 are provided in the attached table. These are based on data published by the Home Office which are available by police force area and offence type at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

    Cautions data published by the Home Office are based on the number of offences recorded by the police that resulted in cautions by the police.

    The Ministry of Justice publish caution data based on the number of offenders cautioned which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428954/data-behind-interactive-data-tools.zip

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many operational frontline staff are employed at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau; and how many of those employees were employed on (a) 1 May 2015 and (b) 1 November 2014.

    Mike Penning

    With regards to the number of call-handling staff employed by the Action Fraud helpline:

    • As of December 2015 there were69.78 FTEs

    • As of May 2015 there were 81.92 FTEs

    • As of November 2014 there were 84.67 FTEs

    With regards to the number of frontline staff employed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): The NFIB is overseen by the City of London Police, it is not a public facing part of the Force, so does not employ any frontline staff.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have successfully completed training courses on cyber-crime in the last (a) six and (b) 12 months.

    Mike Penning

    There are a number of training courses dealing with cyber crime available to police officers, for example, through the College of Policing and other external providers. The Home Office does not hold a central record of the number of such training courses. Furthermore, the Home Office does not hold a central record of how many police officers have completed training courses on cyber crime in the last six months or in the last year. However, the Government recognises that driving up cyber knowledge and capabilities at the local policing level is very important, that is why we are delivering training in cyber crime to officers in local police forces funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. The second phase of the Mainstream Cyber Crime Training course was launched on 30 September 2015 by College of Policing. This is a modular course consisting of a series of self-teach and interactive modules accessible to all police officers and staff, and which gives an introduction to how to recognise and investigate cyber crimes.

    Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why we have invested over £90 million over the last five years to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced on 17 November, we plan to almost double investment in cyber security, including cyber crime, to £1.9 billion over the next five years. This will enable us to continue to invest in training for police officers at the national, regional and local levels.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many call-handling staff are employed by the Action Fraud helpline; and how many of those employees were employed on (a) 1 May 2015 and (b) 1 November 2014.

    Mike Penning

    With regards to the number of call-handling staff employed by the Action Fraud helpline:

    • As of December 2015 there were69.78 FTEs

    • As of May 2015 there were 81.92 FTEs

    • As of November 2014 there were 84.67 FTEs

    With regards to the number of frontline staff employed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): The NFIB is overseen by the City of London Police, it is not a public facing part of the Force, so does not employ any frontline staff.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will assess the need for any changes to the budget of the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority as part of in consideration of the responses to its consultation, Labour market exploitation: improving enforcement, published in October 2015.

    Mike Penning

    The consultation closed on 7 December. The Government is considering its response and, as part of that, the funding necessary for the GLA to operate effectively in the context of the departmental financial allocations following the recent Spending Review.