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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 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to address stress-related sickness absence in the police force.

    Mike Penning

    It is for chief officers, supported by the College of Policing, to ensure good management systems are in place to support officers and staff in their work and manage welfare needs. We know policing, by its nature, can be a stressful and demanding job. This is why the Government’s Blue Light Services programme is currently providing £10m to help emergency service personnel and volunteers, including officers suffering from stress related illness and mental health. In addition, the College of Policing will provide direct support to police forces to improve the health and wellbeing of officers and staff.

  • Sarah Champion – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) child and (b) adult EU nationals were (i) identified as potential victims of trafficking and (ii) returned to their country of origin in each of the last 5 years; and how many of those returned to their country of origin were so identified as potential victims of trafficking.

    Karen Bradley

    The total number of EU nationals identified as potential victims of trafficking through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in the last five years is 2,776. The figures for adult and children are shown in the table attached.

    Given the freedom of movement for EU nationals the Home Office would have no way of knowing how many had returned to their home country as this would not be on the Home Office immigration database.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to ensure it identifies organised crime groups involved in wildlife crime through the information sharing process after March 2016.

    Mike Penning

    The National Crime Agency brings together intelligence from the whole of UK law enforcement to provide a single view of the most significant serious and organised crime threats and vulnerabilities. Organised acquisitive crime, which includes wildlife crime, is one of the threat categories considered by the National Crime Agency.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to ensure that police forces and partner agencies are supported to undertake wildlife criminal investigations.

    Mike Penning

    The Government understands the importance of tackling wildlife crime. The Home Office is providing specific funding of £136,000 to support the work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit this year, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs providing similar funding.

    The funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit is in addition to the funding that central Government provides to the police in England and Wales to tackle all types of crime (including wildlife crime), which in 2015-16 will be over £8 billion. In addition, the police receive around a quarter of their total funding from the police precept component of council tax. The deployment of police resources is a matter for individual Chief Constables and local Police and Crime Commissioners.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to include all Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime wildlife crime priorities within the Counting Rules Code 96.

    Mike Penning

    Recorded crime covers all indictable and triable-either-way offences. Additionally, a few closely associated summary offences are included. All wildlife related offences meeting those criteria, whether or not they relate to the priorities of the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime, will fall within the Counting Rules Code 96.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the National Association of Retired Police Officers on steps to support national security.

    Mike Penning

    Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

    Policy engagement with external organisations is a matter for Chief Constables to take locally in conjunction with their democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect of increased cyber-security funding on the numbers of (a) frontline police and (b) police community support officers.

    Mike Penning

    Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why, through the National Cyber Security Programme, we have invested over £90 million under the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced this week, this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for cyber crime.

    To date, we have funded the development of National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) and of cyber teams within the Regional Organised Crime Unit network; and invested in Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. We are clear that front line policing also needs to adapt with the changing nature of the threat. In partnership with the College of Policing, we have rolled out cyber crime training so that it is available to all police officers and staff, with over 150,000 modules completed so far. We recognise that local policing capabilities in respect of the investigation of digital crime are a particular concern – that is why we are working with the National Policing Lead for Digital Investigations to define the capabilities required to conduct effective digital investigations. This Government has also made a commitment to expand the number of volunteer ‘Cyber Specials’ across policing. This will harness expertise from other sectors to further increase police capability at all levels, including within local forces.

    This Government will continue investing at the national, regional and local levels to ensure we have the capacity to deal with the volume and sophistication of online crime. We will continue to boost the capabilities of the NCCU by increasing their ability to investigate the most serious cyber crime, both domestically and internationally. We will increase work with industry to stop cyber attacks reaching the UK, and we will work with industry and the public to help them better protect themselves.

  • Anne Marie Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Marie Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Marie Morris on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will change the criteria for multi-specialty community providers better to benefit rural areas.

    George Freeman

    All new care model vanguards, which include multispecialty community providers, integrated primary and acute care systems, enhanced health in care homes, urgent and emergency care and acute care collaborations have now been selected.

    Selection of the 50 vanguards followed an open and rigorous process, with participating organizations being selected from urban and rural areas.

    While NHS England is only able to have a limited number of vanguards as part of its national programme, it aims to support all local areas with an ambition to deliver care in new ways that improve patient experience and outcomes.

  • Anne Marie Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Marie Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Marie Morris on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will change the criteria for primary and acute care provision better benefit rural communities.

    George Freeman

    All new care model vanguards, which include multispecialty community providers, integrated primary and acute care systems, enhanced health in care homes, urgent and emergency care and acute care collaborations have now been selected.

    Selection of the 50 vanguards followed an open and rigorous process, with participating organizations being selected from urban and rural areas.

    While NHS England is only able to have a limited number of vanguards as part of its national programme, it aims to support all local areas with an ambition to deliver care in new ways that improve patient experience and outcomes.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to reduce loneliness and isolation for elderly people through increased contact during transitional care.

    Alistair Burt

    Prevention is core to the Government’s approach to people managing their health and care needs. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health set out in his speech to the Local Government Association on 1 July that we all have a responsibility at an individual, family, and community level to identify people with care needs such as loneliness and provide support and improve their wellbeing.

    Through the Care Act 2014 the Department has required local authorities to have measures in place to identify people in their area who would benefit from universal services to help reduce, delay or prevent needs for care and support. This includes needs that may arise from social isolation.

    Given the complexity of loneliness and the different ways that people are affected there is no single solution that can tackle loneliness and having a range of interventions and solutions is helpful, and commissioners can consider how loneliness can be tackled when a person is transitioning between services.

    The Department has supported a ‘digital toolkit’ for local commissioners, which was developed by the Campaign to End Loneliness, and is now incorporated in their guidance Loneliness and Isolation: Guidance for Local Authorities and Commissioners. This supports commissioners in understanding, mapping and commissioning for loneliness and social isolation in their communities, and includes promising approaches to tackling loneliness.

    The Department has funded the Social Care Institute for Excellence to develop and run the Prevention Library which includes examples of emerging practice to prevent, reduce or delay peoples care and support needs from deteriorating. This includes examples of integrated working such as the Social Prescribing Scheme in Rotherham.