Tag: Home Office

The press release issued by the Home Office on 4 January 2023.

The funding will develop early intervention strategies to prevent violence against women and girls, the Safeguarding Minister announced today.

More than £10 million has been allocated to organisations providing vital support to children who have survived domestic abuse, such as counselling and 1:1 support. These projects include Welsh Women’s Aid, The Children’s Society and SafeLives.

This will be rolled out through the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund. Originally set up in 2018, this fund has already supported thousands of children and families.

Minister for Safeguarding, Sarah Dines, said:

The impact of domestic abuse is devastating and it is especially heartbreaking that children are being affected by this horrific crime. This is why we have invested additional funding into vital services supporting children who have been impacted.

We are also proud to invest further in projects which identify the most effective ways to intervene early and prevent these crimes from being committed in the first place, which will protect those most vulnerable to abuse.

Minister for Children and Families, Claire Coutinho, said:

“Instead of a safe and stable family life, children who experience domestic abuse are growing up with pain and conflict at home as their norm. This investment will provide crucial support like 1:1 counselling and support work for those affected by domestic abuse.”

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 legally recognised children as victims of domestic abuse in their own right where they see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse, and are related to either the perpetrator or victim.

This latest iteration of the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund will provide up to £10.3 million over 3 years and will go to 8 organisations, including over £2.5 million for Welsh Women’s Aid.

Welsh Women’s Aid Chief Executive, Sara Kirkpatrick, said:

“Welsh Women’s Aid is delighted to have secured this vital funding via the Home Office Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund in partnership with 15 of our specialist member organisations across Wales. This much-needed funding will help us strengthen our capacity to work with and support children and young people who have been affected by domestic abuse. Together, we will test a range of trauma-informed interventions and create a clear evidence base of what works.”

From the £17.8 million, up to £7.4 million will be invested over 3 years to programmes which prioritise early intervention and research into the most effective ways of preventing abuse.

This will work to establish how to prevent violence against women and girls, marking a commitment in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy.

This includes projects ranging from improving awareness of VAWG, through preventative work with young people to researching possible connections between increased use of online sites and sexual exploitation. Projects include Changing Lives, who will use the funding to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation online, and Surrey PCC, who will develop a public campaign to increase younger people’s understanding of stereotyping, misogyny, sexism and sexual offences to enable them to challenge violence against women and girls.

Laura McIntyre, Head of Women’s and Children’s Services at Changing Lives, said:

Changing Lives has been providing support to adult women who have been targeted, groomed or exposed to sexual abuse for over 15 years.

During coronavirus (COVID-19), we developed a report called Net-reach, where we observed a worrying number of young women and girls (18-25 years old) advertising sexual services online, raising concerns about child sexual exploitation and ongoing vulnerability to abuse in adulthood.

Thanks to the funding, this project will allow our specialist team to build up relationships with women in a growing environment, where we can offer support to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation. We understand that not all women are abused online, but organisationally we see increasing numbers of women accessing our services after being harmed online, traumatised and feeling suicidal.

This funding is part of the government’s commitment to tackle violence against women and girls.

In March last year, we published the cross-government Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which invests over £230 million in tackling these heinous crimes. This includes over £140 million for supporting victims and over £81 million for tackling perpetrators. The plan will transform the whole of society’s response in order to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to strengthen the systems and processes in place needed to deliver these goals.

The Home Office also launched the ground-breaking, long-term behavioural change ‘Enough’ campaign. The campaign aims to provide bystanders with a range of safe ways to intervene if they witness an incident of violence against women and girls, ranging from sexual harassment on the street, public transport or at work, to unwanted touching, sharing intimate images of someone without their consent and coercive control in a relationship.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 21 December 2022.

The UK government is making preparations ahead of Border Force strike action at the end of the week, including training military personnel to step in and keep our border safe.

Since strikes, due to begin on Friday 23 December, were announced by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union, Border Force and the government have undertaken extensive planning to minimise the disruption this action will cause.

Thousands of people, including civil servants and military personnel are ready to support Border Force over this period, many of whom are sacrificing their Christmases to ensure passenger’s travel plans are protected and they get to where they want to be this Christmas.

The government has also been working closely with ports, airports and the travel industry to understand the impact of strike action, to minimise delays for passengers and ensure the flow of goods through the border.

While the government is taking action to minimise disruption, travellers due to arrive in the UK over the Christmas period are warned to expect delays and disruption over the strike action affecting border control.

Passengers should be prepared for longer wait times and should check with their travel agents, tour operators and airlines/carriers about possible disruptions to their journey prior to travelling.

Our eGates will continue to function as per normal and we encourage all those eligible to use them to do so, as the quickest and most efficient way to pass through border control.

Steve Dann, Border Force Chief Operating Officer, said:

We apologise for any disruption caused to travellers entering the UK.

Border Force’s number one priority to is keep our citizens safe and borders secure. We are working together with partners across the travel industry to ensure we can continue to meet critical demand and support the flow of passengers and goods through our border.

During the periods of industrial action, travellers should be prepared for disruption.

We encourage everyone to check the latest advice from your operators before travelling.

Notes to Editors:

Border Force Strike Dates:

• 23rd December
• 24th December
• 25th December
• 26th December (until about 7am)
• 28th December
• 29th December
• 30th December
• 31st December (until about 7am)

Border Force Strike Locations

• Birmingham Airport
• Cardiff Airport
• Gatwick Airport
• Glasgow Airport
• Heathrow Airport – Terminals 2,3,4,5
• Manchester Airport
• Port of Newhaven

Strikes are not the only factor that might cause disruption, for example adverse weather or flight delays may impact journeys, meaning it is essential for passengers to plan ahead and keep up-to-date with the latest information, through relevant sources including airport and carrier websites.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 19 December 2022.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 19 December 2022.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 16 December 2022.

The Serious Violence Duty will come into effect in January 2023, placing a new legal requirement on a range of public sector organisations to share information locally to reduce incidents of violence, like knife and gun crime, and prevent loss of life.

Guidance published today (16 December 2022) will support police, health, fire and rescue services, local government and criminal justice partners in meeting their responsibilities under the duty, outlining how they must collaborate to find and address the causes of serious violence in their communities.

The Home Secretary will be able to step in where public bodies are not delivering on their duty to work together and, where necessary, can issue directions compelling them to do more.

Early intervention and prevention lies at the heart of this ‘whole-system’ response.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

Any life lost to violence will always be one too many. While knife crime is falling and gun crime in this country remains low, we simply cannot get complacent.

We know that the drivers behind such violence are complex and preventing further tragedy is the shared responsibility upon all in public service – not just the police. This new duty will see schools, hospitals and councils work together to intervene before devastation happens.

With strategies to cut violence prioritised in every local area and the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers, we will keep our young people and our streets safe.

In tackling serious violence, duty holders should focus on public space youth violence, including knife and gun crime, and activities where threats of violence are commonplace, such as county lines. The duty has been introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (2022), which was amended to also make clear that serious violence can include domestic abuse and sexual offences.

Each area will set their own definition of serious violence, based on what affects their communities. Police and Crime Commissioners will bring together relevant agencies, from law enforcement to local authorities, education, health and the voluntary sector, to create a strategy targeting their area’s specific needs.

The guidance has been published following a public consultation and engagement with public sector bodies, Violence Reduction Units and the voluntary sector in summer 2022.

To prevent more murders from being committed, a number of innovative projects have also been awarded a share of £1.8m of government funding over the next 2 years, including 5 nation-wide initiatives. This includes:

• The National Police Chiefs’ Council investing in new technology such as data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and manage likely perpetrators of domestic abuse and knife crime. They will also create a knife crime co-ordinator role, to work directly with the Home Office and forces across the country, building a national picture on knife carrying and policing best practice in this area.
• The National Crime Agency driving behavioural science research on how to stop young people being drawn to homicide.
• The College of Policing analysing ‘near-misses’, including attempted murder. This will improve understanding of trends around homicide, by increasing the number of cases available for study. They will also replicate a project by Kent Police, where domestic abuse data is shared between accident and emergency departments and police to better identify and help those at risk of lethal violence.

The government has made £130m available this financial year (2022/2023) to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime, building on similar levels of investment in previous years.

The evidence shows that this whole system approach to tackling serious violence is working. Through police, government and community efforts to tackle the crime that hits our communities the hardest, since 2019:

• 90,000 dangerous weapons have been taken off our streets.
• Over 49,000 violent offences prevented and 260,000 vulnerable young people have been supported through ‘hotspot policing’ tactics and Violence Reduction Units.

Also in early 2023, four police forces across the country will trial new powers to stop and search those convicted for knife crime or offensive weapon offences. Police, local authorities and public health bodies in three regions will also work together to review homicides involving offensive weapons, identifying where lessons can be learnt from these deaths. Pending successful pilots, both approaches would then be rolled out nation-wide.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 15 December 2022.

The 2023/24 funding package will see an increase of up to £267 million on last year and means policing will receive up to £17.2 billion in total for 2023/24.

The police sector will receive a nominal funding boost of up to £287 million next year to help victims feel safe and deliver more visible policing, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman has announced.

The rise will take total funding for policing up to £17.2 billion and mean police and crime commissioners across the 43 police forces in England and Wales will receive a nominal increase of up to £523 million from government grants and precept income to focus on getting the basics right, such as driving down anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime which can so easily rip through our communities.

The government is giving police crime commissioners in England the ability to raise up to £349 million, through a council tax precept limit of £15.

This provisional settlement will provide £1.1 billion towards national policing priorities, including tackling the scourge of serious violence, county lines, exploitation, abuse, fraud and cyber crime.

Funding for counter-terrorism policing will continue to total over £1 billion, including continued funding for armed policing and the Counter Terrorism Operations Centre.

We are also giving policing the funding they need to maintain the 20,000 additional police officers recruited as part of the government’s unprecedented campaign to put more police on the streets, ensuring our forces respond to crime effectively and to take a more proactive response in managing crime demand.

Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said:

Our police make sacrifices every day to protect the British people, and I am steadfast in my admiration for our hardworking, brave and dedicated officers.

It is vital that we continue to invest in the priorities that matter most to our communities, and we must do more to cut crime and restore confidence in our police.

With over 15,000 additional officers already recruited and thousands more on the way, this package will support our forces to get the basics right and keep communities safe across country.

We will continue to improve our criminal justice system for victims by prioritising the funding commitments made in the rape review and investing in a new victim satisfaction survey to shine a light on performance and drive improvements in the support police forces provide to victims.

Through police and government efforts to tackle the crime that hits our communities the hardest, since 2019:

• 90,000 weapons have been taken off our streets
• over 49,000 violent offences have been prevented and 260,000 vulnerable young people have been supported through ‘Grip’ hotspot policing and Violence Reduction Units.

The publication of the provisional funding settlement opens a period of consultation. The final police funding settlement will be debated in Parliament ahead of the new financial year.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 12 December 2022.

The Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union has announced Civil Service industrial action that will impact Border Force services.

The Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union has announced Civil Service industrial action that will impact Border Force services.

Border Force strike proposed dates and locations

Dates:

• 23 December
• 24 December
• 25 December
• 26 December (until about 7am)
• 28 December
• 29 December
• 30 December
• 31 December (until about 7am)

Locations:

• Birmingham Airport
• Cardiff Airport
• Gatwick Airport
• Glasgow Airport
• Heathrow Airport – Terminals 2,3,4 and 5
• Manchester Airport
• Port of Newhaven

Our number one priority is to keep our borders safe and secure for all travellers, and we will never compromise on this.

Military personnel, civil servants and volunteers from across government are being trained to support Border Force at airports and ports across the UK in the event of potential strike action. Border Force are ready to deploy resource to meet critical demand and support flow travellers through the border, however those entering the UK should be prepared for potential disruption.

Border Force and the travel industry work together very closely at a local and national level to agree plans for pressures while keeping the public safe.

Advice for passengers

Those who are due to travel into the UK during the proposed industrial action should be prepared to face longer wait times at UK border control.

All passengers should check the latest advice from their operators before travelling.

Please be patient and respect officers who are working to keep our citizens safe and border secure, and supporting travellers during the strike action.

We encourage all passengers eligible to use eGates to do so.

Please respect staff as we try and get you through the border as quickly and safely as possible. All forms of abuse and any inappropriate behaviour will be reported to the UK police.

Flights – impact of industrial action

We will work with operators and ports to understand the impact of industrial action on inbound flights.

Passengers travelling into the UK during strikes should check with their airlines for the latest travel information and advice.

Border wait times

As you’d expect, accurate queue time data can take some time to gather and check, however if you are travelling during the proposed strike dates be prepared for longer wait times.

There are multiple factors that might influence wait times including an increase in passenger numbers, flight delays and flight bunching. Weather delays, and other ad hoc incidents, can also impact border control queues.

We advise travellers to check with travel agents, tour operators, and airlines/carriers before travelling, to check if the proposed strike action will affect your journey.

Passengers can also check airport websites before travelling to stay up to date with the latest information related to travel or possible delays caused by strike action.

What we are doing to avoid disruption and queues at the border during the strike action

We continue to work closely with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption and delays at the border during any industrial action.

Border Force and the travel industry work together very closely at a local and national level and have regular meetings to agree plans for pressures while keeping the public safe.

Remember:

• there are often a few things that might influence wait times including an increase in passenger numbers, flights delays and flight bunching
• you should check the latest advice from your operators before travelling

The press release issued by the Home Office on 9 December 2022.

Home Secretary announces support for Private Member’s Bill to make public sexual harassment an offence. The bill will lead to harsher sentences for perpetrators.

Public sexual harassment will be made a specific offence through government-backed legislation returning to Parliament today [Friday 9 December]

A wide range of experts were consulted over the summer on introducing a specific offence. The vast majority considered public sexual harassment to be a widespread problem.

The consultation showed the need for a specific offence to make the laws surrounding public harassment clearer to both the public and the police. Despite public sexual harassment already being illegal, the introduction of a specific offence will encourage women to report to the police, as well as emphasising the severity of the crime.

After careful consideration, the government is supporting legislation brought forward by Greg Clark MP which introduces harsher sentences if someone who deliberately harasses, alarms, or distresses someone in a public place does so because of the victim’s sex, with the maximum sentence increasing from six months to two years.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

Every woman should feel safe to walk our streets without fear of harassment or violence. And that is why we are supporting this bill to introduce a specific offence on public sexual harassment.

It’s a complex issue and we’ve carefully considered the arguments, taking into account a range of views.

We are putting the needs of victims at the heart of our decision, which will mean the criminals who commit these acts face the consequences they deserve.

British Transport Police Assistant Chief Constable Charlie Doyle, said:

No woman should be subjected to harassment or intimidation as they travel and we will always welcome any extra help in bringing more offenders to justice.

We have always taken reports of sexual harassment extremely seriously, however I hope the proposed legislation will reinforce our clear message to perpetrators that it simply won’t be tolerated.

We know that all forms of sexual harassment are under-reported to police and I hope this increased awareness will encourage more victims to come forward and tell us about what’s happened to them.

The government response to the consultation has been published here, which confirms the commitment to pursuing new legislation which builds on the intentional ‘harass, alarm, distress’ definition of harassment first established in law in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

The new legislation supports the government’s commitment to tackling violence against women and girls, and follows earlier action to help tackle these crimes in public spaces, including public sexual harassment.

Government action also includes new guidance for the police and prosecutors on sexual harassment; investing £125 million through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds; the StreetSafe tool which allows women to report directly to the police on areas where they have felt unsafe; and the ground-breaking ‘Enough’ communications campaign, which helps the public to safely play their part in stopping abuse.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 8 December 2022.

Home Secretary and European counterparts meet to renew discussions on how to crack down on illegal migration and people trafficking.

Plans to step up co-operation to tackle illegal immigration across Europe and bring people smugglers to justice have been agreed today at a meeting of the Calais Group.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman met with counterparts from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, in the presence of the European Commission and its agencies, in Brussels this morning to renew discussions on how to address the global migration crisis. The group has published a Joint Communique outlining commitments made at the meeting.

The UK will agree a working arrangement with Frontex, Europe’s external border agency, to bolster its upstream efforts to contain illegal migration, as other countries also committed to bolster their support. Working together at Europe’s land and sea borders will enable countries to improve registration of irregular migrants and ensure rapid asylum and returns procedures, so that illegal migration flows are reduced at source. Frontex has a particular focus on tackling migration from western Balkans countries.

Ministers also agreed to enhance cooperation of the Joint Intelligence Cell situated in Calais, to allow operational teams to better identify and respond to criminal networks. The cell has dismantled 59 organised crime groups involved in illegal crossings since it was set up in July 2020.

Today’s meeting also saw ministers agree to deeper co-operation with third countries to work on shared migration challenges and ensure people do not undertake perilous journeys in the first place.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

Countries across Europe must work closely together to tackle illegal migration and crack down on the people smugglers before these issues reach our borders.

The Calais Group have held constructive discussions today on bringing solutions that will benefit all our countries and to ensure the evil criminals who profit in human misery are targeted and brought swiftly to justice. I look forward to our ongoing cooperation.

Ministers welcomed the joint progress achieved since November 2021. The Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been driving forward efforts to step up international cooperation to tackle this joint challenge, most recently through the signing of the UK-France agreement to enhance co-operation on illegal migration. The ministers also set out how irregular migration into Europe is a growing issue, with detections of irregular crossings at land and sea borders 74% higher than last year.

Ministers also agreed to support a working arrangement between the UK and Frontex, to facilitate better joint working to tackle illegal migration. European partners and their agencies, like the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Europol, continue to work closely on the ground to tackle illegal migration and bring perpetrators of organised crime to justice. For example, the NCA led Operation Punjum in July, the biggest ever international operation of its kind, alongside Operation Thoren in Europe, to target an organised crime group suspected of smuggling up to 10,000 people across the Channel in the last 12 to 18 months.

In the face of increasing Channel crossings in 2022, the UK has already put in place a wide range of measures to tackle the issue internationally. That includes signing a new agreement with France which will see UK officers embedded in French operations for the first time ever as part of a reciprocal agreement, as well as a 40% uplift in the number of officers patrolling French beaches – helping step up efforts to detect and disrupt crossings before they leave France. Co-operation with France has led to the prevention of over 31,000 migrants crossing via small boats so far this year and our work with French law enforcement has secured the arrest of 384 suspected people smugglers this year alone. This work comes alongside the measures we brought forward through our Nationality and Borders Act, our work to deliver the Rwanda partnership, and efforts to expedite the removal of individuals by agreeing tailored bilateral returns agreements with partners like Albania.

Today also marks a further step forward in delivering the new UK-France deal, as French officers join their UK counterparts in Dover to continue their operational training as part of the reciprocal agreement to embed officers in operations – following a visit by UK officers to France last month.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 6 December 2022.