Tag: Jack Dromey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on police workloads of planned reductions in local authority funding on (a) emergency planning, (b) vulnerability strategies, (c) youth offending services, (d) anti-social behaviour strategies and (e) community safety strategies.

Karen Bradley

Funding for local authorities in England is a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government. Funding for local authorities in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Government.

It is for local authorities to decide how they spend their budgets on these and other issues. Many local authorities already understand the value of working closely with Police and Crime Commissioners and are best placed to make the right decisions for their communities locally.

PCCs have a duty under the provisions of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act to work with local authorities in their respective police force areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office of 24 March 2016, Official Report, column 209, on the Policing and Crime Bill, how her Department defines warranted in the context of warranted officers; and what assessment she has made of whether Clause 28 of the Policing and Crime Bill would give warranted powers to staff and volunteers.

Mike Penning

In the context of warranted officers and in relation to the Policing and Crime Bill, “warranted” means attested as a constable. The Bill sets out a series of reforms, endorsed in a public consultation, that will enhance the powers of chief police officers to designate police staff and volunteers with a broad range of powers or duties, other than those core powers that will be available only to constables. In making this distinction, we are underlining the central place of the constable in policing.

These reforms will free up police officers to concentrate on the core policing tasks that most require their particular powers and experience, while enabling chief police officers to deploy a flexible and balanced workforce with the appropriate mix of skills and experience to keep our communities safe. We know there is demand from forces to introduce these volunteer roles – Lincolnshire, for example, have already recruited and trained volunteer Police Community Support Officers, who are waiting for this Bill to pass so they can be given powers appropriate to their roles and training.

If it is acceptable to confer all the powers of a constable on one type of volunteer, namely special constables, it is inconsistent to object in principle to conferring a narrower set of powers on other suitably trained volunteers. Chief officers are best placed to decide how to shape their workforce to meet local need and the reforms in the Bill enable them to do just that.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police, emergency responders and other security and military personnel have been deployed from other EU member states to respond to emergencies and other security threats in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Mr John Hayes

The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that all health and safety regulations will be (a) protected in the long-term and (b) retained in legislation after the UK leaves the EU.

Penny Mordaunt

As a Government, we have been clear that we will do nothing to undermine workers’ rights. The United Kingdom has one of the best records on occupational safety and health in Europe and the wider world and the Government intends to keep it that way. Health and safety regulations are secondary legislation under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Government has no plans to change this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed in (a) the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit and (b) each of the nine Regional Organised Crime Units for each year from 2010 to date.

Mr John Hayes

Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) provide capability to investigate serious and organised crime across police force boundaries, including but not limited to, cyber crime. At the end of September 2015, there were 1,626 full-time equivalent staff employed by forces in the nine Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), excluding London.

These figures have only been centrally collected by the police, and shared with the Home Office, since the beginning of this financial year. Details on the number of staff employed in individual ROCUs are operationally sensitive and have therefore not been provided. The most recent figures for the number of National Crime Agency (NCA) officers employed in the National Cyber Crime Unit will be available in the National Crime Agency’s Remuneration Review Body evidence to be published on the NCA’s website shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the grant settlement and provisional settlements for police forces up to 2019-20 on the ratio of officers to members of the public.

Mike Penning

The Government has protected overall police spending for the coming Spending Review period in real terms, when local income is taken into account. This is an increase of up to £900 million in cash terms by 2019/20. The public can be confident that over the next four years the police will have the resources they need to carry on cutting crime, fighting terrorism and keeping the people of this country safe.

The proportion of police officers in frontline roles in England and Wales has increased from 89% in March 2010 to 92% in March 2015. Ultimately, decisions on the size and composition of a police force’s workforce are for individual chief officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police staff have been deployed to (a) each region of the UK from other EU member states and (b) other EU member states from each region of the UK to police (i) football matches and (ii) other sporting events in each of the last 10 years.

Mike Penning

Whenever national football or club teams from England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland play a match outside of the UK, an assessment is made as to whether a UK police delegation can be useful to the host nation’s policing operation. However, the decision to request UK police officers rests with the relevant host nation. Similarly whenever national football teams or club teams from England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland host a match against a foreign club or national team, an assessment is made by the police and this will include whether they would welcome support from the relevant police force. Such consideration can also be given to other sporting events, but it is mainly applicable to football matches. We do not hold the specific detail asked for in the question.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to ensure that all EU-derived employment rights will be (a) protected in the long-term and (b) retained in primary legislation after the UK leaves the EU.

Margot James

As a Government, we have been clear that we will do nothing to undermine workers’ rights. All law in this area at the time of exit will be brought under UK law as part of the Great Repeal Bill, ensuring continuity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been absent from work due to stress-related illnesses in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of officers absent from work due to stress-related illnesses. The number of officers on long term absence at 31 March each year is collected, along with information on the number of officers on long term sickness. This is published annually by HMIC in their Value for Money profiles: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/our-work/value-for-money-inspections/value-for-money-profiles/

These data do not allow the reasons for long term sickness to be identified.

Chief Constables, working with directly elected police and crime commissioners, are responsible for managing the police workforce effectively and ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy that volunteers should not be used in the operational areas of (a) child sexual exploitation, (b) serious crime and (c) counter-terrorism under proposals in the Policing and Crime Bill.

Mike Penning

Our consultation on the reform of the roles and powers of civilians and volunteers demonstrated the demand from forces for flexibility in how they deploy volunteer staff, and therefore we should not make assumptions about the operational areas where volunteers can make a contribution. For example, they can play a hugely valuable role in supporting vulnerable victims. As Victim Support told the consultation: “enabling chief officers to designate powers to volunteers would allow them to assist police officers in supporting victims of crime and improving service delivery.”

Volunteers will be subject to the same tests as police staff before they are designated with powers, namely that the chief officer must be satisfied that they are suitable, capable and adequately trained (that is, the tests set out in section 38(4) of the Police Reform Act 2002), so police forces will not be able to deploy volunteers on tasks they are not capable of performing.

If it is acceptable to confer all the powers of a constable on one type of volunteer, namely special constables, it is inconsistent to object in principle to conferring a narrower set of powers on other suitably trained volunteers. Under this Bill, however, Parliament will retain control of the list of core powers that will only be available to police officers. For example, all powers under counter-terrorism legislation are listed in Schedule 7 to the Bill as core powers of police officers.

These reforms will place the individual decision-making as to which personnel perform which roles firmly in the hands of chief officers, who have the professional expertise and local knowledge to know which powers are needed in their area. It is important that we do not restrict the operational powers of the police, who retain the right to deploy staff as they see fit.