The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when she plans to publish the sentencing guidelines for Part 1 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Sentencing Guidelines are issued by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, a body independent of Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child abduction warning notices were served by police forces in England in the last 12 months; and how many such notices related to children aged 16 and 17.
Mike Penning
Child Abduction Warning Notices are currently used by the police as a deterrent against those thought to be grooming children, where the child is under the age of 16 if living at home, or under the age of 18 if living in the care of a local authority. These notices are a useful tool for the police and complement the strong new powers to protect the vulnerable from sexual predators that we introduced in the Serious Crime Act 2015. For example, breach of an Abduction Notice can become grounds for the issuing of a Sexual Risk Order.
There is no statutory or other legislative provision dealing specifically with the issue of Child Abduction Warning Notices; the Notices are part of an administrative process. Breach of a Notice is not a criminal offence and as such the police do not regularly record the number of Child Abduction Warning Notices issued.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to develop a strategy to support BAME specialist domestic violence charities.
Karen Bradley
The Government published a new Violence Against Women and Girls strategy on 8 March committing £80 million between 2016 and 2020 to protect women and girls from violence and abuse. The strategy sets out how we will support local areas in implementing tailored services for victims who experience different forms of discrimination or additional barriers to accessing support. This includes the launch of a Service Transformation Fund from 2017 which will help to meet the needs of women and girls experiencing multiple disadvantage including victims from black and minority ethnic communities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when guidance on Part 1 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was sent to (a) Chief Police Officers in England and Wales, (b) the National Crime Agency, (c) HM Inspectorate of Constabularies and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Sarah Newton
Guidance on Part 1 was sent to Chief Officers of Police, the NCA, HMIC and other partners on 9 July 2015 as part of a broader Home Office circular on the Modern Slavery Act. The circular was not copied to the Independent Chief Inspector of Border and Immigration but is easily accessible on GOV.UK. All Border Force officers undergo mandatory training on identifying victims of modern slavery and have access to relevant guidance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) sexual harm prevention orders and (b) sexual risk orders have been made by courts in England to protect children aged 16 and 17.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not collate central figures on the number of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Sexual Risk Orders issued in England. Figures collated by the police for management purposes, and provided to the Home Office, on the overall number of orders show that in the period between 8 March and 29 September, 2,425 full and 40 interim Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and 32 full and 13 interim Sexual Risk Orders were issued in England and Wales. This data is not broken down by age.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ring-fence long term funding for specialist domestic violence charities.
Karen Bradley
The Government published a new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy on 8 March setting out an ambitious programme to make tackling VAWG everybody’s business, ensure victims and survivors get the support they need and inspire confidence in the Criminal Justice System to bring more perpetrators to justice as well as doing more to rehabilitate offenders.
The strategy committed £80 million between 2016 and 2020 to protect women and girls from violence. This increased funding will help to deliver our goal to work with local commissioners to deliver a secure future for rape support centres, refuges and FGM and Forced Marriage Units, whilst driving a major change across all services which promotes early intervention and prevention including through specialist domestic violence charities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to lay guidance on licensing functions under taxi and private hire vehicle legislation before Parliament.
Andrew Jones
The Department is currently updating the existing guidance on local authority licensing functions for taxi and private hire vehicles. We will consult on a draft once the Policing and Crime Bill, which provides a new power for statutory guidance, has received Royal Assent.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) sexual harm prevention orders and (b) sexual risk orders have been made by courts in England.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not collate central figures on the number of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Sexual Risk Orders issued in England. Figures collated by the police for management purposes, and provided to the Home Office, on the overall number of orders show that in the period between 8 March and 29 September, 2,425 full and 40 interim Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and 32 full and 13 interim Sexual Risk Orders were issued in England and Wales. This data is not broken down by age.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many women living in council housing have requested a change of tenancy because of violence in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those women were given a direct transfer within one month.
Brandon Lewis
We do not hold the information requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what account her Department will take of women (a) with mental health needs, (b) who are homeless, (c) who are living in poverty and (d) who have other complex needs in its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
Karen Bradley
The Government will shortly publish an updated Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy which will set out how we will support all victims of VAWG, including those with mental health needs, those who are homeless or living in poverty and those who have other complex needs, by doing more to prevent these crimes from happening, intervening earlier, and continuing to improve the protection for victims and to bring offenders to justice.
The Government has already committed £40m for domestic abuse services including refuges between 2016 and 2020, provided a £2m grant to Women’s Aid and SafeLives to support a new domestic abuse early intervention project, protected funding of over £6.4m to 86 female Rape Support Centres for 2016/17, and committed to a further year of funding to support the local provision of 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers for 2016/17.