Tag: Sarah Champion

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken to strengthen its data collection strategy to help combat human trafficking.

Karen Bradley

We are strengthening data collection on human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery in several ways. In the Modern Slavery Act we introduced a duty on named public authorities to notify the Home Office every time they have reasonable grounds to believe they have encountered a victim of modern slavery.

These notifications can be anonymous so that data is collected even if the potential victim does not want to engage with the authorities. We are reviewing the National Referral Mechanism form, so that it better captures key data about potential victims and perpetrators. Polaris and Unseen UK are working with other NGOs and law enforcement to launch an enhanced modern slavery helpline later this year which will capture more data and help to shine a light on the scale and nature of this appalling crime.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 14 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, when her Department plans to consider an extension of the offence of wilful neglect.

Karen Bradley

As the honourable Member for Rotherham will recall, during the passage of the Serious Crime Bill in the last session of Parliament, the previous Government made a commitment to undertake a public consultation on the options for reporting child abuse and to lay a report before Parliament on the outcome of the consultation within 18 months of Royal Assent of the Serious Crime Act (i.e. by September 2016). This commitment was extended in March 2015, under the Government’s Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Report, to consult on options for imposing sanctions for deliberate or reckless failures to take appropriate action in relation to child abuse or neglect, where it is a professional responsibility to do so.

The Government will launch its consultation exercise in Spring 2016, to run for twelve weeks and will then consider carefully the need for any further statutory measures in the light of responses. This will enable the Government to lay proposals before Parliament by September 2016, as it has committed to do.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of child deaths (a) by people who have been found guilty of and (b) related to domestic violence.

Caroline Dinenage

The family courts take the issue of domestic violence extremely seriously. The Child Arrangement Programme and Practice Direction 12J set out a strong and clear framework where domestic violence is alleged and all judges receive specific training on this framework.

In prisons the National Offenders Management Service accredited programmes are a proven way of tackling intimate partner violence and reducing reoffending in custody and the community. All programmes are based on the latest theory base and are regularly updated to make sure they continue to be as effective as possible. Provision of these services is widely available and provides an effective response to the causes of intimate partner violence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 37 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, what progress her Department has made on the establishment of a national task force of specialist professionals to support local authorities where child sexual exploitation is a particular concern.

Karen Bradley

The Government’s ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ report launched in March 2015 announced the establishment of a new national taskforce to help local areas faced with significant concerns relating to high volumes of child sexual exploitation.

We are currently finalising the way the taskforce, to be known as the Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit, will work. The Response Unit will be launched in the Spring.

The Response Unit will provide help to local areas experiencing particular issues and/or high volumes of child sexual exploitation cases by offering a range of support including advice from expert practitioners who have first-hand experience of tackling child sexual exploitation.