Tag: Tim Farron

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effects of the provisions of the Housing and Planning Bill on the total amount of spending on housing benefit in each of the next five years.

Brandon Lewis

The Government will continue to assess the impacts of the Housing and Planning Bill as it progresses through Parliament. We will publish our assessments on Parliament’s website at

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/housingandplanning/documents.html.

These will be updated as further assessments are undertaken.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect the security and privacy of citizens’ online activity.

Mr John Hayes

The public and Parliament deserve legislation that provides adequate protection for both their privacy and their security. That is why the Government intends to publish a Bill in the Autumn for pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of Parliament, responding to the recommendations of three independent reviews in this area: those conducted by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, the Royal United Services Institute, and the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities uphold the Military Covenant.

Mark Lancaster

For information on this Department’s engagement with Local Authorities on the Armed Forces Covenant I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2015 to Question 8395 to the hon. Member for Northampton South (Mr Mackintosh).

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-09-04/8395/

In addition, since I provided that answer I have also met with the Chairman of the Local Government Association and with the Minister for Housing and Planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). We are collectively planning to review the work undertaken by Local Authorities to deliver the Covenant and expect to complete this by March 2016. This will help to further identify best practice and where to target future work.

The Minister for Housing and Planning will write to all Local Authorities setting out examples of best practice and reminding them of the need to honour their commitments under the Covenant. I will also address a conference of Local Authority Community Covenant Champions in London on 4 November 2015. I hope that members’ Local Authority Armed Forces Covenant champions will be there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Mike Penning

Elected Police and Crime Commissioners are providing accountable, visible leadership, and making a real difference to policing locally. They are taking a lead role in driving collaboration between forces and with other emergency services to deliver more effective services and better value for money for the taxpayer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are sufficient appropriately trained reserve forces to support regular service men and women to meet Force 2020 commitments.

Mr Julian Brazier

We have made a number of improvements to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer reservists by 31 March 2019. Central to this is an improved offer, which includes better training, better equipment, improved remuneration and an improved experience for reservists.

We have also widened the opportunity for reservists to contribute on operations and established a new relationship with employers as well as improving the support available to employers when a reservist employee is mobilised.

These actions are in addition to improving capacity and flow in the recruiting process and our marketing campaigns.

As a result, more reservists are joining either as new entrants to the military or with prior experience either in the Regulars or in the Reserves. 8,370 joined in the 12 months to 1 September, a 70% rise on the equivalent period a year earlier and the trained strength has reached 25,720, ahead of target.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated to supporting people in migrant camps in Calais since August 2015

James Brokenshire

The provision of humanitarian assistance for people on French soil is a matter for the French authorities. However, both Governments are committed to identifying and helping those people who are especially vulnerable or potential victims of trafficking. This is why the Home Secretary and French Interior Minister agreed in the UK-France Joint Declaration in August 2015 to set up a project to increase observation in the camps to identify those people; to provide medical help and protection where required; to put in place a system to transfer them to places of safety; and to ensure they are offered the appropriate advice and support from the French system. The project will assist with our commitment to tackle the organised criminal gangs who facilitate human trafficking, and we are working together with French law enforcement partners to identify and target these gangs to prevent this occurring in the first place. The UK has contributed almost £550,000 towards this project as part of the Joint Fund announced in September 2014. The 2015 Joint Declaration also commits the UK to a further financial contribution of £3.6 million per year for two years to support the French Government in a range of activities to reduce the numbers of migrants in Calais and the incentives for them to stay there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has provided to (a) install fencing around the perimeter of the railhead at Coquelles, France, (b) install CCTV at the railhead at Coquelles and (c) strengthen security within the Channel Tunnel since 20 August 2015.

James Brokenshire

HM Government has invested over £20 million to reinforce border security through infrastructure improvements at the juxtaposed ports. This has included £7 million for fencing at Coquelles and we are further supporting Eurotunnel with key physical security costs related to the migrant pressures there. This includes funding 100 Eurotunnel security guards and essential security infrastructure work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage diversity in the police service.

Mike Penning

It is vital that the police reflect the communities they serve and the Government is determined to improve BME representation in all 43 forces in England and Wales.

Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. It is important that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary announced on 22 October the publication of data showing the gender and ethnicity of police officers by force area. This will make it easier for the public to access the data they need to see how representative their force is compared to the local population. It is clear that the current representation of women and officers from minority ethnic backgrounds in the officer ranks is not good enough and the Home Secretary has challenged forces to do more.

The Government’s reforms have already made improvements. For example, we set up the College of Policing, which has embarked on a major programme of work, BME Progression 2018, looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers, including the development of an evidence base of successful approaches used by forces.

As part of this programme the College recently published Positive Action Practical Advice, which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups, and it has published case studies from forces showing what can be done.

We have also developed innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now. These are increasing the number of BME recruits to the police, showing that you can achieve better representation while attracting the best and the brightest into policing.

Of the nine direct entry superintendents who began their superintendent training on November 2014 four (44%) are women and two (22%) are from an ethnic minority background. This is significantly more representative than the current make up of the superintendent rank which is comprised of 17% women and 4% ethnic minority.

Police Now, implemented in the Metropolitan Police, appointed 69 people to start their training, up from an anticipated 50 owing to the high calibre of applicants. Of these, 43% are women and 9% are from a BME background, compared to the national BME proportion of 5.5%.

With the joint leadership of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner, the Metropolitan Police also introduced its London residency criteria for recruits in August 2014. Recent Metropolitan police figures show that in the three months from June to August 2015, 26% of new Metropolitan police recruits came from a black or minority background, more than double the 12% recruited in the same quarter of 2014, and the 12% of Metropolitan police officers currently from a black and minority ethnic background.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her joint declaration with the French Minister of the Interior of 20 September 2014, how much funding her Department has contributed to the Joint Intervention Fund announced in that declaration.

James Brokenshire

The joint declaration of 20 September 2014 included a £12 million contribution from the UK Government towards a joint fund to strengthen security at Calais and other juxtaposed ports. Since 20 September 2014, the UK Government has committed an estimated £11.54 million from that fund on security and other improvements at the juxtaposed ports, including £1.5 million into the joint fund for a secure zone for HGVs at Calais.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional UK police and Border Force personnel have been deployed to join 24/7 freight search teams in Calais since 20 August 2015.

James Brokenshire

For border security reasons the Home Office does not publicly disclose details of operational deployments at the UK border. Border Force continually monitors the pressures of illegal immigration at the UK border. Joint work is undertaken with French law enforcement agencies and port operators to bolster security and ensure staff from respective organisations are deployed to meet operational needs.