Statement by the Home Secretary: Work of the Home Office
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Written statement made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman on the
work of the Home Office Today I am updating Parliament on Home
Office delivery since the previous Written Ministerial Statement of
5th September 2022. In the face of an increasingly complex
operational context, the Home Office continues to make a
significant positive impact. We have faced substantial external
pressures which have continued over the last three months,
including the ongoing arrival of small boats...Request free trial
Written statement made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman on the work of the Home Office Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since the previous Written Ministerial Statement of 5th September 2022. In the face of an increasingly complex operational context, the Home Office continues to make a significant positive impact. We have faced substantial external pressures which have continued over the last three months, including the ongoing arrival of small boats and war in Ukraine. The department remains committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and continues to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom. Following the sad death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Home Office successfully delivered departmental responsibilities and assurance of police and security plans for Operation London Bridge from 8th-19th September 2022. Keeping the capital safe during an event on this scale - the equivalent of 160 state visits within three days – was a major achievement. This was the largest no-notice policing operation of a generation which included over 12,000 police officers deployed on the day of the state funeral.
Reducing Crime The first job of any government is to keep its people safe, which is why we have put more police on our streets, are cutting crime and protecting the public. Over the last three months, the Home Office has worked hard to achieve these priorities. Overall crime has fallen by 10% since December 2019, equivalent to 1m fewer crimes. Neighbourhood Crime Neighbourhood crime is down 20% since December 2019, and burglary has fallen by 30% over the same time period. Since the Safer Streets Fund was established, we have awarded £120 million to local projects in high-crime areas across England and Wales through four rounds of funding, supporting over 250 projects. I am pleased that the NPCC has announced that all Police chiefs in England and Wales committed in September to attend all home burglaries. An example of this in action is Operation Tenacity, which saw the Metropolitan Police attend most burglaries, resulting in 1,700 arrests in just 6 weeks during October and November this year. Serious Violence Hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object among under 25s – our primary metric for measuring serious violence - have fallen by 22% since December 2019. Our Violence Reduction Unit programme alongside targeted police enforcement activity has prevented over 49,000 violent offences since funding for the programmes began in March 2019. In addition, 260,000 vulnerable young people have been supported through Violence Reduction Units in their second year alone, and 90,000 weapons have been taken off our streets since 2019. The ‘Grip’ police enforcement programme is supporting the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence. Grip is helping to drive down violence by using a highly data-driven process to identify violence hotspots – often to individual street level – to target operational activity in those areas. We are seeing impact in areas we are funding: for instance, hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object amongst under 25s in the Metropolitan Police Force area fell from 465 in 2020/21 to 410 in 2021/22. Drugs
We know that the drugs trade is at the heart of much of the
homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime that blight
our communities. Our 10-year cross-Government Drug Strategy
published in December 2021 includes £300 million of dedicated
investment over the next three years, to drive work on tackling
drug supply. Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Between January 2021 and August 2022, a team of academics conducted sequential deep dives on the police response to rape in 5 police forces: Avon and Somerset Police, the Metropolitan Police Service, Durham Constabulary, West Midlands Police and South Wales Police. A wide range of data and information was gathered and examined during the deep dives - including reviews of case files, observations of investigations and training, focus groups with support services and victims. Following the deep dives, the forces have developed tailored improvement plans to address the findings; which has led to the roll out of Operation Soteria. We continue to implement the Rape Review Action Plan, investing £6.65 million in Operation Soteria to deliver the national operating model for the investigation of rape for all forces to adopt from June 2023; introducing new powers to stop unnecessary and intrusive requests for victims’ phones; and continuing to work with police forces to ensure they have the capability to return victims’ devices within 24 hours. In the year-ending June 2022, the police recorded 196,889 sexual offences, the highest level recorded within a 12-month period. This is a 21% increase compared to year ending March 2020. On 15 December, the Government published its third six monthly Rape Review Progress Update, which showed that – although there is still more to do - the Government is on track to meet its Rape Review ambition to more than double the number of adult rape cases reaching court by the end of this parliament. In the most recent data for 2022, the number of cases referred by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was up 95 percent; the volume of cases charged was up by two-thirds; and the number of cases reaching the Crown Court was up 91 percent compared to 2019 averages. We have continued to implement the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, and have enshrined into law the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. We have introduced new offences relating to non-fatal strangulation, hymenoplasty and virginity testing. We have strengthened protections and support for victims of domestic abuse and the response to perpetrators through the provisions in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. We have made the regime for managing sex offenders and those that pose a risk of sexual harm more robust through provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022. In January 2020 we introduced Stalking Protection Orders to protect victims of stalking at the earliest possible opportunity; 456 orders were issued in their first year. Extensive work is also under way to launch the pilot for the new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders early next year. On 25th October, we launched the second phase of our multimedia ‘Enough’ national campaign which promotes safe ways for bystanders to intervene if they witness VAWG. The campaign has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales, with thousands of clicks through to organisations offering support for victims of VAWG. Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation We received the final report of the independent inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse after seven years of investigation into institutional failings to properly safeguard children from this most horrific abuse. I commend the bravery of the thousands of victims and survivors for sharing their testimonies and perspectives with the inquiry. We will continue doing everything we can to combat this crime, pursue these vile offenders, bring them to justice, and ensure supports are in place for all victims and survivors to help them build their lives. Public Order The Public Order Bill will further enhance the police’s ability to deal with disruptive protests that prevent ordinary people going about their daily lives and divert police resources from communities where they are needed most to prevent serious violence and neighbourhood crime. So far disruptive protests in London alone have taken up over 12,500 police officer shifts. The Metropolitan Police Service have made over 750 arrests since the beginning of October. Fraud My department is launching a new fraud strategy including stepping up our response to pursuing and disrupting fraudsters, working with industry to stop frauds, and empower and support victims. This Government is delivering the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill which will deliver the largest reform to Companies House in recent history. It will give law enforcement and industry the tools to bear down on the use of UK companies as vehicles for economic crime, including fraud. It will also better protect personal information and addresses provided to Companies House. We have seen the success of the National Crime Agency’s Operation AGADE where we have recovered £54 million of criminal proceeds using a first of its kind Civil Recovery Order. We have seen Operation Elaborate, the largest anti-fraud operation in the UK to date dismantling a website which was responsible for 3.5 million fraudulent calls in 2022. Involving many agencies and forces, and led by the Metropolitan Police there have been over 100 arrests made across the country so far. Policing Police Uplift The Police Uplift Programme continues to support forces with additional police officers, and we remain on-track to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. Data published on 30th September 2022 shows that 15,343 additional officers have already been recruited, accounting for 77% of our target. There are now 11 forces with the highest number of officers they have ever had – Cheshire, Dyfed-Powys, Essex, Kent, City of London, the Metropolitan, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, South Wales, Suffolk and Thames Valley. The police workforce is more representative than ever before. For the first time ever, there are over 50,000 female officers (50,364), as at 30th September 2022, 34.9% of all officers in post. There were 11,477 ethnic minority officers, as at 30th September 2022, 8.2% of all officers in post the highest figures on record. Police Performance His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) continues to shine a light on force performance. Humberside received an excellent report from their latest inspection, with six “outstanding” grades. Humberside was awarded the “outstanding” grade for preventing crime, treatment of the public, protecting vulnerable people, managing offenders, developing a positive workplace and good use of resources. It received a further two “good” grades and one “adequate” grade. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has made great strides in getting the basics right. Under strong leadership they are responding faster to emergency calls and halved the number of open investigations since 2021. HMICFRS removed GMP from their “engage” phase in October 2022. I am pleased to see GMP working so constructively with HMICFRS and others to act on their inspection findings. I encourage others to learn from their experience. Six police forces remain ‘engaged’ by HMICFRS and I expect all forces to make the necessary improvements and work towards restoring public trust and confidence in the police. Police Culture We recognise that police culture and standards need to improve to rebuild public trust and confidence. We are bringing forward part two of the Angiolini Inquiry to focus on these issues and are reviewing the process of dismissals to ensure that policing can swiftly remove officers who fall well short of the standards expected of them. We have commissioned the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to conduct a review of operational productivity in policing, led by Sir Stephen House. This will address issues which may affect the anticipated outcomes from our investment in policing. We believe that a policing career must be open to talented and committed people from across our communities, including those who do not have a degree or want one. That is why I have commissioned the College of Policing to develop options for a new non-degree entry route. The current transitional non-degree entry route will be kept open in the meantime. Reducing the risk to homeland security The Home Office has continued to focus relentlessly on reducing risk across the full range of threats to our homeland security. In October, counter-terrorism police responded swiftly to an attack on a migration facility in Dover that was declared as terrorism. On 30th October we announced a refresh of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. This will ensure we are able to best protect the public from the enduring threat of terrorism. The refresh will maintain clarity and consistency of purpose, and ensure the necessary tools are in place to tackle terrorist hatred and violence. Our counter-terrorism system never stops learning. Volume 2 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry was published on 3rd November 2022. This covered the emergency services’ response on the night of the attack. The Government will respond fully when all three volumes have been published. However, we are already enhancing our response using the learning from the attacks – for example, in improving joint working between the emergency services - which will feed the refreshment of CONTEST. We have also received the Independent Review of Prevent, which we will look to publish next year alongside the HMG response. We will reflect the lessons and learning from the Shawcross Review, along with those from the numerous inquests, Inquiries and other reviews from recent years through the CONTEST refresh. I have today issued a further written ministerial statement updating on our progress developing Martyn’s Law, also known as the Protect Duty. This is a significant milestone in the development of this first of its kind piece of legislation, which will keep people safe by scaling up preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks. This legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows. This is a recommendation in Volume One of the Manchester Arena Inquiry. this duty has been tirelessly campaigned for by Figen Murray who tragically lost her son, Martyn, in the Manchester Arena attack. I would like to pay tribute to her alongside all other victims, survivors and those affected by these heinous events. Access to data is fundamental to the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes. The UK-US Data Access Agreement entered into force on 5th October 2022. This world-first capability will fundamentally change the way we are able to fight serious crime across the UK, including terrorism, organised immigration crime, and child abuse. The Agreement permits certain UK public authorities to obtain data directly from US-based communications service providers. This will allow us to access vital data more quickly than ever before. Operational benefits are already being derived from the Agreement. Earlier in the year, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office delivered a transformative package of work through emergency legislation to strengthen financial sanctions legislation, creating new Register of Overseas Entities and reforming Unexplained Wealth Orders. We are building on that work through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill that was introduced in Parliament on 22nd September 2022. This cracks down even further on kleptocrats, criminals, and terrorists who abuse our open economy and ensures we drive out dirty money from the UK. It strengthens the UK’s reputation as a place where legitimate businesses can thrive and enhances our ability to tackle new and emerging threats like the use of crypto-assets, ransomware and the growth of cyber-enabled fraud. The National Crime Agency’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell is also delivering significant success, with nearly 100 disruptions against Putin-linked elites and their enablers. It has frozen over £18 billion worth of assets in the UK. On 1st December 2022 it conducted a major operation to arrest a wealthy Russian businessman on suspicion of offences including money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury. The National Security Bill, which is now at its Committee Stage in the House of Lords, represents a fundamental reform of our framework for tackling state threats. It includes a suite of new measures to tackle the full range of modern-day state threats, from sabotage and spying to foreign interference and economic espionage. It will ensure our world-class law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the modern tools, powers, and protections they need to counter those who seek to do the UK harm. The first meeting of the new Defending Democracy Taskforce took place on 28th November 2022. The Taskforce’s primary focus will be to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference. The Taskforce will work across government and with Parliament, the UK Intelligence Community, the devolved administrations, local authorities, and the private sector on the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions. Tackling illegal migration, removing those with no right to be here, and protecting the vulnerable This year has been challenging for our efforts to tackle illegal migration due to pressures on the system, particularly due to consistently high numbers of arrivals by small boats and pressures on available accommodation, which have been exacerbated by responding to the war in Ukraine and continued instability in Afghanistan. I will continue to protect the public and keep our borders secure and the British people safe from harm. The Prime Minister recently set out a range of significant new steps the Government is taking to tackle the challenge of illegal migration including:
The new UK-French agreement I agreed with my counterpart lays the foundations for deeper co-operation to tackle illegal migration and marks the next step for the close operational partnership between the two countries which has prevented over 31,500 crossings, nearly 50% more than to this point in 2021. The arrangement means, for the first time, specialist UK officers will also be embedded with their French counterparts, which will increase information-sharing, improve understanding of the threat, and ensure UK expertise is at the heart of efforts to disrupt crossings and clamp down on people-smugglers. This more integrated approach will also include strengthened operational co-operation, including joint UK-France analysis teams supporting the co-ordination and exchange of information by French-command HQ. We have signed the biggest small boats joint bilateral deal with France, we have put the Calais group on a permanent footing showing the importance of this issue to our European partners and we have agreed new levels of intelligence co-operation with our European neighbours. These measures build on the progress we have made through the year. We have introduced Part 5 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which provides legislative clarity to victims and decision-makers on victims’ rights, including the entitlement to a recovery period and the circumstances in which it may be withheld. We continue to return foreign national offenders (FNOs) by scheduled and charter flights. From January 2019 to March 2022, we have removed 11,532 FNOs. Since April 2020, we have chartered 156 flights to Europe and around the World. In the year ending June 2022, there were 3,250 enforced returns, of which 1,600 were to EU countries. Safe and Legal Routes We have continued to support those fleeing conflicts abroad, granting Indefinite Leave to Remain to over 11,300 individuals from Afghanistan under ARAP or ACRS Pathway 1. As of 24th November, 202,710 visas have been granted and 146,222 have arrived in the UK from Ukraine. 59,480 have been granted and 41,093 people have arrived under the Ukraine Family Scheme. 143,230 visas have been granted and 105,129 arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme Through the Hong Kong British National Overseas route, there have been a total of 150,600 applications since its introduction on 31st January 2021 up to the end of September 2022 of which there were 144,576 grants (96%). Enabling the legitimate movement of people and goods Passports are about to enter the busy period in January, and plans are well advanced in preparation for that and for a high level of demand forecast across 2023. There was record demand for passport applications this year – with approximately 7.4 million applications processed by the end of October. Service standards have remained high since November and 99.9% of UK standard applications were completed within the 10-week service standard in the week ending 20th November. Every effort is being made to return to the three-week service standard. The visa service has faced significant demands post-pandemic and following Ukraine and higher than forecast levels of demand. Considering this, it is performing well under pressure, and through supportive contingency measures, standard applications have returned to service standards and we are on track for complex applications to also return to service standards in December. Despite these challenges staff productivity has remained high, and we continue to manage staff flexibly across services to reduce work in progress to minimal levels for passport and deliver the visa recovery by the year end. Border Force have seen passenger numbers increase to near pre-pandemic levels by the end of summer and also managed the introduction of post EU exit goods checks and the first full year of EU citizens requiring passports and additional checks. eGates have performed well and IT resilience has been strong enabling over 90% of passengers to cross borders within tolerance levels. Border Force also reached its annual Target for Cigarette and Tobacco seizures within 7 months of 2022-23/ In October, £35 million in cigarettes and tobacco were seized bringing the YTD total to £255 million (101%) of the annual target of £252 million. On alcohol, Border Force seized £4.3 million, bringing the YTD total to £25.1 million (63%) of the annual target of £40 million. The FBIS programme has built-up the expertise and capability to reduce significantly the time taken to launch a brand-new visa route or to amend criteria for existing visa applications. We have made significant progress in digitising the immigration system. We are increasingly replacing physical and paper-based products and services with accessible, easy to use online and digital services. This has provided applicants with an easy online application process, including providing biometrics and establishing or verifying identity using their smartphones. A fully digital application process has been delivered for the BN(O) route and some points-based system routes and now for Ukraine schemes. All these achievements have been delivered against a challenging background and represent a significant effort across the Home Office in continuing to deliver on the people’s priorities. The Home Office remains committed to keeping the public safe, protecting our borders, and countering hostile state threats. |