Angiolini Inquiry. Read indexed debates, questions, statements and early day motions, with links to the original parliamentary records.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to respond to the correspondence from the Member for Portsmouth South of 25 October 2021 on the Angiolini Inquiry.
A response was sent by the Minister of State for Crime and Policing on 4 November 2021.
Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since my statement of 16 December 2021. The Department is committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and will continue to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom.The Home Office’s humanitarian response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and our delivery of robust Economic Crime measures I am working with the Ukrainian Government and international partners to hold Putin to account and support the brave p...
Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since my statement of 16 December 2021. The Department is committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and will continue to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom.
The Home Office’s humanitarian response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and our delivery of robust Economic Crime measures
I am working with the Ukrainian Government and international partners to hold Putin to account and support the brave people of Ukraine.
The Government launched two humanitarian schemes to provide a safe route for Ukrainians who want to come to the UK, quickly standing up the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. We streamlined the process to allow Ukrainians with valid passports to apply purely online and continue to work with partners to ensure that Ukrainians arriving here can access the right support.
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act provides greater powers to sanction oligarchs and businesses associated with the Russian Government. The Government has brought forth an additional 428 sanction designations since Royal Assent on 15 March. The legislation also introduces a new Register of Overseas Entities, requiring those behind foreign companies which own UK property to reveal their identities, and strengthens the Unexplained Wealth Orders regime.
The Oligarch Taskforce is helping build cases against its list of oligarchs. Internationally, we are clamping down on sanctions evasion across jurisdictions through the Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs international taskforce. The National Crime Agency’s ‘Combating Kleptocracy Unit’ is providing operational capability to target corrupt elites as well as the professional enablers of these corrupt elites and support criminal cross-HMG sanctions delivery and enforcement.
Reducing Crime
We are focused on delivering our Beating Crime Plan, making Britain safer with less crime, fewer victims and safer streets.
As of 31 December 2021, we have recruited over 11,000 police officers, against our target of 20,000 by March 2023.
Our work on serious violence has provided services to those communities most affected. We launched round four of the Safer Streets Fund which directs funding to projects tackling acquisitive crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. We’re making progress on our work to tackle violence against women and girls; we’ve published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, published the first ever stand-alone Domestic Abuse Plan and launched the “Enough” communications campaign which highlights the action people can take to safely challenge violence against women and girls.
The Angiolini Inquiry, set up to better understand how a serving police officer was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard and ensure that lessons for policing are identified and learned, started work in January 2022. The independent inquiry to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess was formally established on 17 March 2022.
Reducing the risk from terrorism to the UK & UK interests overseas, securing a safe and prosperous UK
In February, the threat to the UK from terrorism was reduced to substantial down from severe. Whilst positive, the security landscape remains complex, volatile and unpredictable as the attack outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the killing of Sir David Amess sadly reminds us. The Home Office continues in its efforts, working with operational partners, to build improvements into the UK’s counter-terrorism response.
Enabling the legitimate movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity
Since launching the points-based immigration system, we have continued to attract worldwide talent and skills whilst encouraging business to invest in British people. Latest statistics show the number of visas issued across work and study routes is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels (677,000 in 2021).
We will in the coming period implement the Plan for Growth measures, including the launch of the new Global Business Mobility routes, High Potential Individual route and Scale-up route, which support inward trade and investment and provide UK businesses access to a more flexible pool of highly-skilled workers.
Alongside new routes, we expanded capability for a fully digital application process in December 2021, improving our ability to re-use and re-check biometrics, allowing more people to benefit from a fully digital journey.
We have supported the care sector to boost their workforce by expanding eligibility for the Health and Social Care Visa to include health care assistants.
I announced a joint National Crime Agency and leading social media companies Action Plan to foster greater collaboration against crime groups that use online platforms to advertise illegal migration services; relevant illegal online content is already being removed.
Tackling illegal migration, removing those with no right to be here, and protecting the vulnerable
The Home Office is working to deliver a fair but firm system to ensure that we can better support those in genuine need of asylum, deter illegal migration, break the business model of criminal smuggling networks and remove from the UK those with no right to be here.
Last year, I launched and consulted on my New Plan for Immigration and introduced the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is advancing through Parliament on its path to Royal Assent.
The Bill will reset the legislative framework to meet objectives including the reduction of small boat crossings and deterring illegal entry into the UK. It incorporates tougher criminal offences for those attempting to enter the UK illegally by introducing a suite of asylum reforms and expedited processes to allow rapid removal of those with no right to be here.
We have worked with France to dismantle 21 small boat organised criminal groups and secured over 500 arrests. Our joint activity with France prevented more than 23,000 crossings in 2021. Over 4,500 crossings have already been prevented in 2022, nearly three times the number to this point in 2021.
I signed landmark agreements with Serbia and Albania to return those nationals who have no legal right to be in the UK.
Our new and bespoke Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) opened on 6 January. This is one of the most ambitious resettlement schemes in British history. The first people to be resettled under the scheme included some of the c.15,000 people who arrived in the UK under Operation Pitting – the largest humanitarian aid operation since the Second World War – which prioritised those at particular risk, including women’s rights activists, prosecutors, and journalists.
Windrush
Our commitment to righting the wrongs done to the Windrush Generation has not faltered. The Windrush Lessons Learned Review – Progress Update was published today. There is still more to do, but I am proud of our achievements and will ensure we can make the Home Office an even better place, serving the public with compassion, respect, collaboration and courage at the heart of everything it does.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has met any representatives of the Metropolitan Police to discuss the finding of the Independent Office for Police Conduct in relation to the behaviour of officers at Charing Cross Police Station.
The Home Secretary was appalled to learn of the behaviour of Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers following publication of the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) investigation report on Operation Hotton.
Being a police officer is a privilege which has been abused by these officers, and standards must be raised. The Home Secretary met the MPS Commissioner to discuss her concerns about the IOPC’s findings, and expects the MPS and the Mayor of London to implement the 15 recommendations of the report as soon as practically possible.
The Home Secretary has also asked the independent policing inspectorate, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), to review vetting and counter-corruption arrangements in policing across England and Wales – looking in particular at what forces are doing to identify and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour.
This work is underway – and it is anticipated that HMICFRS will publish a report before the summer – providing part of the evidence base informing Phase 2 of the Angiolini Inquiry.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to update the House of any request by the Chair of the Angiolini Inquiry to convert that inquiry into a full statutory inquiry within five days of receiving that request.
As the Home Secretary said in her statement to the House on 22 November 2021 when announcing the appointment of Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini QC as Chair of the inquiry, she will not rule out converting it to a statutory footing should Dame Elish feel that she is unable to fulfil the terms of reference on a non-statutory basis.
Any such decision would only be taken after discussion with Dame Elish, taking into account official advice, and the House would be informed accordingly.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will convert the Angiolini Inquiry into a full statutory inquiry in the event of such a recommendation from the independent chair.
As the Home Secretary said in her statement to the House on 22 November 2021 when announcing the appointment of Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini QC as Chair of the inquiry, she will not rule out converting it to a statutory footing should Dame Elish feel that she is unable to fulfil the terms of reference on a non-statutory basis.
Any such decision would only be taken after discussion with Dame Elish, taking into account official advice, and the House would be informed accordingly.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will define and publish the criteria that will inform her decision on whether to convert the Angiolini Inquiry into a full statutory inquiry.
As the Home Secretary said in her statement to the House on 22 November 2021 when announcing the appointment of Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini QC as Chair of the inquiry, she will not rule out converting it to a statutory footing should Dame Elish feel that she is unable to fulfil the terms of reference on a non-statutory basis.
Any such decision would only be taken after discussion with Dame Elish, taking into account official advice, and the House would be informed accordingly.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase public confidence in the Metropolitan Police Service.
The Government is committed to do everything in its power to deliver improvements within policing and across the criminal justice system to secure confidence in the police and ultimately keep people safe.
As at 30 September 2021, the Metropolitan Police Service has recruited 2,070 additional officers and have been allocated a total of 2,713 additional officers for years one and two of the uplift combined. Preventative activity set out in the Beating Crime Plan is also vital to ensuring we create safer streets and neighbourhoods in London.
To provide assurance on progress made in counter-corruption, vetting and other areas of concern, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) are currently undertaking a thematic inspection into the MPS at the Home Secretary's request. HMICFRS have also agreed to look at lessons learned from the investigative failings in the Stephen Port case.
The establishment of the Angiolini Inquiry which will shine a light on the failings that allowed a serving police officer to abuse his power in such a horrific manner and make recommendations for change within policing.
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report highlighted a number of recommendations across crime and policing earlier this year, including on improving trust and confidence by strengthening the systems of accountability and transparency. The Government will respond to these recommendations shortly.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase women's confidence in the Police.
The Government is committed to do everything in its power to deliver improvements within policing and across the criminal justice system to improve women and girl’s confidence in the police and ultimately keep people safe. This includes the establishment of the Angiolini Inquiry which will shine a light on the failings that allowed a serving police officer to abuse his power in such a horrific manner and make recommendations for change within policing.
We have published a new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which outlines our plans for a national communications campaign with a focus on targeting perpetrators and harmful misogynistic attitudes, educating young people about healthy relationships and ensuring victims can access support.
We are also funding a National Policing Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls – Maggie Blyth. The HMICFRS inspection into the police response to VAWG crimes has shown that radical reform is needed. The role will include working with police forces and the Government to make sure action is taken in response to the inspectorate’s findings.
The Government will also be looking carefully at strengthening the system of local community scrutiny and the value and use of body-worn video, because transparency is vital.