Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the £10 million of investment that has been spent refurbishing Southend police station, and does he agree that the extra investment and better technology should result in improved crime detection and crime prevention?; I welcome the Minister’s visit to Cardiff, particularly to discuss with South Wales police the security for the UEFA champions league final—the most watched sporting event in the world—which is taking place in Cardiff on 3 June. What is he doing to focus minds on security?; In October, baby monitors were hijacked by organised crime for cyber-attacks. Last week, the secrets that children whisper to their teddy bears were to be found online. This Government have ensured that responsibility for cyber-security is literally all over the place. Does the Home Secretary realise that when there is a devastating attack by an internet-connected device—and there will be—she will be the one we blame?; Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary recently rated Essex police as good, which represents a significant improvement. Although there is still work to be done, will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the hard-working officers for that amazing achievement?; On a previous attempt to recalculate the national police funding formula, Lancashire police was set to lose £25 million a year. That was revised down to £8 million in year when inaccuracies were identified. That is on top of the £76 million that it had already saved since 2010. What steps is the Policing Minister taking to ensure that the national police funding formula will not repeat the same mistakes and will accurately reflect the demands on police forces?; What steps are the Government taking to crack down on cyber-terrorism, given that business is increasingly being done online and in the light of the recent announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of a new digital strategy to encourage even more businesses to have the skills and confidence they need to make the most of digital technology?; As the price of scrap metal rises, so, sadly, does the number of scrap metal thefts. Will the Minister say when the Government intend to produce a response to their consultation, which ended in January?; Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government remain committed to resettling 23,000 of the most vulnerable children and adults directly from Syria, the middle east and north Africa over this Parliament, in addition to asylum seekers and family reunion cases? Will she update the House on how many people have been resettled in the past year?
Holly Jamie Walker-Lynch (Labour, Centre-left): Further to the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown) and others, the report of Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary that was published last week found that a third of police forces required improvement or were inadequate, that there was a national shortage of detectives, that neighbourhood policing is being eroded and that there is no coherent strategy for the threat posed to communities by organised criminals. Will the Home Office respond to that damning report and outline what impact the findings will have on the police funding formula review, which we expect to see in the next few weeks?