The Government is committed to ensuring that fire and rescue services have the resources and support they need to carry out their vital roles and to keep people safe.

Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2021/22. Standalone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 2.6% in cash terms this year compared to 2020/21.

It is the responsibility of fire and rescue services to ensure that they have they have the appropriate number of firefighters to deliver their core functions across prevention, protection and response. There were 2,845 new firefighters in England in 2019/20, Equivalent to 8% of all firefighters.

Currently different areas of the Department work on different IT systems for correspondence, which makes calculating average response times more complex. A programme of work is underway to transfer all correspondence onto one system.

Previous answers have given the link to published data for UKVI against meeting the 20-day service standards, this is published quarterly.

The Government is aware that fraudsters are exploiting the pandemic to commit opportunistic crimes such as fraud. Along with partners in law enforcement, the public sector and the private and third sectors, we have been implementing measures to ensure the public has the protection and advice needed to protect themselves from these crimes.

The Home Office collects data on individual fraud categories, some of which will be committed online, but we are unable to provide a breakdown of these offences.

The Home Office collects quarterly data on the number of reports of fraud made to Action Fraud that have been recorded as criminal offences by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). The most recently available data for the year ending June 2020 have been published by the Office for National Statistics and can currently be found in Table A5 here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

Our efforts include working with the National Cyber Security Centre to establish a new Suspicious Email Reporting Service. This service allows the public to report potential scams safely and effectively. To date, this has led to the removal of over 22000 scams. Members of the public can currently forward suspicious emails to the dedicated email address: report@phishing.gov.uk

In addition, in 2019 the Government launched specialist Cyber Crime Units in every local police force, in order to improve the local response, provide an effective investigative response and an improved victim experience. The Government also provides funding for the Cyber PROTECT police officers and staff in all policing regions and local forces, and Cyber Resilience Centres, which are now live in each region, providing cyber security advice and support to micro and small SMEs.

However, law enforcement cannot do this alone. The best way to deal with these scams is for the public to be well-informed on how to protect themselves. That is why we have launched a gov.uk page that contains easy-to-follow steps for people to spot potential frauds and the steps they can take to avoid them. It also signposts advice and support to those who may unfortunately have fallen victim. This page can currently be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime

The Counter Extremism Strategy covers all forms of extremism. A key part of the strategy is building our understanding of the threat posed by different forms of extremism.

Our manifesto gave a clear commitment to protect those who work in counter extremism from threats and intimidation. Where individuals are subject to harassment and intimidation they should report this to the police.

The Prevent programme is fundamentally about safeguarding and supporting vulnerable individuals to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It works best when it is locally-led and delivered in partnership with communities. As part of the Prevent Duty, Local Authorities have an obligation to deliver a programme of engagement tailored to the needs of the local community. The Home Office supports areas with engagement to increase transparency and communicate proactively about Prevent delivery in the local area. The Home Office has previously engaged with Luton Council's Elected Members Prevent Engagement Group on the Prevent Strategy.

The Extradition Act 2003 is the legislative framework which contains the safeguards and protections available in UK courts to all persons requested for extradition to any overseas jurisdiction. A requested person will not be extradited if doing so would breach their human rights, if the request is politically motivated or if they would be at risk of facing the death penalty. The court can also bar a person's extradition if, according to a range of factors including their health, it would not be in the interests of justice for the extradition to take place and can decide that it would be more appropriate to try the case in the UK than in the requesting state.

The Government is aware that criminals are exploiting the pandemic to commit opportunistic crimes such as fraud. Although Covid-19 related fraud represents a small proportion of overall fraud reporting, we understand the devastating impact it can have on individuals. Along with partners, we have been implementing measures to ensure the public has the protection and advice needed to shield themselves from these crimes. We have published guidance for the public to spot potential frauds and the steps they can take to avoid them. This advice can accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime

Our efforts include working alongside the National Cyber Security Centre to establish a new Suspicious Email Reporting Service. This service allows the public to report potential scams safely and effectively. To date, this has led to the removal of over 22000 scams. Members of the public can forward suspicious emails to the dedicated email address: report@phishing.gov.uk

We are also working with the Cabinet Office, who lead on the response to public sector fraud, around tracking and mitigating the risk of fraud against the unprecedented levels of stimulus funding including the bounce back loan scheme.

The Online Harms White Paper set out an indicative list of harms that would be included in the scope of the legislation, which included the online sale of illegal weapons. While the list isn’t exhaustive or fixed it provided the starting point for our policy development.

We have published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, which sets out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online.

The new regulatory framework will establish a duty of care on companies to improve the safety of their users online, overseen and enforced by an independent regulator, and will take particularly strong action against the most egregious illegal harms.

We will follow the Full Government Response by introducing Online Harms legislation when parliamentary time allows.

The government will set out in secondary legislation the priority harms for three types of harms: illegal harms, harms to children, and legal but harmful content.

This sits alongside the Government’s continuing action to tackle serious violence, including the use of weapons such as knives. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 strengthens the law in relation to knives and we have in place some of the toughest firearms controls in the world to prevent criminals gaining access to dangerous and illegal weapons.

The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

Please note that this is a grouped with 128124

The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

Please note that this is a grouped with 128124

Around 900 people have travelled from the UK to engage with the conflict in Syria and Iraq, against the advice of the Foreign Office. Of these, approximately 20% have been killed in the conflict and around 40% have returned to the UK.

We can confirm that in the last 12 months there have been a small number of British children who have left Syria and returned to the UK via third countries.

The Government’s priority is the safety and security of the people who live here. All of those who have returned, have been investigated and the majority have been assessed to pose no, or a low security risk.

Regrettably owing to human error an incorrect response was provided for PQ101987. I apologise for this error. The Home Office has not undertaken an assessment of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The (a) department and (b) UK Visas and Immigration work to a target of responding to 95% of Ministerial correspondence within 20 days.

Performance on policy correspondence in meeting the target in each month in 2020 is below.

Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, alongside the need for Ministers and officials to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions. An action plan is currently in place to clear backlogs and drive up performance with September’s increase in performance reflecting progress.

The information contained in the table is based on management information subject to revision.

The latest published data on UKVI performance against the service standard is held at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-november-2020

The response for UIN 96174 was given on 16^th December 2020.

Data on expenditure categories are published within the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts (ARA). However, this data is only published once the accounts are closed and the figures have been audited by the National Audit Office (NAO).

Information on the above expenditure categories for the current financial year will be collated and made available in the 2020/21 Home office Statement of Accounts.

Subsequently, you may also find it useful to refer to the ARA for FY1920 to obtain the data for the total spent on the aforementioned categories.

However, please note that the data we collect and report in the ARA is not captured under the specific headings set out in the question above.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/902593/HO_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2019-20_FINAL.pdf

The Department uses a workflow tool which all Operational MPs correspondence is registered on. We are able to run reports each day which summarises the daily situation in relation to intake and output and the age of each piece of MPs correspondence. The report also monitors the daily progress of output towards the weekly 95% target.

The latest published data on UKVI performance against the service standard is held at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-august-2020 and this includes data up to and including the end of quarter 2-2020/21. We are proposing the release of data for quarter 3, in due course.

The UK recently received international recognition for the positive structures and systems in place to address corruption. This was evidenced in the UK’s 2019 United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Peer Review which singled out as successes and good practice the UK’s “structures and governance for the coordination of anticorruption activity, including a national anti-corruption strategy, a Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Champion, an Inter-Ministerial Group on Anti-Corruption and a cross-government Joint Anti-Corruption Unit.”

The government is focussed on implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy. Officials have begun to consider the question of renewal and at present no decision has been made. The content of any future strategy would be informed by an evidence-based review of threats, progress and priorities.