Written questions by Philp.

How much has been spent on the CONNECT computer software since its introduction by the Metropolitan Police on (a) further development of the software, (b) training including (i) accommodation, (ii) travel, (iii) classrooms, (iv) trainers and (v)overtime incurred by officers), (c) internal IT services to resolve CONNECT issues including ConnectHub, (d) shifts covered by officers to support staff with CONNECT, (e) initial purchase fees and installation, (f) other costs and (g) in total.

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

What the average time spent by people in custody in police holding cells was in the two years (a) before and (b) after the introduction of the CONNECT software; and how many people have been detained in police holding cells by each police force for (i) 0 to 12 hours, (ii) 13 to 24 hours, (iii) 25 to 36 hours, (iv) 37 to 48 hours and (v) 49 hours or more since January 2019.

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

How many police forces purchased CONNECT computer software; and how many such forces (a) no longer and (b) continue to use the software.

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

What the average number of case file (a) rejections and (b) discontinuations by the Crown Prosecution Service was (i) before and (ii) after the introduction of the CONNECT computer software.

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

What the average number of open custody records was in (a) 2019, (b) 2022, (c) 2023 and (d) 2024.

The information requested is not currently held centrally.The Home Office collects and publishes data on detentions in police custody in England and Wales, available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK.This data includes the number of detentions by financial year, with the most recently available data up to March 2023. Data for the year ending March 2024 will be available in February 2025.

What the average time it takes an officer to complete a case file is on (a) CONNECT and (b) Case Overview and Prosecutions Application (COPA).

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

What the average annual number is of case files rejected due to incorrectly submitted documents using (a) Case Overview and Prosecutions Application (COPA) and (b) CONNECT computer software.

Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.

With reference to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of relocating to St Helena asylum seekers who have travelled to the UK by small boat across the English Channel.

The specific purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding with St Helena was to deal with the risk of further migrants attempting to travel to the British Indian Ocean Territory, prior to the sovereignty agreement with Mauritius being formally completed. There are no plans to extend that agreement beyond its current remit.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, what accommodation is available on St Helena to house migrants; what the maximum capacity is of this accommodation; how much funding will be provided for this accommodation; whether people with granted applications will remain on the island; whether his Department made an assessment of the views of local people; and if he will publish an Impact Assessment.

The Government of St Helena is responsible for determining what accommodation should be provided to any migrants transferred, and is currently exploring options. We understand that initially they plan to use an existing facility as temporary accommodation while more suitable longer-term housing is matched to the make-up of any migrant cohort. Funding requirements have not yet been determined.Immigration is the responsibility of the St Helena Government, which will be responsible for processing any applications for protection or settlement. The Government of St Helena is also responsible for any local consultation and impact assessments. The UK Government continues to work in partnership with the Government of St Helena and as agreed in the MOU between both parties the UK will continue to provide the additional training, expertise and funding required to ensure the Government of St Helena is able to respond if any migrants do arrive on BIOT.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, for what reason the migrants temporarily relocated to the UK were not relocated to St Helena.

The Memorandum of Understanding with St Helena signed on 15 October 2024 only applies to migrants who arrive on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) after that date. The then existing group of migrants on BIOT were not included within the arrangement.

Whether a Minister in her Department has chaired a meeting of the synthetic opioids taskforce; and how many times that taskforce has met since 5 July 2024.

Ministers are prioritising the risk of synthetic opioids as part of the wider long-term drug strategy. The Synthetic Opioids Taskforce is chaired by the Director General of the Public Safety Group at the Home Office on behalf of the Minister. The Taskforce meets quarterly, including on 3 July and most recently on 10 October 2024. It will next meet in January 2025 and Ministers are regularly briefed by officials on the response.Reducing drug harms has important benefits for the Government’s missions to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and break down barriers to opportunity, while supporting overall economic growth.

If she will publish a breakdown of crimes committed by nationality in each of the last five years for which data is available.

As the Rt Hon Member is aware, the Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis, but Information on the nationality of offenders is not routinely collected and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportion cost.

If she will increase the salary threshold for family visas.

On 10th September the Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules. Conducting a review of the financial requirements across the family routes will ensure we have a clear and consistent system.The MAC ran a call for evidence from 16 September 2024 to 11 December 2024 which will inform their report, and any further changes to the financial requirements across the Family routes will be informed by their recommendations.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on returning Syrians (a) seeking and (b) granted asylum if that country becomes safe.

The Home Office acted swiftly to pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation. We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.

Whether she has identified alternative accommodation to enable a reduction in the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

This Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims processed. We remain committed to reducing the costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time, and we will set out further details of our progress towards those objectives in the normal way in due course.

How many and what proportion of Foreign National Offenders challenged deportation in each of the last five years for which data is available; and how many and what proportion of those challenges were (a) successful and (b) based upon the European Convention on Human Rights.

I refer the Right Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 26 November to Question UIN 14746.

Whether she has written to Chief Constables setting out her priorities for policing.

The Home Secretary spoke with all Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners within her first days of office, on 7th July. In that same week on 11th July, the Home Secretary attended meetings of both the NPCC and APCC to set out this Government’s Safer Streets mission and priorities for policing.She discussed her priorities for policing with sector leaders at the National Policing Board on 23rd October and, on 19th November, set out more detail of her plans to all Chief Constables and PCCs at the National Police Chiefs Council and Association of Police Crime Commissioners Summit.The Home Secretary wrote to all Chief Constables and Police Crime Commissioners (PCCs) on 5th December on the Government’s Plan for Change and the ambition to restore neighbourhood policing.

How many people have been arrested as a result of investigations by the Grooming Gangs Taskforce since 5 July 2024.

The Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce (or ‘Grooming Gangs Taskforce’) provides practical, expert, on the ground support for local forces investigating complex, group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation, with a focus on grooming gangs. It supports force-led investigations rather than running its own investigations.Data is collected and reported quarterly. Arrest data is currently available from 34 out of the 44 forces that the Taskforce collects data from. In the most recent data collection – which is for Quarter 3 of 2024 (1 July – 30 September) - those 34 forces recorded 222 arrests for group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation offences. ‘Group-based’ offending in this context includes any offence with two or more perpetrators. This will include – but is not limited to – ‘grooming gang’ type offending; other ‘group-based’ offending includes intra-familial and peer-on-peer abuse, for example.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of allowing Sri Lankans based on Diego Garcia to the UK on the number of people who will begin to attempt to reach the UK via Diego Garcia; and whether any of the 60 Tamil migrants recently arrived have made applications for family to join them.

Diego Garcia has never been a suitable long-term location for the migrants who have arrived there and this Government has worked hard to find a solution that protects both their welfare and the integrity of British territorial borders. We have now closed down any risk of opening a new route, with any future arrivals to Diego Garcia to be relocated to St Helena until Mauritius takes responsibility for the island. Following this, we have temporarily relocated a small number of migrants, including children and their families, to the UK due to their acute welfare needs, and the lack of any suitable amenities on the island, including healthcare, to address those needs. In line with normal practice, we will not comment further on those individual cases.

With reference to paragraph 6.37 of the 5th Annual Report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, published on 28 November 2024, whether her Department is taking steps to implement the recommendation to introduce facial recognition for all arrivals at Western Jet Foil.

The Government published its response to the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s 5th Annual Report on 28 November 2024 here: Response to the 2022 annual report on the operation of the terrorism acts by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)The Government is committed to exploring how it can improve and accelerate processes for identifying individuals of potential security concern, including continuing to improve its facial recognition capabilities.