Written questions by Charters.

What steps her Department is taking to help prevent people under 18 years old from committing anti-social behaviour.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.The Government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene early and ensure this cohort is identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities.Prevention Partnerships will identify children and young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime and violence such as knife crime and ASB and divert them by offering them suitable support in a more systematic way.The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, sets out our plan to reduce ASB. This will include a dedicated lead officer in every police force across England and Wales working with communities to develop a local ASB action plan. We are also delivering on our commitment to bring back and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional officers are visibly out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make our streets safer.

What steps she is taking to support regional crime units to tackle (a) fraud and (b) cybercrime.

A new National Fraud Squad (NFS) has been established, consisting of a network of 400 new investigators across the National Crime Agency, City of London Police and Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs). The NFS is transforming the law enforcement response by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach to identifying and disrupting the most serious fraudsters, domestically and overseas, jointly with government and industry.The Home Office has provided funding to create a coordinated police Fraud Protect Network, made up of local, regional and national law enforcement officers and is designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent safeguarding advice to the public.The Home Office also funds the Regional Cyber Crime Units (RCCUs) across England and Wales. These regional policing teams investigate and pursue serious cyber offenders, including supporting organisations during live ransomware attacks to get them back online as soon as possible. They also support businesses by providing cyber security support to help them reduce their vulnerability and threat of attack.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of processing times for manual Disclosure and Barring Service certificates; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of adding manual certificates to the DBS update service.

Manual certificates are only used in rare circumstances when an automated DBS certificate cannot be issued, for example if the applicants’ name or relevant information from the Police National Computer exceeds a certain number of characters, or for certain applications which are submitted via the Sensitive applications route.DBS aims to complete them within the usual published processing standards which can be viewed at: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK.Given the small numbers involved and their alignment to the automated checks processing times, there are currently no specific concerns relating to manually processed certificates. As manual certificates are produced offline, they cannot be added to the Update Service as there is no automated facility to continuously monitor the certificate status.

What steps she is taking to prevent modern slavery in the care sector.

The Government believes that everyone deserves to be treated fairly at work and rewarded for their contribution to the economy. We are aware of issues being raised in the adult care sector, including concerns about unethical employment practices by some s...

What plans her Department has for tackling violence against women and girls in York Outer constituency.

This Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence.We will dramatically improve the police and wider criminal justice response...

What steps her Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help tackle anti-social behaviour in York Outer constituency.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.​We will put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities, and provide residents with a named ...

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the number of community police officers in York Outer constituency since 2010 on levels of crime.

The latest statistics on police workforce and crime, covering the period to 31 March 2024, were published on 24 July 2024. These statistics can be accessed at the following links:Police workforce statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/polic...

Whether her Department plans to take further steps to tackle consumer fraud.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime.We will tackle the criminals responsible for fraud at home and overseas, work with industry to make it much more difficult to commit fraud, and support victims across the UK.

What steps she plans to take to tackle business fraud.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. We will tackle the criminals responsible for fraud at home and overseas, work with industry to make it much more difficult to commit fraud, and support victims across the UK.

If she will make an estimate of the number of businesses in the Yorkshire and the Humber region that experienced fraud in the last financial year.

Home Office does not hold data on the number of businesses in the Yorkshire and the Humber region that experienced fraud in the last financial year.The Economic Crime Survey 2024 is a representative survey of businesses, which is currently conducting fieldwork, and will build the evidence base on the incidents and nature of fraud against businesses in the UK.