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 sponsors of the 'Health and Care Worker' visa.The Home Office has zero tolerance of sponsors who seek to exploit workers they sponsor and will take action against any found to be doing so. However, while the UKVI actively monitors the compliance of sponsors with their duties, they are not a labour market regulator, and their powers to redress concerns are limited to revoking a sponsor's licence. Furthermore, UKVI have no legal powers to police the recruitment chains used by sponsors and such recruitment often takes place outside of UK legal jurisdiction. The Home Office does, however, expect sponsors to recruit staff lawfully.The Home Office also funds the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), which has specially trained officers with police-style powers to prevent, detect and investigate serious labour exploitation across the entire economy in England and Wales. The GLAA have a number of live investigations within the care sector currently.The Home Office will continue to work closely with DHSC and other relevant departments to address these issues, including exploring further regulation through the Fair Work Agency, the forthcoming single enforcement body.