Kit Malthouse: My county colleague can always be relied on to emerge from the forest and ask the most challenging questions. He is correct that independent working projects, while not ideal, were introduced during the pandemic to allow offenders to discharge their sentence with robust and rigorous projects done at home, such as manufacturing personal protective equipment or, more recently, clothing items...
Kit Malthouse: It is not the case that community sentences can be completed using those hours, but I am sure the hon. Gentleman will understand that, during the pandemic, with the restrictions placed upon us, we had to find a way to allow offenders to complete their sentence in a satisfactory way. We have systems in place to make sure the jobs are done rigorously to time and, as I have said, we will be...
Kit Malthouse: Mr Speaker, as you know, the Government are in the middle of a huge recruitment drive of police officers. We have, happily, increased the number by 13,500, and I am confident that by the end of the financial year we will have hit our 20,000 target.
Kit Malthouse: We are recruiting an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023. This is unprecedented and reflects the biggest recruitment drive in decades, and will help ensure the public is better protected, including in rural communities. The latest data publication published on 27 April shows that as at 31 March 2022 over 13,500 additional officers have been recruited as part of the police uplift...
Kit Malthouse: The Government is taking steps to remove discrimination on the grounds of age, associated with the transitional protection arrangements linked to the 2015 pension reforms, which was identified by the courts. The Home Office undertook an equality analysis of its amendments to the Police Pension Scheme (England and Wales) Regulations 2015, and this included careful consideration of the impact...
Kit Malthouse: I have listened to others with pleasure, Madam Deputy Speaker. We have had a debate with a vigorous exchange of views, although I am afraid it was largely bifurcated. There was a group of speeches on the end of democracy: “Here we go, fascism is on its way,” or “We are about to become North Korea”—although I am sure the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell)...
Kit Malthouse: It would depend on which part of the Bill they used for their powers. In essence, they would be stopping and searching people to look for equipment that could be used in the commission of an offence. I know the right hon. Lady will not want to confuse colleagues, but she possibly confuses the conditions that can be placed on a protest with the criminal offences that may ensue from a protest....
Kit Malthouse: I do agree with my hon. Friend, but you do not have to take it from me, Madam Deputy Speaker. You can take it from any polling that has been done recently that shows that the majority of the British people support the measures that we are taking. My hon. Friend brings me to my final point, which was neatly illustrated when I visited Peterborough and looked at its work on knife crime. What the...
Kit Malthouse: I just thought I would take the opportunity to deal with the “serious disruption” issue. My hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) also mentioned it. I believe the hon. Lady is a lawyer by training, so she will know that the phrase “serious disruption to the community” has been in use in the law since 1986 and is therefore a well-defined term in the...
Kit Malthouse: I wanted to ask whether the hon. Lady, notwithstanding her objection to the banning of protest, subscribes to the enthusiasm across the House for the ban of protests near abortion centres or clinics, and supports the creation of buffer zones that ban protests in those circumstances. If that is the case, is she possibly guilty of wanting to ban only protests with which she does not agree?
Kit Malthouse: Does the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that sentencing is not just about handing out a punishment? It is about deterring people from committing the offence again. Obstructing the highway attracts a level-3 fine of up to £1,000, but that does not seem to have any impact on the willingness of some protestors to do it time and again. Is there not some justification in using sentencing as a...
Kit Malthouse: I am honestly and genuinely perplexed by the argument about buffer zones. I agree that the harassment of women seeking those services is disgraceful and should not be allowed, but why just them? Why not hospitals in general? Why not places of worship? I understand the sensitivity in that particular situation, but why is it that we object to and are willing to restrict that particular form of...
Kit Malthouse: Will the hon. Lady give way?
Kit Malthouse: Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Kit Malthouse: When Labour Front Benchers called for “an immediate nationwide ban” on Just Stop Oil, did they have the support of their own Back Benchers? If not, is that why the right hon. Lady has performed the most enormous reverse ferret in the amendment that she has put before the House?
Kit Malthouse: The decision to institute a Waking Watch is made by the Responsible Person for the building. The Fire and Rescue Service enforces as necessary against the requirements of the Fire Safety Order. Sector-led guidance from the National Fire Chiefs Association, termed the Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance (SEG), is available to assist Responsible Persons, at:...
Kit Malthouse: The Government has conducted an Equalities Impact Assessment on the measures in the Public Order Bill, which can be accessed at: Public Order Bill: Equality Impact Assessment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The section 60 Equalities Impact Assessment will be published in due course. The new stop and search powers in the Public Order Bill will enable the police to proactively tackle highly disruptive...
Kit Malthouse: The Government has conducted an Equalities Impact Assessment on the measures in the Public Order Bill, which can be accessed at: Public Order Bill: Equality Impact Assessment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The section 60 Equalities Impact Assessment will be published in due course. The new stop and search powers in the Public Order Bill will enable the police to proactively tackle highly disruptive...
Kit Malthouse: The Impact Assessment for the PCSC Act is available to read on the UK Parliament webpage and can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/41508/documents/254 Furthermore, the Secretary of State will lay before Parliament a report on the operations of changes to Part II of the Public Order Act 1986 made by the PCSC Act two years after their commencement.
Kit Malthouse: The answer can only be provided at disproportionate cost as it would require data matching across separate systems.