Tag: crime

Victims and Prisoners Bill: Bishop of Manchester urges greater support for victims of child criminal exploitation

On 16th April 2024, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendments 5 and 8 to the bill pertaining to child criminal exploitation, urging that a consistent definition of this be adopted to ensure support for children affected by criminal exploitation:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I will speak very briefly to Amendments 5 and 8, to which I have added my name. One of the things that has changed hugely over my adult lifetime is an understanding of just how lifelong traumatising events that take place in childhood are. For that reason, we need to be very clear and careful when working with children.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about proliferation of organised crime in rural areas

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 15th March 2024:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the National Rural Crime Network’s report Rural Crime: Serious, Organised and International, published on 10 March.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con, Home Office): We welcome the National Rural Crime Network’s report and will consider its recommendations.

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Victims & Prisoners Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on child criminal exploitation and access to victims’ services

On 24th January 2024, the House of Lords debated the Victims & Prisoners Bill in committee. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in the debate, in support of two amendments:

  • amendment 10, which would seek to provide a definition of “child criminal exploitation” in the text of the bill
  • amendment 15 in the Bishop of Manchester’s name, which would specify that responsibility for accessing services for victims does not lie with the potential service user

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, as I said at Second Reading, this is a good Bill for victims. It contains many provisions that I strongly support. I hope and believe that we can make it an even better Bill by working across the House, which is the mood tonight, as it was then.

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Victims and Prisoners Bill: Bishop of Manchester welcomes focus on victims and opportunity for clarified legislation

On 18th December 2023, the Bishop of Manchester spoke in a debate on the second reading of the Victims & Prisoners Bill, applauding the focus on victims and welcoming the bill as an opportunity for clarity of legislation and statutory instruments:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I am grateful to His Majesty’s Government for introducing this Bill. I am also grateful that shortly we will hear a maiden speech from the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere. His long experience of the law and the Civil Service will serve your Lordships’ House well. I look forward to his remarks today and on many future occasions.

I also welcome the focus on victims that lies at the heart of the Bill. As we have just heard, it builds on the report of my right reverend friend Bishop James Jones, a former Member of your Lordships’ House, into the Hillsborough tragedy. I was a young member of the clergy called into the stadium to support bereaved families. I will never forget the sight of iron barriers twisted out of shape by the pressure of human bodies being crushed against them. Hence I warmly commend the proposal for independent public advocates in cases such as that and the Manchester Arena attack, to which the Minister referred in his opening remarks—I thank him for doing so. As Bishop of Manchester, it fell to me to help lead my city’s response to the brutal murder of 22 people and the injuring and traumatising of hundreds of others.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about legislation to combat livestock worrying

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 4th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take forward in the current parliamentary session the provisions of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill on livestock worrying.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about tackling rural crime

On 11th July 2023, the Bishop of St Albans tabled a question on what steps the government are taking to tackle rural crime:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to counter rural crime.

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about arrests connected to livestock worrying

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 11th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 13 June (HL8317), how many (1) arrests, and (2) prosecutions, were made in connection to livestock worrying in the last four years.

Lord Benyon: Defra does not hold this information. Data on arrests and prosecutions may be held by individual police forces or by the courts.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans asks about piracy in relation to automated ships

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 11th May 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of their ability to combat piracy once fully automated ships have been brought into service, and of how fully automated ships and their cargo can be protected from illegal boarding in the absence of a crew.

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Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill: Bishop of St Albans speaks in support of amendment to empower whistleblowers

During a debate on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill on 9th May 2022, the Bishop of St Albans spoke in support of an amendment tabled by Baroness Kramer that would require the Secretary of State to set up an Office for Whistleblowers to receive reports of whistleblowing in relation to economic crime:  

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I think I can be quite brief thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, as I have been able to ditch most of what I was going to say because she has already made it so clear. I was persuaded to put my name to this amendment simply because I met a woman in one of my churches on a Sunday after worship who is currently in precisely this situation, and her whole life has basically fallen apart.

She came across something that it was clear to her was wrongdoing; she agonised for weeks and tried to take advice, which was difficult to get because of confidentiality. Eventually she decided that she needed to blow a whistle. She was immediately suspended, taken through a disciplinary process and dismissed. She is now trying to decide whether she can afford to take this through the courts. Her view is that she would probably have to sell her house to do so. It really is a David and Goliath situation.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about reduction of crime in rural areas

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 17th April 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of installing tracking devices on farm machinery to reduce rural crime.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con): The Government is committed to driving down rural crime. Whether someone lives in the countryside or a town or city they should get the same high-quality service from the police if they fall victim to a crime.

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