The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of people granted visitor visas from countries in sub-Saharan Africa did not return to their country of origin following the expiry of their visa in each year since 2010.
James Brokenshire
The data requested is not currently available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marion Fellows on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons applicants are charged to apply for (a) naturalisation to become a British citizen and (b) registration to become a British citizen; and how those charges are calculated.
James Brokenshire
Fees for applications for naturalisation and registration for British citizenship are charged to cover the cost of processing such applications and contribute to the wider costs of operating the border, immigration and citizenship system. Fee levels are set in accordance with sections 68 to 70 of the Immigration Act 2014, and take account of a range of factors including the administration costs associated with an application and the various benefits and entitlements that applicants may receive from British citizenship.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that staff in her Department receive religious literacy training.
James Brokenshire
Civil Service Learning, the main training provider for the Home Office, has a broad range of diversity and inclusion learning opportunities which are available to all staff.
Horizon (the Home Office intranet) hosts an information portal with resources to develop staff’s religious literacy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been forcibly removed on chartered flights in 2016 to date; and how many of those people had a criminal conviction in the UK.
James Brokenshire
Home Office records indicate that 718 individuals have been forcibly removed on charter flights in 2016. In at least 194 of these cases the primary reason for return was a criminal conviction in the UK.
This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department’s policy to prepare for the removal of asylum seekers from the UK before they have exhausted all legal remedies in their claim for asylum.
James Brokenshire
Section 77 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 prevents a person from being removed from the UK whilst a claim for asylum is pending, and section 78 of the 2002 Act has the same effect where an appeal is pending. In both cases this does not prevent the giving of directions for the person’s removal or the taking of any other interim or preparatory action.
Where a person has claimed asylum and the claim has been refused preparations for removal can be made. Those preparations may involve gathering relevant information and applying for an emergency travel document.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) detainees, (b) security guards and (c) independent witnesses were on board the deportation charter flight from Stansted Airport to West Africa on 24 May 2016.
James Brokenshire
Home Office records indicate that, on the 24th May charter to Nigeria & Ghana, 47 detainees were returned with 118 escorts. On this particular flight there were no independent observers.
This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether security staff working on mass deportation flights have accredited training in the use of force in the confined space of an aircraft.
James Brokenshire
Yes. All escorting staff employed on charter flights are required to undertake and pass training in the Home Office Manual for Escorting Safely (HOMES). This is an accredited training package which is provided by the National Offender Management Service for use in confined spaces, including aircraft. Escorting staff are required to undertake refresher training on a regular basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to support people who are addicted to the psychoactive substances prohibited by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
Jane Ellison
Local authorities are responsible for assessing the local need for drug treatment and commissioning services to meet that need. This involves developing services that can help people with a range of drug problems; which can also respond to emerging problems, such as new psychoactive substances.
Public Health England works with local authorities to support them in commissioning alcohol and drug services, providing guidance and materials, bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings and advice on good practice. This includes guidance on new psychoactive substances for substance misuse commissioners, including a toolkit which can be found at:
http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/nps-a-toolkit-for-substance-misuse-commissioners.pdf
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of an escalation of border clashes between Eritrea and Ethiopia on refugees in that region.
Mr Nick Hurd
We are concerned over recent reports of fighting between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces along the border near Tsorena. My colleague the Minister for Africa, Mr Duddridge, has called on both countries to exercise restraint and said that they should engage in meaningful political discourse to seek a resolution to the ongoing border issues.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed to DFID that the recent border clashes between Eritrea and Ethiopia have had no discernible impact on refugees in the border region. Services for refugees in the camps in Tigray region (which borders Eritrea) have not been disrupted by the clashes.
Refugees have continued to cross from Eritrea to Ethiopia at a rate of around 2,000-3,000 per month in 2016 and there has been no change to this pattern.
According to its global policy, UNHCR sites refugee camps ‘at a reasonable distance’ from international borders. The closest refugee camp to the Eritrean border is around 25 km away. Others are further away from the border.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department has provided for the internally-displaced people who have fled their homes in Fallujah after the Iraqi government assault on that town.
Justine Greening
Since June 2014, the UK has committed £79.5 million in humanitarian assistance to the crisis in Iraq. The UK is the largest contributor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund, through which we are funding projects to support those leaving Fallujah.