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  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of hate crime were reported in each region in the last 12 months.

    Sarah Newton

    The Home Office collects information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police on an annual basis. The most recently published data are for 2014/15 and are shown in the attached table.

    Data for 2015/16 are due to be published in October 2016.

    This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to speed up the application process for refugee family reunion.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Customer service is a key priority for UK Visas and Immigration, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the visa application process is kept under regular review, including by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. Customers now apply and pay online in addition to being able to make appointments to submit their documents and biometrics at visa application centres in over 200 locations around the world.

    The published service standard for resolving refugee family reunion applications is within 12 weeks, or 60 working days. Where an application is complex and likely to take longer than the advertised processing times, UKVI will contact the applicant to inform them of this. The average processing time for 2015 was 40 days.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce community-based alternatives to immigration detention for pregnant women released from immigration removal centres under section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office has issued guidance to Immigration Enforcement caseworkers, enforcement officers and Border Force officers on the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016. This was published on GOV.UK on 12 July, and includes monitoring tools to track the detention of pregnant women.

    It is already the case that the majority of individuals liable to be detained at any one time are not actually detained but are managed in the community through the grant of temporary admission or temporary release on bail. This includes pregnant women, whose detention is now subject to the further restrictions imposed by section 60 of the 2016 Act.

    Pregnant women who are to be released from detention, but who remain liable to be detained, will be granted temporary admission or temporary release with appropriate reporting and/or residence restrictions. Pregnant women have access to the Home Office Voluntary Departures Service.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to monitor the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016, on limitation on detention of pregnant women.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office has issued guidance to Immigration Enforcement caseworkers, enforcement officers and Border Force officers on the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016. This was published on GOV.UK on 12 July, and includes monitoring tools to track the detention of pregnant women.

    It is already the case that the majority of individuals liable to be detained at any one time are not actually detained but are managed in the community through the grant of temporary admission or temporary release on bail. This includes pregnant women, whose detention is now subject to the further restrictions imposed by section 60 of the 2016 Act.

    Pregnant women who are to be released from detention, but who remain liable to be detained, will be granted temporary admission or temporary release with appropriate reporting and/or residence restrictions. Pregnant women have access to the Home Office Voluntary Departures Service.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in response to his Memorandum on surveillance and oversight mechanisms in the United Kingdom, published in May 2016.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Following his visit to the United Kingdom from 17 – 22 January, Commissioner Muižnieks published his “Memorandum on surveillance and oversight mechanisms in the United Kingdom” on 17 May. The same day Her Majesty’s Government formally responded, detailing the necessity of surveillance powers and the ways in which the Government has bought world-leading oversight and transparency to these powers. The Government’s full response, which runs to 27 pages, can be found on the Commissioner’s website here: http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/country-report/united-kingdom

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39897, how many full-time equivalent officials of her Department are responsible for identifying, verifying and processing all asylum cases.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Asylum Operations in UK Visas and Immigration currently have 73 full time equivalent (FTE) staff who are responsible for screening asylum claims. Staff in Border Force and Immigration Enforcement will also encounter new asylum claimants in the course of their duties.

    Asylum Operations have 271 (FTE) decision makers responsible for interviewing and deciding asylum

    claims. Over 100 additional decision makers are currently being recruited and trained, and we continually review our staffing levels to ensure that we can deal with levels of intake. The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 40147, what steps her Department takes in cases where further evidence of family links is required before asylum can be granted.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    As stated in the Answer of 15 June to Question 40147 the Dublin Regulation concerns the determination of the Member State responsible for examining an application for asylum. The Dublin Regulation does not, however, concern the factual assessment of whether or not asylum can be granted in individual cases. Consideration of an asylum claim will only take place in the UK once a transfer from another Member State has been accepted, the transfer has taken place and the individual has formally lodged their claim in the UK. In any event, existence of family links is not a reason for a grant of asylum.

    The Dublin Implementing Regulation (EC) No. 1560/2003, as amended by Regulation (EU) No. 118/2004, contains two lists indicating the relevant elements of proof and circumstantial evidence to be considered. If the initial evidence does not establish the existence of proven family links referred to in the Implementing Regulation then the reasons why the Department is not satisfied about the claimed relationship are given so that the requesting Member State and/or the individuals concerned can provide further information

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the Government is providing to micro-insurance schemes in developing countries for the protection of livelihoods from the effects of climate change.

    Rory Stewart

    DFID’s work on climate resilience includes a number of weather-related microinsurance initiatives and a major research programme on scaling up microinsurance in the agricultural sector.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to displaced people along the Thai-Burmese border.

    Rory Stewart

    DFID has a £33.6m four year programme providing humanitarian, health and peacebuilding assistance to Eastern border areas of Burma. This includes humanitarian assistance to the nine Burmese refugee camps in Thailand, as well as assistance to displaced and conflict-affected people in Eastern Burma. DFID is the second largest donor to The Border Consortium, who provide food and shelter to the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand. DFID also funds health and legal assistance to refugees in the camps.

    DFID officials visit the refugee camps regularly and work with implementing partners to monitor that our assistance is reaching the most vulnerable displaced people.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to support the G7 Initiative on Climate Risk Insurance; and what assessment her Department has made of progress towards the target of expanding insurance coverage to 400 million people by 2020.

    Rory Stewart

    DFID has a large and growing disaster risk finance and insurance portfolio, with up to £136m approved or invested to date. This includes our £100 million contribution to the Africa Risk Capacity, which aims to reach 150 million people by 2020. The G7 are setting up an expert group to develop indicators to measure progress against the ‘Insuresilience’ target, against which all G7 members, including the UK, will report progress.