The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a maximum limit on the length of time a person can be detained under immigration law.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government does not believe that it is appropriate for there to be a formal time limit on immigration detention.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 January 2016, HCWS470, when she plans to publish the Immigration Enforcement’s Business Plan for 2016-17.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Immigration Enforcement planning for 2016-17 and beyond will be reviewed by the new Secretary of State and published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she intends to allow children with refugee status to sponsor their parents for the purposes of refugee family renunion.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The current family reunion policy meets our international obligations and strikes the right balance. There are no plans to extend the criteria. Allowing children to sponsor parents would create perverse incentives for them to be encouraged, or even forced, to leave their family and risk hazardous journeys to the UK to sponsor relatives. This plays into the hands of criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people and goes against our safe guarding responsibilities.
Where a family reunion application fails under the Immigration Rules we consider whether there are exceptional circumstances or compassionate reasons to justify granting a visa outside the Rules.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to make financial support available to refugees and people in Britain with humanitarian protection status who are disabled.
Penny Mordaunt
Refugees and people in Great Britain with humanitarian protection status who are disabled and in need of financial support are entitled to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit, and Personal Independence Payment, providing they meet all the necessary conditions of entitlement set out in regulations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish updated country guidance for asylum applications made by Eritrean nationals.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Updated country information and guidance on Eritrea will be published on the www.gov.uk website shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a maximum limit on the length of time an individual can be detained under immigration powers.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government does not believe that it is appropriate for there to be a formal time limit on immigration detention.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hand-held radar speed detectors are in use by police constabularies in England; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the merits of recruiting and training civilian volunteers to use such detectors.
Brandon Lewis
The Home Office does not hold this information centrally. The purchase and deployment of speed enforcement devices is a local operational matter for individual police forces. There has been no assessment made on the merits of recruiting and training civilian volunteers in the use of these devices. Decisions on how the public can assist the police in speed enforcement activity are matters for individual Chief Officers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward plans to consolidate existing legislation on online abuse and malicious communication.
Sir Oliver Heald
Legislation that can be used to prosecute online abuse and related offences includes the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the Malicious Communications Act 1988; and the Communications Act 2003. The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 made changes to the relevant offences in these last two Acts which aim to ensure that people who commit them are prosecuted and properly punished.
The Government believes that current legislation is sufficient and does not intend to consolidate existing legislation relating to online abuse and malicious communication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests have been made by (a) France, (b) Greece and (c) Italy for the UK to take charge of an asylum application under the family reunification articles of the Dublin III Regulation in the last six months.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Whilst all asylum claims including those accepted under Dublin III are registered on the Home Office Case Information Database (CID), this data is not currently held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to publish the number of applications for refugee family reunion which were granted outside the rules in its quarterly migration statistics.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Home Office does not currently plan to change the data that is published on this category of applications. The question covers a number of different casework operations and the information is not recorded in a way which can be reported directly.
The Home Office keeps under review the statistics that are published in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, balancing user needs against burdens on data suppliers.