The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to attend the UN General Assembly meetings on refugees and migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
HM Government will be represented at the UN General Assembly high level meeting on 19 September and the Leaders’ Summit on refugees to be hosted by President Obama on 20 September.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning have been granted (a) indefinite leave to remain and (b) UK citizenship since that College’s closure.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Information on how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning would have submitted an indefinite leave to remain or UK citizenship application is not aggregated in national reporting systems. This information could only be obtained by a manual case by case review to collate the data, which would be disproportionately expensive.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many disguised stun weapons have been seized at the UK border in each year since 2011-12.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are able to identify seizures of stun weapons from our last data sets, but can not easily identify those which have been disguised. In order to obtain this information, we would have to examine individual records to establish which stun guns were disguised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning were (a) deported and (b) not deported following that College’s closure.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Home Office’s database that is used to record sponsorship data was introduced after the Cambridge College of Learning closed down.
We are, therefore, unable to obtain details of the college’s former overseas students.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people refused asylum under the non-suspensive appeal policy were removed from the UK in the first six months of 2016; and how many such people (a) lodged an appeal and (b) successfully appealed against the refusal of their asylum application.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Between 1st January and 30th June 2016, 110 removals of people who have previously been refused asylum and had their claims certified, took place. Of those claimants removed in that period four lodged appeals; there were no successful appeals by the end of the same period.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) specific functions and (b) scope of the recently established International Modern Slavery Fund will be.
Sarah Newton
The Prime Minister has announced £33.5 million of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding over five years. The fund be will be used to prevent slavery in ODA eligible countries and bring perpetratorsto justice; helping communities to fight modern slavery. We have already announced that:
• The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK has been funded to work with parliaments across the Commonwealth to support them in considering legislation similar to the UK’s world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• £2.4 million has been allocated to the £3 million Child Trafficking Protection Fund.
Some funding will be used to support innovative programmes to reduce the prevalence of modern slavery and improve the evidence base on what works. A call for proposals on the innovation fund will be issued later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) potential benefits to security and (b) viability of effective implementation of requiring proof of identification prior to purchase of a SIM card.
Sarah Newton
This issue was considered in detail by an expert group comprising representatives of law enforcement, the security and intelligence agencies and communication service providers following the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005. The experts’ findings remain valid. They concluded that the registration of ownership of mobile telephones would not deliver any significant new benefits to the investigatory process.
Mobile phones are not the only devices capable of making calls or sending messages. Many laptops, computers, popular MP3 players and games consoles also support the sending of messages and phone calls. These devices are increasingly being used for communications. It would be necessary to include these other devices in any mandatory registration scheme.
Separately, the person who buys the device is not necessarily the person who will use it. Mobile phones are often sold or given to family members or friends which would mean that such information would quickly become out of date.
Furthermore, those who were keen to avoid providing details would still find ways to circumvent the scheme, such as purchasing or registering phones under false identities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have been transferred to another EU country under the Dublin III Regulation in the first six months of 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
In the first six months of 2016, our records indicate that the UK has returned 198 applicants to other Member States under the Dublin III Regulations to have their asylum applications considered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps her Department plans to take in the remainder of 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Following the referendum, internal structures have beeen put in place to coordinate the Home Office’s contribution to UK’s exit from the EU.
The Home Office International Directorate is coordinating the Home Office’s approach both to ongoing EU business and the forthcoming UK exit negotiations. Alongside this work, the Home Office will continue to work with the Department for Exiting the EU in reaching the best deal for Britain.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual funding from the public purse is for English Speakers of Other Languages schemes.
Robert Halfon
Funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages is not ring-fenced but forms part of the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Providers will use their AEB allocation to put on appropriate provision based on their judgement of the economic and social needs of their local area. We expect that this will include ESOL where there is significant demand.
In addition, the Government has pledged up to £10 million over five years for a jointly funded DfE and Home Office programme to enable Syrian refugees across the UK to access language tuition and integrate into British society.