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  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are employed by her Department’s landlords’ checking service.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government is tightening up access to public and other services to protect them from abuse by people who are in the UK illegally. It is right for people only to be able to access private accommodation if they are here legally. This is only fair to people who play by the rules, not least, those who come here legally.

    This service enables a landlord to verify a person’s immigration status, with regards to the Right to Rent, with the Home Office in cases where a person has an ongoing application outstanding or where a person’s identification documents are with the Home Office. Resource of this service is kept under review to ensure capacity meets demand. At present the service is staffed by 2 full-time equivalent members of UK Visas and Immigration staff. A further 20 members of the call-handling team are also trained to respond to enquiries if additional recource is required. We have plans in place to scale-up the resource in line with the demand requirements of the national roll-out.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are employed by her Department’s landlord helpline service.

    James Brokenshire

    This service is for general queries and is provided by a commercial partner. Re-sources are constantly reviewed and deployed according to demand. Currently 2 full time equivalent members of staff handle incoming calls with a further 20 members of the call handling team trained in this area if additional resource is required.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of her Department’s landlords’ checking service before the right to rent scheme is rolled out nationally.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government has carried out an evaluation of phase one of the Right to Rent scheme in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton. This includes assessment of the implementation of the Landlords Checking Service. The findings of the evaluation were published on 20 October and will inform extension of the scheme. The evaluation can be found at the following link : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-right-to-rent-scheme

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many driving licences were incorrectly revoked from people who were suspected of living illegally in the UK in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The Immigration Act 2014 only granted this power in July 2014. Since the Home Department commenced the referral of driving licences of people with no valid leave in the UK to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) in July 2014, over 12,500 driving licences have been revoked. So far only 283 driving licences have been reinstated.

  • Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to implement the coercive and controlling behaviour offence, as defined by the Serious Crime Act 2015; and what training the (a) police, (b) judiciary and (c) other statutory agencies will have on coercive control and the new offence.

    Karen Bradley

    We are aiming to introduce the offence of coercive and controlling behaviour as soon as practicable. We have been clear that before the offence can be introduced it is essential that frontline agencies receive proper training and guidance on how to use the new offence.

    We have been working with the College of Policing and Crown Prosecution Service to develop statutory guidance.

    New guidance on investigating domestic abuse was published by the College of Policing last month including coercive and controlling behaviour and new training for the police incorporating coercive control has been developed and piloted. In addition, every Police force in England and Wales has now published an action plan on domestic abuse and the College of Policing is reviewing risk assessment tools used by officers.

    Upon commencement of the offence, a circular will be issued, including to the Lord Chief Justice, to ensure criminal justice partners are fully aware.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of human trafficking have been detained in the last five years.

    Karen Bradley

    Individuals who have been identified as victims of trafficking by the competent authorities are normally considered suitable for detention in only very exceptional circumstances, which include cases where there is a risk of public harm. This data is not collected centrally and accurate figures are not available. Once a person is detained their continued detention remains under review by the Home Office at least at monthly intervals, and earlier in response to any change of circumstances that might have a material effect on their detention.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest recorded time is for which a person has been held in immigration detention since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    The longest time a person has been detained in the immigration estate – a foreign criminal who who left detention and was returned to Algeria in Q1 2012 – was 2,319 days.

    The individual in this case had accumulated 14 convictions from 32 offences committed between 1998 and 2004, including – but not limited to – convictions for firearms/ shotguns/offensive weapons, drug offences, offences relating to police/courts/prisons and theft. He was continuously non-compliant with the Home Office and Algerian authorities, using a false identity and nationality, which frustrated attempts to obtain travel documentation to facilitate his deportation. His continued non-compliance, deception and a history of absconding led to detention being prolonged.

    This information does not include those held in prisons solely under Immigration Act powers.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the cross-compliance inspection regime in reducing soil erosion.

    George Eustice

    Defra commissioned research, published in 2012, to evaluate the implementation of the Soil Protection Review (SPR). The research took the form of a telephone survey of 800 claimants, with 30 in-depth interviews across a sample of farms by region, farm type and size.

    Following recommendations by the Farming Regulation Task force, a review of the SPR was conducted. In January 2015, new national standards for agricultural soils under cross compliance were introduced. These rules require farmers in receipt of payments under CAP to prevent soil erosion, to maintain soil cover and to protect the level of organic matter in their soils.

    The Government will continue to monitor the implementation of the new rules.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to limit the use of antibiotics on farms to sick animals.

    George Eustice

    There are no plans to significantly revise the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 until the conclusion of the current review of the EU legislative framework on veterinary medicines and medicated feedingstuffs.

    The Government has reissued guidance on the responsible use of animal medicines on the farm to emphasise that we do not support the routine preventative use of antibiotics, or the use of antibiotics to compensate for poor animal husbandry.

    Under the current UK legislation, all antibiotic veterinary medicines are only available through a prescription from a veterinary surgeon, who in turn can only prescribe to animals under their care following a clinical diagnosis. Using antibiotics responsibly is a requirement of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Code of Professional Conduct for Vets.

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10625, which organisations the Government has met to discuss amendments to the Hunting Act 2004.

    Rory Stewart

    Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on GOV.UK at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-quarterly-transparency-information-january-to-march-2015

    Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course.

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