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  • Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to reimburse people who have had to pay to upgrade to the premium one-day service to secure a (a) new or (b) renewed passport; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    There are no plans to reimburse customers who choose to use the four hour
    premium service.

    On 12 June, the Home Secretary announced in the House of Commons that where
    people have an urgent need to travel, and their application has been with Her
    Majesty’s Passport Office for longer than the standard processing time of three weeks
    through no fault of their own, they will be able to upgrade their application
    without charge. After their application has been through the proper checks, the
    processing, printing and delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for
    free. To qualify, customers must be booked to travel within the next 7 days.
    Customers will be asked to provide details – such as flight numbers and the
    name of the travel company – to confirm their travel plans.

    This policy came into effect immediately after being announced and will be
    available until further notice. This policy will not be applied
    retrospectively.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the volume of overseas applications for passports has been in each month since her Department assumed responsibility for such applications.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows the number of overseas passport applications received by Her Majesty’s Passport Office each month since it assumed responsibility for such applications.

    Month

    Number of overseas applications received*

    December 2012

    145

    January 2013

    1014

    February 2013

    2401

    March 2013

    2767

    April 2013

    3543

    May 2013

    4662

    June 2013

    5862

    July 2013

    7053

    August 2013

    7216

    September 2013

    11035

    October 2013

    13832

    November 2013

    10881

    December 2013

    12324

    January 2014

    26897

    February 2014

    43327

    March 2014

    40935

    *Note: HMPO took responsibility for overseas passports applications in April 2011, commenced the repatriation of the printing of overseas passports in summer 2011, but only commenced repatriating application processing in December 2012 with that repatriation completed in February 2014.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications from residents of Ashfield constituency received more than three weeks ago HM Passport Office are processing.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold the information in the form requested. The
    cost of providing it from individual applicant data held would be
    disproportionate.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications from residents of Ashfield constituency received in the last three months were not processed by HM Passport Office in three weeks.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold the information in the form requested. The
    cost of providing it from individual applicant data held would be
    disproportionate.

  • Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme since its launch; and how many people are expected to arrive in the UK under that scheme by December 2014.

    Karen Bradley

    To date 50 Syrians have arrived in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme.

    The scheme is based on need, rather than designed to meet set arrival projections. However, we will continue to bring groups here on a regular basis, and envisage that several hundred people will be helped over the next three years.

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on how many UK-based registered users of the paedophile file sharing network website boylover.net have been identified by international authorities in (a) the US and (b) Holland; what proportion of those was passed to UK authorities for investigation; what steps her Department is taking to trace those registered users; and if she will make a statement.

    Norman Baker

    I refer the Hon. Member to the reply given on 19 June 2014, Official Report, columns 666-667W.
    Following two linked international investigations into the boylover.net
    website, information was provided to the Child Exploitation and Online
    Protection Centre (CEOP) by US authorities and Europol that related to UK-based
    registered users. CEOP was, at that time, an affiliate of the Serious Organised
    Crime Agency. We do not maintain a record of the number of UK-registered users
    of the website identified by United States or Dutch authorities, nor of what
    proportion of those users were passed to CEOP. However, as a consequence of the
    information provided and through CEOP’s own investigations, 240 intelligence
    packages were prepared and subsequently disseminated to police forces across
    the UK. Further information regarding charges, convictions and open
    investigations is handled at a local level by the relevant police force and
    is not recorded nationally.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she expects to respond to the recommendations of the Report by the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill by the time of Second Reading of that Bill.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government’s response to the report from the Joint Committee on the draft
    Modern Slavery Bill was published on 10 June 2014. Copies of the report are
    available in the House Library.

    The response was also published on the Gov.UK website:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-modern-slavery-bill–2

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department is taking to help end domestic abuse and violence against women.

    Norman Baker

    Domestic violence is a dreadful form of abuse and is not acceptable within our
    society. The Coalition Government’s approach to tackling domestic violence and
    abuse is set out in its Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in March
    2014.

    In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
    domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In response
    to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group, which
    she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s recommendations are acted upon.
    The Group met for the first time on 10 June. The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that the police and other agencies have
    the tools necessary to tackle domestic violence, to bring offenders to justice
    and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives. On 8
    March 2014, the Government announced the national roll-out of Domestic Violence
    Protection Orders following the successful conclusion of a one-year
    pilot in three police force areas including Wiltshire, as well as the Domestic
    Violence Disclosure Scheme following the successful conclusion in
    September 2013 of a one-year pilot in four police force areas – once again
    including Wiltshire.

  • Brooks Newmark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Brooks Newmark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brooks Newmark on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to bring forward proposals to criminalise coercive control and psychological abuse for the purpose of protection of victims of domestic violence.

    Norman Baker

    Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse
    across all police forces. HMIC published its findings in March 2014,
    emphasising that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that
    domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is and that the
    police use the full range of tools already available to them.

    In response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a new national
    oversight group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to oversee delivery
    against each of HMIC’s recommendations. Their first meeting was held
    on 10 June. The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear
    that every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014.

    There are a number of offences that make domestic abuse illegal, including
    actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and assault. Assault can extend to
    non-physical harm. This Government has introduced stalking and harassment
    legislation which can apply to coercive control and psychological abuse.
    However, the Government will continue to consider what measures will drive
    culture change in the police in response to the findings of the HMIC review.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she authorised the UK’s classification of (a) Google, (b) Facebook, (c) webmail services and (d) other companies that operate in the UK as external communications.

    James Brokenshire

    External Communication is defined within the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and the statutory Interception of Communications Code of Practice which was approved by Parliament and came into force on 1 July 2002. The Government has no present plans to amend the definition of external communication.

    Under RIPA, interception warrants are issued by the Secretary of State.