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  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent young people from being forced in to arranged marriages overseas.

    Karen Bradley

    The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leading efforts to combat this brutal practice. The FMU can provide support and assistance to anyone in the UK at risk, and to British nationals overseas. The Unit works with our High Commissions and embassies overseas to assist with protection and repatriation of vulnerable victims.

    o To date, over 800 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been made to prevent people from being forced into a marriage and to assist in repatriating victims;

    o In 2014, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,267 cases.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many sexual offences have taken place in schools in each of the last five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The department does not hold information on the number of sex attacks that take place in schools.

    The closest information we do hold is the number of pupils excluded due to sexual misconduct. However, this may not cover all sex attacks and would not include those committed by non-pupils.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to prevent Snapchat images being made public without the consent of the image owner.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Under UK copyright law, it would be unlawful for a Snapchat user to copy an image and make it available to the public without the consent of the image owner. The image owner would be able to sue anyone who does this for copyright infringement.

    Snapchat photos are automatically deleted after 10 seconds. The Snapchat Privacy Policy states that if Snapchat is able to detect that a recipient has taken a screenshot of an image, they will try to inform the original poster. However, Snapchat advises users to avoid sending messages which they would not want to be saved or shared.

    The disclosure of private sexual photographs or films without the consent of an individual who appears in them and with intent to cause that individual distress, is an offence under Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Those convicted could face a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for incidences of rape.

    Karen Bradley

    Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes which we remain committed to tackling. We continue to work with the police to look at ways to improve their response to rape and sexual assault. We have supported the publication of data on rape for every police force in the country as a basis for improving recording and investigations of rape. The Rape Action Plan, led by the Crown Prosecution Service, ensures that investigators and prosecutors have both the right tools for handling rape cases, and improved referrals from the police to prosecutors to increase successful prosecutions.

    We want victims to have the confidence to report these crimes to the police, knowing they will get the support they need and that everything will be done to bring offenders to justice. Police recorded rape increased by 43% (to 31,621 offences) in the year ending June 2015 compared with the previous year. This significant rise in the reporting of rape is the result of a renewed focus on the quality of crime recording and a greater willingness of victims to come forward. These can only be positive developments in our fight to end abuse.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) practical and (b) emotional support is provided to rape victims.

    Karen Bradley

    Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes which we remain committed to tackling. We have made protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence a key priority. A refreshed version of the previous Government’s strategy, A Call to End Violence against Women and Girls, will be published later this year.

    We recognise the importance of specialist services for victims.

    Since 2010 the Government has placed funding for rape support centres on a sustainable footing, and in 2015/16 is spending £4.7m to fund 86 rape support centres across England and Wales, including 15 new centres opened since 2010.

    We have set up a dedicated fund specially to support male victims of rape and sexual violence, funding 12 male rape support centres, a support line and a website. We have also ring-fenced £1.72 million per year since 2010 up to 2016 to part-fund 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers who provide appropriate and independent support for victims.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assistance the Government provides to internet service providers to ensure that images of child pornography online are identified and removed.

    Mike Penning

    The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), an independent organisation funded primarily by the internet industry itself, acts as the UK reporting hotline for criminal content online, including child sexual abuse material hosted anywhere in the world. The IWF works closely with internet companies to remove or block indecent images of children where they appear. Since April 2014, the IWF has been able to search proactively for indecent images as well as acting on reports received from the public.

    The Government has been working closely with the IWF and the internet companies as part of the WePROTECT initiative. In December 2014, the Prime Minister hosted the WePROTECT Summit in London which secured globally significant commitments from 50 governments and international organisations, 20 leading technology companies and 10 civil society organisations. These included: that the UK would work with UNICEF to establish a new Global Fund to Prevent Violence Against Children; to put in place the resources needed to better identify victims, track down criminals and remove child sexual abuse material from the internet; and, to forge strong partnerships with industry to develop technological solutions to protect children online. The UK and UAE governments are now preparing for a second summit, in Abu Dhabi this November, which will take forward these commitments.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that databases compiled by local authorities in respect of their regulatory functions can be used to ascertain whether non-UK EU citizens are legally exercising their rights under the Free Movement Directive; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office continues to work with other departments to ensure that the criteria for assessing an EU national’s right of residence in order, for example, to gain access to a public service or benefit is made in line with EU free movement law. This information may be recorded in line with the relevant local authorities’ processes.

  • Andrew Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the number of Syrians seeking refugee status who enter the UK from Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    A person who is in genuine need of international protection should not travel through a safe country in order to choose where to claim asylum. If we have evidence that asylum seekers, including Syrian nationals, are the responsibility of Ireland we will seek to return them under the Dublin Regulation. Similarly, if we have evidence that individuals claiming asylum in the UK have already been granted international protection by Ireland we will also seek to return them.

  • Greg Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of police forces which do not follow Government guidance on the operation of fixed and mobile speed cameras.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold any information on police compliance with Department for Transport issued guidance on the operation of fixed and mobile speed cameras. The deployment of speed cameras is an operational matter for the police.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Wilson Doctrine has been consistently applied to the communications of the hon. Member for Leeds North West; and whether that hon. Member or his staff have been subject to surveillance.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government’s position on the Wilson Doctrine was set out by the Prime Minister in a written ministerial statement made on 4 November 2015.

    As the Prime Minister made clear, the Wilson Doctrine has never been an absolute bar to the targeted interception of the communications of Members of Parliament or an exemption from the legal regime governing interception. The Doctrine recognised that there could be instances where interception might be necessary.

    The Prime Minister announced that as matter of policy the PM will be consulted should there ever be a proposal to target any UK Parliamentarian’s communications under a warrant issued by a Secretary of State. This applies to Members of Parliament, members of the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly and UK members of the European Parliament. It applies to all activity authorised by a warrant issued by a Secretary of State: any instance of targeted interception and, electronic surveillance and equipment interference, when undertaken by the Security and Intelligence Agencies. This is in addition to the rigorous safeguards already in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and the Code of Practice issued under it which set out a series of robust safeguards for any instance of interception.

    It is long standing policy of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny any specific activity by the Security and Intelligence Agencies. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 it is an offence for anyone to identify an individual interception warrant or an individual interception that takes place.