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  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which local authority areas applications can be made for naturalisation and a British passport at the same time.

    James Brokenshire

    Customers are able to book appointments in the following local authority areas:

    Brent, Barnet, Southwark, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Hackney, Wandsworth, Enfield, Hertfordshire, Islington, Camden, Bracknell Forest, Leeds, Slough, Merton, Sutton, Poole, Luton, East Riding of Yorkshire, Tower Hamlets, Hammersmith & Fulham, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Oldham, Wolverhampton, Trafford, West Berks, Reading, Dudley, Hull, Norfolk, Worcestershire, Redbridge, Westminster, Bolton, Wokingham, Southampton, Warwickshire, Windsor & Maidenhead, York and Pembrokeshire.

    This service will be further rolled out within additional local authority areas over the coming months.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current average waiting time is for a decision on a naturalisation application in (a) the UK and (b) Leeds.

    James Brokenshire

    The average length of time taken to consider naturalisation applications in the UK is 135.12 days. In Leeds postal code area the average length of time is 167 days. Both of these figures relate to the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, which is the most recent period for which statistics on the number of applications considered have been published.

    For straightforward applications where the customer has met all their obligations, the service standard is that 98.5% of cases will be processed within 6 months (183 calendar days).

  • Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvette Cooper on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many take charge requests under the Dublin III Regulation the UK has accepted from Greece for unaccompanied children for family reunification the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvette Cooper on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many take charge requests under the Dublin III Regulation the UK has accepted from France for unaccompanied children for family reunification in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    Data on cases progressed under the Dublin Convention is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detainees have been held in the Kingfisher Isolation Unit in Yarl’s Wood in each year since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    The accommodation in Kingfisher Unit is used for individuals removed from general association in accordance with Rules 40 (removed from association) and 42 (temporary confinement) of the Detention Centre Rules 2001.

    Rule 40 states that an individual may be removed from association where it appears necessary in the interests of security or safety that they should not associate with other detained persons, either generally or for particular purposes.

    Rule 42 states that a violent or refractory individual may be confined temporarily in special accommodation, but not as a punishment, or after he/she has ceased to be refractory or violent.

    Management information held by the service provider, Serco, for Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre is only available for the number of instances that the accommodation was used for these purposes and cannot be provided for the numbers of individuals except at disproportionate cost.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many warrants for the purposes of establishing whether women are being trafficked have been excluded by her Department in each local authority in Lancashire in each month in 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed to process Disclosure and Barring Service checks in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The average number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each year since 2010 is listed in the table below. The DBS was created in 2012 and replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

    Year

    Average number of Staff

    2010-11

    667

    2011-12

    542

    2012-13 (CRB)

    483

    2012-13 (DBS)

    730

    2013-14

    721

    2014-15

    745
  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate the number of people from Eastern Europe who have returned to their country of birth from the UK in 2015-16.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to address the issues raised in the Independent Investigation into conditions at Yarl’s Wood in January 2016; and what additional steps she will take to address concerns around (a) staffing arrangements including capacity and training and (b) an inadequate proportion of female officers to care for women at the centre.

    James Brokenshire

    Serco commissioned an independent investigation by Kate Lampard into the culture and staffing at Yarl’s Wood. The report was published in January 2016. Serco has responded quickly to the recommendations in the report and has agreed or completed 32 of the 35 recommendations. These include an increase in staffing levels and introducing changes to policies to ensure that all detainees are treated in a safe and dignified manner. As of 9 March 2016, 55% of Serco’s operational staff at Yarl’s Wood are women.

    The Government is addressing the issue of welfare in detention through its response to Stephen Shaw’s review set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid before the House on 14 January. This includes a new adults at risk policy and a mental health action plan.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of child abuse flagged by sexual offences have been investigated in each police force area in each of the last three years.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not collect data on the number of cases of sexual offences flagged as child abuse that have been investigated.

    The Home Office collects information on the number of crimes the police in England and Wales record and the outcomes they assign to these crimes. The Home Office is clear that all crimes reported to the police should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.

    From the data the Home Office receives, information can only be provided for certain sexual offences that identify that the victim is aged under 18 by the name of the offence in statute, namely:

     Rape of a female child under 16

     Rape of a female child under 13

     Rape of a male child under 16

     Rape of a male child under 13

     Sexual assault on a female child under 13

     Sexual assault on a male child under 13

     Sexual activity involving a child under 13

     Sexual activity involving child under 16

     Sexual grooming (the victim must be under 16)

     Abuse of position of trust in a sexual nature (under 17)

     Abuse of children through sexual exploitation

    Data for these offences by police force area are available in the police recorded crime and outcomes open data available here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables