Blog

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration advisers were registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) in each year since 2009-10; how many complaints the OISC received about immigration advisers registered with them in each of those years; in how many of those complaints the OISC found wrongdoing on the part of the adviser; in how many such cases the OISC (i) took action against the adviser and (ii) referred the complaint; and how many immigration advisers were (A) prohibited and (B) suspended as a result of such action.

James Brokenshire

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner regulates organisations, which have differing numbers of advisers operating within them. The number of regulated organisations and corresponding number of advisers are set out below.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Regulated organisations	1753	1851	1930	1971	1939	1670
No. of advisers	4150	3346	3971	3966	3989	3667

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner operates a complaints scheme in respect of regulated advisers. If a complaint is substantiated then the information obtained can be used to form the basis of a decision to refuse an application for registration or a decision to lay formal disciplinary charges. Information obtained as a result of a substantiated complaint can be used as part of less formal action including providing advice to the adviser or giving a notice to improve. There are no separate figures available for suspension or prohibition as these terms overlap with others within the OISC regulatory scheme. Details of complaints and their outcomes are set out below.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
No. of Complaints	379	291	296	290	268	195
No. Substantiated	78	88	111	155	112	130
Referral for possible prosecution	4	1	2	10	10	22
No. of decisions to refuse/lay charges	49	79	70	101	82	87

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many import extradition requests from Category 2 territories were passed to the International Criminality Unit of the Home Office in each year since 2009-10; how many such requests were authorised by her to be sent to Category 2 territories for hearing in their courts; and in how many of those cases the foreign court ordered extradition.

James Brokenshire

“Category 2 territories” refers to countries designated as extradition partners under Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003. Not all the information requested is held centrally. The tables below set out the information which is centrally held by the Home Office.

Figures for the numbers of people extradited or requests refused in a particular year may include those for whom a request was made in a previous year.

Import extradition requests involving Category 2 territories

Year	Requests submitted to the Home Office for Category 2 territories	Requests sent to Category 2 territories	Number of people extradited to the UK
2009	35	35	26
2010	33	33	19
2011	49	49	22
2012	32	32	25
2013	23	23	26
2014	37	37	11
2015	45	45	26

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the average length of (a) domestic and (b) international calls to the Forced Marriage Unit; and what the cost of these calls were to (i) domestic and (ii) international callers in (A) each financial year since its establishment in 2005 and (B) 2015-16 to date.

Karen Bradley

Figures on the number of cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit via its public helpline and email inbox are published annually and are available on GOV.uk. The figures include a breakdown of the countries involved for cases with an overseas element. Information on the origin, average length, and cost of calls is not collated centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many immigration advisers were registered with each of the professional bodies approved as registers of immigration advisers in each year since 2009-10; how many complaints the Legal Ombudsman received about immigration advisers registered with each of those bodies in each of those years; in how many of these complaints the Legal Ombudsman found wrongdoing on the part of the adviser; in how many such cases the Legal Ombudsman (i) took action against the adviser and (ii) referred the complaint; and how many immigration advisers were (A) prohibited and (B) suspended as a result of such action.

Dominic Raab

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives Regulation (CILEx Regulation) and the Bar Standards Board (BSB) each regulate practitioners that can provide immigration advice or services in England and Wales.

There is no requirement to separately register as an immigration adviser, and all practising solicitors can deliver immigration services.

Every barrister issued with a practising certificate is authorised to carry out immigration advice and services.

CILEx Regulation closed its immigration register from 30 April 2004 until October 2014 when a new accreditation scheme was implemented. They currently have 8 registered immigration advisers.

The Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales was set up by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007 to deal with complaints about regulated legal service providers in England and Wales.

The number of complaints relating to immigration advice investigated by the Legal Ombudsman since it opened in October 2010 are set out below.

October	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/ to end of Feb 2016
Immigration cases investigated	52	284	324	353	390	291

The OLC can make a number of recommendations where they find poor service, and can make multiple recommendations in relation to a single complaint. Within the above cases, the following number of recommendations have been made.

October	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Recommendations made in relation to immigration cases	13	120	127	144	199	162

The Legal Ombudsman makes potential misconduct referrals to the regulators if they suspect an issue with conduct has arisen. It is then for the regulator to investigate the potential misconduct and the Legal Ombudsman takes no part in that aspect of the investigation.

For immigration and asylum issues OLC made the following potential misconduct referrals.

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/3	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Referrals to regulators for potential misconduct	8	22	57	43	75	44

The regulators cannot identify where practitioners have been prohibited from practice or suspended as a result of misconduct relating to immigration advice or services without disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals her Department has made to the children’s section of the Refugee Council related to detainees in immigration removal centres who her Department believed to be children in each year since 2009-10.

James Brokenshire

Since the Home Secretary announced the immediate closure of Yarl’s Wood for families with children on 16 December 2010 it has not been the policy of Her Majesty’s Government to detain those we believe are children whilst their asylum claims are under consideration. We do not have records for the number of referrals made in 2009-10.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which local authorities do not require Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for taxis and private hire vehicles; and what representations his Department has made to those local authorities to encourage the use of DBS checks for taxis and private hire vehicles.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport does not hold details of the checks that individual local licensing authorities undertake on taxi and private hire vehicle drivers.

All taxi and private hire vehicle drivers can be subject to an enhanced criminal record check, which includes a check of the children’s and adults barred lists, through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). In the Department’s Best Practice Guidance for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing and through engagement with licensing authorities, we strongly encourage licensing authorities to carry out an enhanced DBS check on all applicants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many telephone calls from (a) domestic and (b) international locations the Forced Marriage Unit received in (i) each financial year since 2005 and (ii) 2015-16 to date.

Karen Bradley

Figures on the number of cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit via its public helpline and email inbox are published annually and are available on GOV.uk. The figures include a breakdown of the countries involved for cases with an overseas element. Information on the origin, average length, and cost of calls is not collated centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government provided to the Female Genital Mutilation Helpline in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16; how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by that helpline; how many calls that helpline has received; and how much funding the Government plans to allocate to that helpline in financial year 2016-17.

Karen Bradley

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) runs the UK’s 24-hour female genital mutilation helpline in partnership with the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police Service. The Government does not fund the helpline, but works closely with the NSPCC to raise awareness of the helpline. A total of 1,129 calls and enquiries have been received by the helpline between November 2013 and the end of January 2016.