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  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will establish an independent panel or an independent public inquiry into events at Orgreave in June 1984.

    Mike Penning

    On 21 July 2015 the Home Secretary met a group of MPs, a Welsh Assembly Member, Michael Mansfield QC and members of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC), led by Louise Haigh MP, to discuss their calls for a public inquiry to be established following the publication of the IPCC scoping review into the policing of events at Orgreave in 1984.

    Following this meeting, on 15 December 2015 the Home Secretary received a submission from the OTJC containing their arguments for establishing a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave. That 85 page submission raises a range of extensive issues which the Home Secretary is currently considering fully and in detail before responding. She will set out the Government’s position in due course.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with (i) James Murdoch and (ii) representatives from Sky UK Limited in each year since 2012.

    Karen Bradley

    Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what further steps she is taking to ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Syria can be resettled in the UK through (a) the Gateway Protection Programme, (b) the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, (c) the Mandate Refugee Scheme and (d) other schemes or programmes.

    James Brokenshire

    Since the launch of the expanded Syrian Resettlement Scheme last September, we have resettled more than 1000 vulnerable Syrians, around half of whom are children.

    On 28th January the Government announced further initiatives to assist unaccompanied children in the region. The initiatives will complement the very significant existing aid and assistance the UK has given in response to the Syrian conflict and migration crisis; including our existing resettlement programmes.

    As announced last week, the Government will work with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to identify and resettle unaccompanied children in the exceptional cases where it is in the child’s best interests to do so. The UK Government is working with UNHCR to establish the numbers and specific needs of these unaccompanied children in order to establish a resettlement process which best addresses the requirements of these vulnerable children.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) funding and (b) personnel support was provided by her Department to the European Asylum Support Office in each year since 2009-10; how many (i) missions and (ii) expert days the UK provided for that office in each such year; and what her plans are for (A) funding, (B) personnel support, (C) missions and (D) expert days provided in 2015-16.

    James Brokenshire

    The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is funded directly by the EU budget.

    The first EASO operating plan to support the reconstruction of the Greek asylum system was signed on 1 April 2011. Support from Member States to support missions commenced after this date. We do not hold a precise record of personnel support provided to EASO from this period but in the last three years EASO advises that the UK has contributed over 1,000 expert working days in deployments to Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

    During the current financial year the UK has provided EASO with 11 asylum experts and an interpreter in over 16 separate deployments. This includes one UK expert on long term deployment to Greece to assist Greek authorities with European funding matters and an expert to support the Italian country of origin information unit for six months followed by one week a month until March 2016.

    So far we have provided EASO with four experts to assist with their coordination and operation of ‘hotspots’ in Greece and Italy. These measures are due to continue until the end of 2017 and we envisage that we will continue to contribute for this duration. On 28th January the Government announced further initiatives to assist unaccompanied children in the region which include further resources to EASO to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU in “hotspots” such as Greece and Italy. We are working closely with EASO to monitor the situation and provide expertise as necessary.

    Deployment lengths vary according the task but typically personnel providing support to a hotspot mission will be released for a month’s duration.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 22835, in what months the biometric passport chip reading facilities were deactivated in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    For the period for which figures are available, biometric chip reading facilities were deactivated 7 times in 2013 and these occurred during the months of February, March, May & June. In 2014 chip reading facilities were deactivated 3 times and these occurred during the months of September, October and December. In 2015, chip reading facilities were deactivated 3 times and occurred during the months of February, April, and June.

    These figures should be considered against the background of the overall volume of transactions which are currently running at over 100 million per year and each of the instances has been thoroughly investigated and we are satisfied that there has been no risk to the border as a result.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what requirements her Department places on police officers to take regular driving tests.

    Mike Penning

    As an operational matter, requirements on officers regarding driving tests are the responsibility of forces.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards she plans to put in place to ensure that the red-light district pilot scheme in Leeds does not encourage any increase in the levels of (a) pimping, (b) soliciting for sex, (c) kerb crawling or (d) brothel-keeping; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    We are committed to tackling the harm and exploitation that can be associated with prostitution, and believe that people who want to leave prostitution should be given every opportunity to escape it. Prostitution is a complex issue, which can impact on individuals and communities in many different ways, and we are clear that local areas and police forces are in the best position to identify and respond to issues around prostitution in their area. Police forces will be assisted in doing so by the National Policing Lead’s refreshed Policing Sex Work Strategy, due to be published this month, which will stress the priority of the public protection duty that the police have in relation to the safety of those involved in prostitution.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle criminal gang activity in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government’s plans for tackling organised crime groups, or ‘criminal gangs’, are set out in its Serious and Organised Crime Strategy and amplified in the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review.

    Since the publication of the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy in 2013, we have introduced important new legislation through the Serious and Organised Crime Act 2015, and have strengthened collaboration locally, regionally and with the private sector. We have invested in better capabilities to tackle cyber crime and online child sexual exploitation. We have also invested in Regional Organised Crime Units and implemented major new programmes of work to prevent, protect against, and reduce the impact of serious and organised crime.

    The Strategic Defence and Security Review outlines further measures to tackle organised crime, including our work to: choke off the supply and availability of illegal firearms; and introduce new measures to make the UK a more hostile place for those seeking to move, hide or use the proceeds of crime and corruption or to evade sanctions. It also explains that: we will develop a comprehensive action plan to better identify, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in modern slavery and immigration crime; and that we will continue to strengthen our approach to tackling online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions for drug smuggling have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police in the last five years.

    Karen Bradley

    The UK works closely with the Spanish authorities on a range of organised crime issues, including drug trafficking. However, the Home Office does not hold information on how many drug trafficking convictions have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing a registered intermediary when children are interviewed by police in sexual offence cases.

    Mike Penning

    The specific needs of vulnerable witnesses, including children, are assessed on a case by case basis. The guidance, “Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings”, sets out best practice for the police when undertaking an initial assessment. This assessment may identify a specific need for the assistance of an intermediary during the course of the investigation, for example in an interview or latterly at court when giving evidence.