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  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been accommodated by Clearsprings on behalf of her Department in (a) Cardiff, (b) Wales and (c) the UK in each of the last six years.

    James Brokenshire

    Clearsprings Ready Homes provide accommodation for asylum seekers under contract with the Home Office in Wales, London and the South East and South West of the UK only.

    Data provided for September each year in respect of dispersed asylum seekers as follows:

    Location

    Sept 2010

    Sept 2011

    Sept 2012

    Sept 2013

    Sept 2014

    Sept 2015

    Cardiff

    921

    856

    796

    915

    909

    1086

    Wales

    1513

    1446

    1306

    1645

    1938

    2384

    London and the South

    1845

    1574

    1579

    1683

    1839

    1843

    Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the delivery standards and criteria her Department sets for housing providers in the provision of housing to asylum seekers.

    James Brokenshire

    In line with government transparency commitments details of the standards required are already in the public domain.

    The particular document that details the standards is titled ‘COMPASS Project Schedule 2 – Statement of Requirements’ and is available on the Contracts Finder Archive on the Data.Gov.UK Website at https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/contract/487962/

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential for Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer visas to be used to replace UK workers with outsourced overseas workers in the IT industry.

    James Brokenshire

    Tier 2, the skilled worker route, is designed to fill roles which cannot be filled by a suitable resident worker. The immigration rules, and UK employment law, do not allow workers to be made redundant and directly replaced.

    It is a decision for businesses whether to outsource certain functions. We are, however, mindful of concerns that use of the Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) category for third party contracting may undercut or displace resident workers.

    That is why, in June last year, we commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to examine the ICT category as part of its wider review on Tier 2. The MAC published its report on 19 January and it can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-review-tier-2-migration

    Chapter 6 of the report sets out the MAC’s findings on the ICT category, including its use for third party contracting, the salaries paid to IT workers and the impacts on the resident labour market. The MAC found that salaries for these transferees were clustered around the 25th percentile of earnings for resident workers in IT occupations (the current minimum permitted under the immigration rules).

    The Government is currently considering the MAC’s findings carefully and will announce any changes in due course.

  • David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will suspend the powers of enforcement contained in the Psychoactive Substances Bill in relation to alkyl nitrates pending the outcome of the review announced in response to the Home Affairs Select Committee First Report of Session 2015-16, published on 23 October 2015.

    Mike Penning

    Pending the outcome of the review announced in the response to the report of the Home Affairs Select Committee, we will seek to ensure a proportionate response to the sale of poppers by all those enforcing the legislation and that this approach is reflected in the guidance currently being drafted by enforcement partners.

    The Bill has lower penalties than the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and provides for civil sanctions, as an alternative to a criminal prosecution, to enable law enforcement agencies to adopt a graded response in tackling the trade in the range of psychoactive substances. The Bill does not criminalise simple possession of poppers and this will also be borne in mind by partners when enforcing the legislation.

    In consultation with the Department of Health and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), we will consider whether there is evidence to support the claims that ‘poppers’ have a beneficial health and relationship effect and, if so, whether it is sufficient to justify exempting the alkyl nitrites group (or individual substances in the group).

    Should we conclude that a case has been made to include alkyl nitrites in the list of exempted substances, we intend to complete this consideration in time to enable any such draft regulations to be laid before both Houses and approved before the summer recess.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions she has visited an Immigration Removal Centre since becoming Home Secretary.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Secretary and Home Office Ministers conduct visits, and host meetings, on the whole spectrum of Home Office business regularly. As with the previous administration, it is our policy not to provide details of such visits.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to implement the joint programme referred to in paragraph 21 of the joint ministerial declaration, Managing Migratory Flows in Calais, of 20 August 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister agreed in the UK-France Joint Declaration in August 2015 to set up a project aimed at protecting vulnerable people in the Calais migrant camp. The project is being delivered by the French NGO Terre D’Asile.

    The UK has contributed €750,000 (£530,000) to fund the project which formally launched in December 2015.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which parliamentary constituencies she has visited in her official capacity since the May 2015 general election; and on which dates and for what purposes those visits were made.

    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

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions officials from her Department have had with the City of London Police on the performance of Action Fraud in the last 12 months.

    Mr John Hayes

    The City of London Police (CoLP) is subject to ongoing scrutiny, in terms of both performance and financial management of the Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau capabilities; this is an explicit condition of the funding arrangements. CoLP is also subject to a Ministerially approved improvement plan, which is overseen by officials, who meet CoLP on a regular basis to monitor progress and to ensure delivery.

    We have seen significant improvement in performance; official figures show reports of fraud have trebled since Action Fraud was rolled out nationally, addressing the concern that fraud was an underreported crime type. The number of crime packages disseminated to local forces to consider investigation has also increased significantly, raising from around 40,000 in 13/14 to 75,000 in 14/15.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Refugees of 6 January 2016, Official Report, column 190WH, which French NGO the Government has supported significantly.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister agreed in the UK-France Joint Declaration in August 2015 to set up a project aimed at protecting vulnerable people in the Calais migrant camp. The project is being delivered by the French NGO Terre D’Asile.

    The UK has contributed €750,000 (£530,000) to fund the project which formally launched in December 2015.

  • Gerald Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gerald Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Jones on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that police forces have sufficient numbers and adequate powers to deal with incidents similar to which took place during New Year celebrations in Cologne.

    Mike Penning

    Enforcement of the law and decisions on how resources are deployed, are responsibilities of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local issues and demands which they face.

    Since the disorders seen in summer 2011 and the issue by the Home Secretary in 2012 of the first Strategic Policing Requirement, the police in England and Wales have taken significant steps to strengthen their capability to manage the risk of disorder. These steps include:

    • ensuring sufficient public order trained officers are available to respond to local and national strategic threat and risk assessments;

    • enabling the quick and effective deployment of police officers across the country, through the National Police Coordination Centre and the National Mobilisation Plan;

    • ensuring the effective use of public order powers and tactics;

    • ensuring the early detection of, and effective mitigation against, any issues through an improved national capability to intelligently monitor open source media.

    The police have a range of powers they can use across a broad canvas of criminal offences enabling them to proactively prepare for, and provide, a coordinated and proportionate response to disorder incidents, similar to those seen in the New Year celebrations in Cologne.

    With regards to the sexual violence seen in Cologne, the key message must be that anyone who disrupts the communities and livelihoods of our citizens will face the full force of justice, because it is the victims who matter most. This includes those seeking asylum and we are clear we will remove asylum eligibility from those who commit serious crime. I am also clear that every incident of sexual violence and rape need to be treated seriously, every victim needs to be treated with dignity and every investigation and every prosecution needs to be conducted thoroughly and professionally.