Tag: David Lammy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to simplify application and processing systems to expedite the processing of Dublin III asylum transfer requests.

James Brokenshire

We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.

We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.

Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.

The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.

As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who were granted refugee status were not provided with a (a) biometric residence permit and (b) National Insurance number by her Department before their 28-day asylum support ceased in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire

If an asylum seeker is granted refugee status written confirmation that there are no longer any restrictions on them living and working in the UK is posted to them. A Biometric Residence Permit and National Insurance number is also sent, which can then be used as evidence of their immigration status and in support of any application for benefits.

Statistics on the number of such cases are not recorded on centrally collated statistical databases and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many forced marriages the Forced Marriage Unit has helped prevent since 2005.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Figures on cases of potential or actual forced marriage reported to the Forced Marriage Unit via its public helpline and email inbox are published on GOV.UK on an annual basis and already includes data for 2012-2015. Figures for 2005-11 are provided below.

Year Total number of cases

2011 1,468
2010 1,735
2009 1,682
2008 1,618
2007 262
2006 197
2005 152

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days it took his Department to answer hon. Members’ correspondence on average in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.

Justin Tomlinson

The Cabinet Office publishes information on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers annually by way of a written statement.

The information for the years that is available, 2013 and 2014, are in the Official Record (13 May 2014: Column 17WS and 3 Jun 2015: Column 15WS, respectively).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the implications of the leaked documents relating to the operations of Mossack Fonseca for HM Revenue and Custom’s policy on investigating and tackling tax evasion and avoidance using offshore vehicles.

Mr David Gauke

The Government has introduced tough new powers and game-changing measures to tackle offshore and onshore tax evasion, and as recently as the summer Budget 2015 gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an additional £800 million to invest in expanding compliance and tax evasion work. This is expected to recover £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years.

The Government is introducing a criminal sanction for corporates facilitating tax evasion, and launching a taskforce, jointly led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). Drawing on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, NCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), its purpose will be to swiftly obtain and analyse the Mossack Fonseca papers and take rapid action where there is evidence of wrongdoing. The taskforce will look beyond tax into all potential areas of financial crime and other regulatory breaches.

The taskforce will provide a progress report to the Chancellor and Home Secretary later this year. The report will set out the their initial assessment of the information in the Panama papers and proposed actions for further analysis and strategy for pursuing any evidence found of wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.

Additional resourcing of £10m will ensure that the taskforce’s work can be done on top of departmental commitments. Where resource is moved into the task force, existing roles will be back filled as soon as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the likely effect of the extension of right-to-buy and the sale of council properties on the total cost of housing benefit in each year to 2020.

Brandon Lewis

The voluntary Right to Buy will give 1.3 million housing association tenants the opportunity to purchase a home.

For every home sold through the voluntary Right to Buy or the sale of higher value vacant housing, at least one additional home will be built and for every higher value property sold in London, two will be built, increasing overall supply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to extend the terms of reference of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse to investigate the abuse of children in mainstream schools.

Karen Bradley

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse already has wide-ranging terms of reference to examine the extent to which public and other bodies in England and Wales have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse. Decisions around what it investigates, and the specific terms and scope of the investigations, are a matter for the Independent Inquiry. There are no plans to extend the terms of reference further.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees have been reunited with relatives in the UK since the announcement, Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to be resettled from Europe, on 4 May 2016.

James Brokenshire

As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.

As the legislation sets out, we need to consult with local authorities first and we are also working closely with NGOs, the UNHCR, UNICEF and relevant Member States to establish suitable processes to implement this initiative.

Ministers and senior officials are in ongoing discussions with Greece, Italy and France to identify and transfer to the UK unaccompanied refugee children where it is in their best interests. We are also consulting local authorities, non-governmental organisations and UNHCR. In addition, we have worked with France to improve the operation of the Dublin family reunification process, and accepted over 30 transfer requests between January and the end of April with many more cases in train.

We are committed to act as quickly as we can but we must take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to support those who are resettled. We must also ensure that we are able to continue to fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what help and support is available to historic victims of forced marriage.

Sarah Newton

Figures on the number of cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), via its public helpline and email inbox, are published annually and are available on GOV.UK. The figures include a breakdown of cases by age, gender and country to which the case relates.

The FMU carries out a range of activity, including delivery of a comprehensive programme of outreach, provision of an e-learning tool and guidelines for professionals, and a series of short films aimed at supporting victims and deterring potential perpetrators. We also recently launched a new forced marriage campaign, ahead of the summer holidays, aimed at raising awareness through radio adverts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days it took his Department to answer hon. Members’ correspondence on average in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.

Justin Tomlinson

The Cabinet Office publishes information on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers annually by way of a written statement.

The information for the years that is available, 2013 and 2014, are in the Official Record (13 May 2014: Column 17WS and 3 Jun 2015: Column 15WS, respectively).