Tag: Home Office

Co-chairing the meeting with Bishop Derek Webley, the Home Secretary thanked the members for the important role they have played to ensure significant progress has been made following the Windrush Lessons Learned Review and the challenge they have provided to shape and improve the Home Office’s response, in the interests of the Windrush generation.

The Windrush Working Group was set up in June 2020 to bring together stakeholders and community leaders with senior representatives from several government departments. Their 3-year term expires at the end of September.

Today’s meeting, at the Home Office on Marsham Street, involved discussions looking back on celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the arrival of MV Empire Windrush in June, reflections on the work and achievements of the group, future planning to ensure the group’s contribution to government policy is long lasting and embedded, and an update on future engagement and outreach with the Windrush community.

The Home Secretary reiterated that, despite the group’s term coming to an end, the government remains committed to learning the lessons of Windrush and ensuring those affected receive the compensation they deserve.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

The Windrush Working group have made a huge contribution to ensure we learn the lessons of the Windrush scandal. Over the past 3 years their insight, collaboration and challenge have been vital in shaping the Home Office’s response.

I have deeply valued their advice and it has been an honour to work constructively alongside them. I’d like to thank them for their dedication to the Windrush community and determination to see progress.

I am proud of what has been achieved so far, but our commitment does not end here. We will continue with unwavering focus to see further improvements and that all those affected receive compensation.

The group have been integral to seeing improvements made to the Windrush Compensation Scheme to ensure individuals affected receive significantly more money, more quickly.

Their contribution led to a major overhaul in December 2020, which included a raising of the minimum payment from £250 to £10,000, which is paid as a preliminary payment as soon as someone applying can demonstrate an impact on their life under the terms of the scheme, whilst their claim is considered in full.

A significant increase in the impact on life category was also introduced, raising it at every level, with the highest award possible increasing from £10,000 to £100,000 – since this, over £76 million has been paid out or offered, in contrast to a total of just under £3 million prior to those changes.

Feedback from the group led to major simplification of the compensation application process when claim forms were redesigned and published in 2021 and 2022, to make it more straightforward for claimants to detail their experiences.

A further result of their feedback led to increased staffing being added to the compensation scheme. This led to a drastic reduction in the time taken to allocate a claim to a caseworker for a final decision, having completed necessary initial checks and investigation, from 18 months to 4 months.

Statistics published this month show that £67.59 million has been paid out by the end of July 202 across 1,820 claims. A further £11.71 million has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review. This totals over £79 million paid or offered.

Bishop Derek Webley, co-chair of the Windrush Working Group, said:

The last 3 years have been challenging for all of us on the Working Group. But collectively, we worked hard to right as many wrongs as we could in the time available.

So, I would like to put on record my thanks to Home Secretaries with whom I have worked closely, Rt Hon.Priti Patel, Rt Hon. Suella Braverman and to my fellow members who have dedicated their energy, time and commitment to this important cause.

I also want to pay tribute to Wendy Williams, CBE, for her support and guidance; and to the Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office for the critical role they played in helping me and the stakeholder members drive forward some of the crucial changes that needed to be made.

Although there is more to do, and the Home Office has assured us that the work will continue, I am pleased that we can conclude this cross-government group knowing that things are better now than when we started.

As Deputy Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee, Paulette Simpson – a Windrush Working Group member – played a crucial role in the development of the Windrush Monument in Waterloo station in 2022, which symbolises the courage, commitment and resilience of the thousands of men, women and children who travelled to the UK to start new lives from 1948 to 1971.

Elsewhere, the group advised on the design and delivery of the £500,000 Windrush Schemes Community Fund, which allowed community and grassroot organisations to bid for up to £25,000 to deliver projects encouraging applications to the Home Office’s documentation and compensation schemes. It also worked tirelessly around the UK and overseas through their networks and diplomatic contacts to promote the schemes.

The group has provided strategic insight into the Home Office’s response to Wendy Williams’ Windrush Lessons Learned Review, which was published in March 2019. In her progress report, published in March 2022, Wendy Williams concluded that 21 of her 30 recommendations had been met or partially met, and acknowledged that the scale of the challenge the department had been set would take time.

Since her progress report, the Home Office has made significant progress in delivering a number of recommendations including those related to training for staff.

As the Home Office continues to learn the lessons and see a shift in the culture, it is natural that teams evolve, and this work has now become embedded in the department’s everyday business.

The Community Engagement Fund was relaunched on 1 August 2023. £150,000 is available to charities and community or grassroots organisations to raise awareness for the Windrush schemes and gain insight around barriers to applying. Successful applicants, who will receive a grant between £5,000 and £10,000, will be announced later this year after the application process closed on 30 August 2023.

The Home Secretary Suella Braverman has urged Meta not to roll out end-to-end encryption on its platforms without robust safety measures that ensure children are protected from sexual abuse and exploitation in messaging channels.

Meta has publicly announced plans to roll out end-to-end encryption on Instagram and Facebook Messenger imminently which will put children across the UK at risk of being targeted and groomed online by predators.

Currently, 800 predators a month are arrested by UK law enforcement agencies and up to 1,200 children are safeguarded from child sexual abuse following information provided by social media companies. If Meta proceeds with their plans, they will no longer be able to detect child abuse on their platforms as they currently do, and the National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates 92% of Facebook Messenger and 85% of Instagram Direct referrals could be lost – meaning thousands of criminals a year could go undetected.

Now the Home Secretary, alongside the Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Safeguarding Minister Sarah Dines, has called directly on Meta to urgently commit to installing safety measures on its platforms to protect children from vile attackers, or halt the planned rollout altogether.

The campaign has been backed by a raft of prominent charities and organisations who have united to support it, including the NSPCC, Marie Collins Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

In partnership with the IWF, the Home Office has also published a guide for parents) to advise them how best to keep their children safe if Meta does implement end-to-end encryption on the messaging service of Facebook and Instagram without appropriate child safety measures.

The government is supportive of new technology, privacy and end-to-end encryption, but ministers are clear that encryption needs to be accompanied by safety measures that would enable the detection of grooming and child sexual abuse material.

Together with our international allies, the UK continues to urge tech companies to work with governments to find solutions to ensure the safety of our citizens, without eroding user privacy or cyber security. The government has always been clear that companies should maintain their ability to identify child sexual abuse on their platforms and ensure that law enforcement have the information they need to bring offenders to justice.

That is  why the UK is a signatory to the International Statement on End-to-End Encryption and Public Safety, signed in October 2020 by the governments of Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the United States.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

The use of strong encryption for online users remains a vital part of our digital world and I support it, so does the government, but it cannot come at a cost to our children’s safety.

Meta has failed to provide assurances that they will keep their platforms safe from sickening abusers. They must develop appropriate safeguards to sit alongside their plans for end-to-end encryption.

I have been clear time and time again, I am not willing to compromise on child safety.

We all have a responsibility to do what we can to tackle this devastating crime, and I urge them to work with the government.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said:

The UK is proudly pro-privacy, pro-innovation and pro-security. We are also committed to protecting children online and ruthlessly pursuing those who seek to harm them.

Our law enforcement agencies are working day and night to crack down on child sexual abusers.

The efforts of tech companies are crucial to their success. They have great influence over our lives, and with that power comes the responsibility to work with us to tackle this despicable abuse.

A new film features testimony of a survivor of child sexual exploitation online, Rhiannon-Faye McDonald, who makes a personal appeal to Mark Zuckerberg to act and prevent more children from suffering from the abuse she endured online.

It also hears from child safety experts John Carr, Secretary of the Children’s Charities Coalition on Internet Safety, and Simon Bailey, Director of the Child Rescue Coalition and former Chief Constable and National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection.

Susie Hargreaves OBE, Chief Executive of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said:

It’s vital we do not give criminals and abusers anywhere to hide. We’ve seen the proliferation of this imagery accelerate in recent years. Knowingly switching off the lights on detecting child sexual abuse, and leaving whole spaces free for abusers to exploit would be a dangerous step.

We’ve always been of the view that advances in technology must not mean taking a backwards step for child safety. The tech exists now to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse imagery without impacting on user privacy.

We urge companies looking to introduce end-to-end encryption to their services to think carefully about the impact on younger, vulnerable users, and to build in the safety features we’d expect in other areas of lives. They have shown what can be done to make their platforms safer and more user friendly, and it’s time to extend this to preventing the global spread of child sexual abuse.

This new development comes after the Home Secretary outlined her concerns to Meta in a letter co-signed by technology experts, law enforcement, survivors and leading child safety charities in July 2023.

In her letter, the Home Secretary emphasised the government is supportive of end-to-end encryption, but not without safety measures that would enable the detection of grooming and child sexual abuse material.

She also made specific requests for detailed evidence of how they would maintain vital child safety protections in messaging channels under end-to-end encryption.

The company was unable to provide this evidence, and as a result, the Home Secretary is concerned that robust child safety measures are not in place under the proposed plans.

Implementing end-to-end encryption on messaging apps means that messages would only ever be seen by the sender and receiver. This will mean that the company will no longer be able to prevent child sexual abuse occurring in those channels – providing sick predators with a safe space to groom and target children together.

Although Meta has previously set a leading example on child safety within the technology industry, ensuring that critical evidence of these crimes is provided to law enforcement agencies through the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the company is now turning its back on years of progress.

The government is pro-innovation, and the use of strong encryption is a vital part of our digital world, but this cannot come at the cost of child safety.

The Home Secretary is urging Meta to put its innovative and technological prowess into developing innovations which allow for the detection of child sexual abuse material in encrypted environments, thus maintaining the utmost privacy for users, while maintaining vital safeguards for vulnerable children.

The government, tech experts and wider industry partners have already demonstrated that it is possible to develop this technology through the Safety Tech Challenge Fund, which resulted in the development of 5 proof of concept tools of this nature.

Big tech has the capability and resources to pioneer further progress and cannot act quickly enough. Home Office data shows there were almost 34,485 offences relating to online indecent images of children in the year ending December 2022, an increase of 13% from last year.

Meanwhile, the NCA estimates there are up to 830,000 people in the UK who could pose a sexual threat to children, either through online or in-person abuse.

NCA Director of General Threats, James Babbage, said:

For many years, Meta have supported law enforcement by referring instances of child sexual abuse to NCMEC in the US. As a direct result of these referrals, we are able to safeguard children and arrest offenders.

However, if Meta implements end-to-end encryption as planned, it will make their platforms less safe for children and massively reduce our collective ability to protect them.

We are not asking for new or additional law enforcement access, we simply ask that Meta retains the ability to keep working with us to identify and help prevent abuse. This collaboration remains absolutely vital.

Recent data from the IWF shows the fastest-growing age group appearing in online child sexual abuse imagery is 7- to 10-year-olds and IWF data also shows prevalence of the most severe forms of online child sexual abuse have more than doubled since 2020.

There are over 400,000 searches for online child sexual abuse material every month in the UK.

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC Chief Executive, said:

We hear from Childline and survivors how offenders actively move children they have targeted on open platforms to end- to-end encrypted services to groom and ultimately abuse them.

Victims say this amounts to their privacy and safety rights being eroded.

Our polling shows the UK public overwhelmingly support measures to tackle child abuse in end-to-end encrypted environments.

Tech firms should be showing industry leadership by listening to the public and investing in technology that protects both the safety and privacy rights of all users.

Refugees, including people from Syria, Iran, Eritrea and Sudan, can now apply to a new government programme to gain the skills they need to enter the UK job market and lead independent lives.

The government’s new £52 million Refugee Employability Programme aims to overcome the barriers faced by refugees to integrate into local communities and society, including language and cultural differences, and speed up their contribution to the UK economy. Afghans resettled in England under either ACRS and ARAP will also be eligible to apply to the programme.

The programme will operate for two years and will provide enhanced support to refugees and Afghans across employment, English Language training and integration, to build up their confidence and skills to find work and secure better prospects for themselves and their families.

Through the new Refugee Employability Programme, people will receive a personal development plan that will be tailored to their ambitions and personal circumstances. This will range from skills courses, support with CV writing and job applications, work experience opportunities, and enhanced English language training, including access to formal and informal classes, online learning and resources and conversational classes.

For people who do not already receive integration support, the programme will help them access public services, including a GP and a job centre, local community groups and mental health support. Doing so will help vulnerable refugees to rebuild their lives in the UK and put them on the path to self-sufficiency.

This is in addition to eligible refugees having the right to work in the UK, access to public services and claim benefits, including Universal Credit.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said:

We want refugees and Afghans who have come to the UK legally and safely to have every opportunity to enter the world of work and contribute to our economy and society.

Our new Refugee Employability Programme strengthens the support available to those who have come here on safe and legal routes, giving them the skills and knowledge needed to build a long-term and independent future for themselves and their families, and to fully integrate into their communities.

Broadly, refugees are over 20% less likely to be in employment than Brits, with this gap significantly widening for refugee women who are 30% less likely to be in work.  The government’s Refugee Employability Programme aims to reduce this gap by providing people with the skills and experience they need to gain employment and give back to society.

The Programme is open to all those granted refugee status in the UK or those who have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain through one of the government’s safe and legal humanitarian routes. This includes the United Kingdom Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme (ARAP) the Community Sponsorship Scheme, Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and Family Reunion.

The Refugee Employability Programme was designed in consultation with refugees and organisations in the refugee support sector to complement existing provisions already available to help refugees rebuild their lives in the UK.

It builds on the significant package of support the government has put in place to help refugees and resettled Afghans. This includes Operation Warm Welcome, which was set up after the evacuation of Afghanistan to provide support for Afghan arrivals, and included additional funding to enable them to access healthcare, rental top-ups and a portal where the public could submit offers of housing and work, amongst others.

Read more about the Refugee Employability Programme

The vast majority of families have moved into housing or been matched to a property, enabling them to rebuild their lives here.

All 55 hotels being used to house around 8,000 Afghans at the end of March were no longer being used as bridging accommodation by 31 August. This followed a significant cross-government effort to help families find homes, working closely with Local Authorities and third sector partners. These hotels are now being retuned for use by their communities, acting as a boost for local economies.

From April, the government served notice to quit to all Afghans living in bridging accommodation. As of 31 August 2023, there were no families remaining in bridging hotels. 85% of families had been moved or matched to settled accommodation, with the remainder being supported by Local Authorities or in interim accommodation due to medical reasons.

The government have used innovative and generous schemes, which has resulted in many Afghans moving into the private rental sector and others moving into reappropriated Service Family Accommodation.

The government also provided a £250 million expansion of the Local Authority Housing Fund to address immediate pressures and increase the supply of permanent accommodation. This is on track to deliver over 1,200 homes for Afghan families across England this year, alongside homes for other cohorts, building a sustainable stock of affordable housing for the future.

Hotel accommodation was never intended to be a permanent solution. It was costing UK taxpayers around £1 million per day, and preventing Afghan families from moving on with the next chapter of their lives. With many families living in hotels for around two years, some of whom struggled to put down roots as a result, Local Authorities and NGOs agreed that moving Afghans into housing was the right thing to do.

Local Authorities were supported with a generous £35 million government funding package to increase the support available to Afghans and help overcome the specific barriers they face in accessing the housing system.

In addition, a dedicated housing portal was established to allow private landlords to offer their properties to families and empower Afghans to search for their own housing. Having come to the UK through safe and legal routes, all those under ACRS and ARAP have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, the right to work and access to benefits and public services.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said:

Two years ago we undertook one of the largest evacuations in recent history, bringing 15,000 people from Afghanistan to safety in the UK at short notice.

Through the tireless work of our dedicated Home Office staff we have now provided these Afghans with the homes they need to begin the next chapter of their life in the UK. Not only can Afghan families now fully integrate, find employment, and provide their children with stability, ending the temporary use of hotels will save the hardworking taxpayer millions of pounds and return them to their proper use by the community and local businesses.

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer said:

Ensuring those who stood side by side with us in Afghanistan can rebuild their lives in homes across the UK has been a matter close to my heart, and I’m proud of the significant cross-government effort that has achieved this welcome outcome.

Families can now look towards a stable future, whilst taxpayers can be assured that they are no longer footing the bill for 55 costly bridging hotels.

This is a government committed to delivery, that will always act in the best interests of families and the public.

Shamal, who was resettled in North Wales with his family, said:

The Home Office suggested a house up in North Wales to me, and the moving process was really smooth. My family and I have adjusted to life here and we’re really happy in our new home. The local community and especially our new neighbours have been really welcoming and have shown us real kindness. When I think back to a year ago, I can’t believe how different our lives are.

As Minister Mercer announced in July, the government will continue to provide interim accommodation to a minority of resettled Afghans up until the end of the year, where they are either waiting to move into a property which is not currently ready, or a family member requires medical treatment at a specific hospital.

As of 31 August, over 80% of those staying in time-limited interim accommodation were already matched to a property that will be ready to move into before the end of December, with families moving out each week.

Despite the substantial support available, some Afghan families have been unable to make their own arrangements and have made homelessness applications to Local Authorities. Some councils have moved these families into their own temporary accommodation instead of utilising the government’s interim accommodation offer.

As a result, Local Authorities in England reported that 188 households were living in temporary accommodation, as of 31 August. This accounts for less than 10% of those living in bridging hotels at the time notices to quit were issued. Of those in homeless temporary accommodation, around one quarter have said they have a property lined up to move into over the coming weeks.

The government will continue to offer generous support to all households in temporary accommodation, so they can move into permanent accommodation and rebuild their lives here. However, it is only right that families are made a maximum of one accommodation offer through the Home Office matching process.

For those who present as homeless, legislation under the Housing Act 1996 provides a safety net, placing a duty on Local Authorities to ensure families are not left without a roof over their heads. £9,150 per household has been made available to councils from the government for families who present as homeless to support with temporary housing and administration costs. This is in addition to the £2 billion available over 3 years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping more broadly.

The government has so far brought over 24,600 individuals to the UK from Afghanistan, who all deserve every opportunity to rebuild their lives here.

Salih Taib Abdullah, 33, and Ahmed Omar Saleh Khater, 25, were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court today (8 September) to a combined total of two years and two months’ imprisonment for attempting to arrive in the UK illegally.

Both were involved in violence which broke out on a French beach in June this year when French officers were attacked by a large group of migrants attempting to leave on a small boat.

A team of UK-funded gendarmes were on patrol in Oye Plage near Calais when they came across a group of 51 migrants in the process of launching a small boat and attempted to prevent their crossing.

A number of the migrants were armed with makeshift weapons and rocks, causing injuries to the French officers before fleeing on a small boat bound for the UK.

Following rapid consultation between UK and French authorities, the two defendants were quickly identified and arrested by officers from the Home Office’s Criminal and Financial Investigations (CFI) unit as soon as they reached Dover.

Body-worn footage from the gendarmes shows the two defendants confronting French officers. British and French authorities worked closely together, at speed, to ensure the offenders were brought to justice as swiftly as possible.

Both Abdullah, from Iraq, and Khater, from Sudan, pleaded guilty to attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance at an earlier hearing. Abdullah received a sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment and Khater received 12 months’ imprisonment.

Charlie Eastaugh, Director of International Operations for the Small Boats Operational Command in the Home Office, said:

We will not tolerate violence against our French partners, particularly by those attempting dangerous and illegal small boat launches which threaten the border security of the UK.

Tension on French beaches is increasing due to the successful efforts of law enforcement in frustrating this organised criminal enterprise. Incidents like this highlight the complex and brave work of our French colleagues in the face of challenging conditions.

We will continue to work hand-in-hand with them to tackle the criminal gangs behind these deadly crossings, to protect our borders and save lives.

The government is on track to fulfil the majority of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Prevent by February 2024, with significant changes already implemented to bolster governance and embed oversight.

Ten out of the 34 recommendations have been delivered in full, and progress has been made against every single recommendation, with 68 of the 120 required tasks completed.

Refreshed draft Prevent duty guidance has been published today and a statutory instrument laid in the House of Commons to bring it into force under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, aiding frontline professionals in stopping people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Strengthened due diligence checks on civil society organisations will ensure that under no circumstances will Prevent work with or fund those who legitimise or support extremists. Prevent funding has ceased with groups which have fallen foul of these standards.

Updated Prevent duty guidance, published today, delivers on several key recommendations of the independent review, making it clear that Prevent’s objective is to tackle the ideological causes of terrorism. It includes practical advice for those with responsibility to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

This guidance will help frontline professionals in healthcare, education, local authorities, prisons, probation and the police comply with the Prevent duty.

Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said:

Terrorists seek to destroy the freedoms and values we cherish. It is the duty of government to disrupt this enduring and evolving threat.

Ongoing improvements to Prevent are paving the way for a stronger, more transparent and proportionate approach to tackling radicalisation in this country. This includes ensuring that we are no longer working with or funding groups who legitimise extremists.

The updated Prevent duty guidance provides frontline professionals in education, healthcare and local government with a renewed focus as well as new tools and information to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:

Our schools are committed to protecting pupils from radicalisation and extremist influences, and this guidance along with the support of frontline workers will be pivotal to achieving that.

These changes will provide greater clarity, practical advice and access to best practice for all teachers and education settings.

A new security threat check will ensure that Prevent activity is always in line with the national threat picture.

New training on the ideological foundations of extremism and terrorism is being rolled out throughout the country.

Terminology has been updated in the guidance throughout to reflect an individual’s susceptibility to terrorism and vulnerability will only be used where appropriate.

A refreshed ministerial oversight board will meet in the coming months to oversee continued implementation of the independent review and ensure delivery remains in line with Shawcross’ recommendations.

Delivery of Prevent has moved from a national to a regional model which provides support for all local authorities in England and Wales. The areas with the highest radicalisation risk will also receive multi-year funding to combat the local threat.

To address the reviewer’s concerns about the prevalence of antisemitism in Channel cases, specialist intervention providers have been recruited. There is also new training being provided to civil society organisations to tackle antisemitism.

The government has completed 68 of the 120 subsets of the 34 recommendations of the independent review and the vast majority of these recommendations are expected to be fulfilled by February 2024.