Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to monitor the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016, on limitation on detention of pregnant women.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office has issued guidance to Immigration Enforcement caseworkers, enforcement officers and Border Force officers on the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016. This was published on GOV.UK on 12 July, and includes monitoring tools to track the detention of pregnant women.

    It is already the case that the majority of individuals liable to be detained at any one time are not actually detained but are managed in the community through the grant of temporary admission or temporary release on bail. This includes pregnant women, whose detention is now subject to the further restrictions imposed by section 60 of the 2016 Act.

    Pregnant women who are to be released from detention, but who remain liable to be detained, will be granted temporary admission or temporary release with appropriate reporting and/or residence restrictions. Pregnant women have access to the Home Office Voluntary Departures Service.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce the dates for the (a) planned commissioning, (b) delivery of contracted functionality and (c) installation of the first deployment traffic management system for the Rail Operating Centre at Cardiff.

    Paul Maynard

    These dates will not be announced by the Department for Transport. Network Rail is reviewing the options available for deployment of Traffic Management in Wales and will communicate the decision once it has been made.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of continuing evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem on prospects for a two-state solution in that region.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are concerned about recent evictions of Palestinians from Silwan, and the threat of eviction of Palestinian families, from the Old City in Jerusalem. We view any attempts to change the facts on the ground as a serious provocation likely to raise tensions on the ground and cause unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians, as well as being harmful to the peace process and, of course, in contravention of international law. The UK’s remains committed to the achievement of a two-state solution.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the Resolution of the House of Commons of 10 September calling on them to implement the recommendations of the report of the Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom, by the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Refugees and Migration.

    Lord Bates

    Detention plays a vital role in maintaining effective immigration control and there are safeguards in place to prevent unnecessary or arbitrary detention.

    Turning to the principal recommendations of the APPG report, though a common misconception, we cannot detain indefinitely under immigration powers. There are significant, long standing and highly effective protections for individuals against indefinite detention in the current system. A statutory limit is therefore not necessary.

    An arbitrary time limit would potentially allow criminals and non-compliant individuals to play the system knowing that if they refuse to cooperate with removal for long enough they will be released.

    The Home Office is conducting detailed analysis of the use of immigration detention including looking at the checks and balances in the systems to ensure that there is a more efficient and more effective process so that people are removed more swiftly.

    The Home Secretary commissioned an independent review of the policies and operating procedures that have an impact on detainee welfare earlier this year. Stephen Shaw CBE, former Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales, undertook the review and has recently submitted his report. The report will be published by laying it before Parliament, alongside the Government’s response to its recommendations, before the Lords Committee stage for the Immigration Bill.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Patina Rail, the owners of Eurostar, about human trafficking and the creation of a commuter route between St Pancras and Ashford that mirrors the so-called Lille loophole.

    Lord Bates

    The UK Government takes child trafficking extremely seriously. All Border Force officers at the Eurostar ports in the UK France and Belgium have received training in keeping children safe and all operational processes involving children comply with requirements as set out in the Children and Young Persons Act. Border Force and Eurostar have daily contact on operational matters. When passengers are identified by Border Force officers as potential victims of trafficking, immediate action is taken to safeguard the individual by following Home Office guidance on the treatment of the victims of trafficking. Border Force collects data on these cases in order to notify the Human Trafficking Centre. Contact is also made with Camden Social Services Safeguarding Team as soon as possible in order to establish safe care of the child. Eurostar has its own policy on unaccompanied children travelling on its services which can be found on its website.

    Border Force has not provided training to French border officials on UK child trafficking patterns. All cases of suspected trafficking detected by the French border officials at St Pancras are handed to the BTP to action. In France and Belgium any concerns Border Force officers have about vulnerable children attempting to travel to the UK would be referred to the French and Belgian frontier control authorities. The Home Office has not had any discussions with Patina Rail about a proposed new routing between St Pancras and Ashford.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to close the higher education attainment gap between BME students and other students.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Higher Education Green Paper sets out steps the Government plans to take to improve outcomes for students, including BME students. We have consulted on how the Teaching Excellence Framework will recognise the efforts that providers make to improve the access and experience of students from all backgrounds, and the importance of this to the overall student learning experience.

    Ministers have also asked Universities UK to establish an expert advisory group on social mobility and higher education to identify what more can be done to address this gap, and other issues concerning social mobility. The group will provide advice to the Minister.

    In addition, new guidance from Ministers to the Director of Fair Access (DfA), published on 11 February, asks the Director to continue to address gaps in outcomes, including those for BME groups, through Access Agreements agreed with universities.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of those eligible for winter fuel payments in 2014-15 received a letter informing them about their rights to claim this benefit.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    The majority of Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically from information already held by the Department. We invite claims mainly from men under 65 who meet the eligibility criteria, as the largest group not identified and paid automatically. Claims can be made up to and including 31 March and are not accepted after that date.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which companies were contracted to facilitate enforced returns to Yemen for failed asylum seekers from that country in 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    All escorting services to facilitate enforced returns are provided by the Home Office’s main contractor, Tascor. In 2014, detainee custody officers from the Pilgrims Group, who are sub-contracted by Tascor were used on one occasion on 23rd July to facilitate the enforced return of an individual to Yemen.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 31 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, if he will publish the minutes of the roundtable events held with the creative sector as part of the BBC Charter review process.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will not be publishing minutes of the events held with the creative sector as part of the BBC Charter review process. A list of the attendees of these meetings are however available in Annex 2 of the White Paper.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to the 2015-16 Annual Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee, for what reasons it was decided not to provide the Intelligence and Security Committee with evidence on the UK’s role in US air strikes against (a) Junaid Hussain and (b) Mohammed Emwazi.

    Mrs Theresa May

    I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 15 of the 2015-16 Annual Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee.