Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on a register of convicted stalkers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women. Stalking is an insidious crime that leaves victims living in fear every day, which is why it is essential to ensure the police and wider criminal justice system have the tools they need to protect victims and pursue perpetrators.
Those convicted of the offence of stalking involving fear, harassment, alarm or distress and sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment are automatically managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), a process which involves the police, probation and prison services working together to assess and manage the risk of specified offenders. Those convicted of that offence and sentenced to fewer than 12 months' imprisonment or convicted of section 2A stalking offence can be MAPPA managed on a discretionary basis. In the MAPPA guidance, it is stressed that every stalking perpetrator should be considered for MAPPA management. We continue to consider how these systems can be strengthened.
Those managed under MAPPA have their details stored on the ViSOR database. In addition, anyone subject to a Stalking Protection Order (SPO) is subject to notification requirements. This means if the name used by or the address of the person changes during the duration of the order, they must notify the police within a 3-day period of that change. Failure to do so is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of 12 months' imprisonment.
To ensure the effective management of stalking perpetrators we also announced six new measures on 3 December. This includes legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide for the courts to issue SPOs on conviction or acquittal and introducing national standards for stalking perpetrator interventions to help improve the efficacy and consistency of such programmes.
We are also working with a new policing centre to create models such as V100 in the MET to look at the specific offender management of the most violent perpetrators in an area.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in rolling out the "Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) 100" approach to every police force in the country.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of this Government's ambitious goal to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, we have committed to use every tool available to protect more women and girls from harm, to relentlessly target perpetrators including via methods used to tackle terrorism and serious organised crime, and other measures to improve the police response to VAWG.
Working closely with the National Police Chiefs' Council and the College of Policing, the Home Office is overseeing the development of a new national approach for the use of data-driven tools and algorithms to identify and pursue offenders involved in domestic abuse, sexual assault, harassment, and stalking. Recognising the range of applicable technologies already in use across police forces in England and Wales, the new framework will support forces to meet their local need while standardising the use of these tools, ensuring those who pose the greatest threat are identified and managed through the criminal justice system or community-based, multi-agency interventions.
In February, we announced £13.1 million funding to launch a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection to improve the policing response to VAWG and child sexual abuse. Centralising policing expertise to tackle these crimes will drive national coordination. The creation of the Centre is a key step in delivering on the Government's public protection priorities through bringing together expertise to drive organisational change and improve practice, and work on the use of data-driven tools in VAWG policing is central to this.
Later this year we will publish a cross-government VAWG strategy, unpinning the ambitious agenda to halve VAWG and tackle the most prolific and harmful perpetrators.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to change the system of immigration health surcharges for students so that, if they have to leave the UK and return home in their first year, they could receive a refund on four- or five-year health surcharge that they have had to pay upfront.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are no such plans at present, but the Government keeps all aspects of the Immigration Health Surcharge under regular review.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Afghans currently in the UK and awaiting implementation of the family reunion scheme for those who supported British personnel in Afghanistan have wives and children in Pakistan who are in danger of being returned to Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under both the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Data on the number of Afghans in the UK who are awaiting a route for separated families to be reunited is unavailable at this time.
Public data on the number of Afghans in Pakistan who are eligible to join family members already resettled under both the ARAP and ACRS is unavailable. However; the latest published statistics, summarised at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), show that, at the end of December 2023, 14,423 people have been relocated to the UK under the ARAP so far, and a further 10,520 have been relocated under ACRS.
The Government is aiming to bring eligible persons (EPs) to the UK from Pakistan and other third countries as soon as reasonably practicable and has so far relocated over 3000 people since October.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the family reunification route for Afghans in the UK, under Pathway 1 of the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, will open; and what assessment they have made of the level of danger faced by the spouses and children who remain in Afghanistan of those who have resettled in the UK with indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. The situation continues to be complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country.
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under Pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited in the first half of this year. Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Global Entrepreneur visas have been issued to date.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Global Talent visas issued to end of September 2023 = 8,707 main applicants with a further 6,380 dependants
Entrepreneur visas issued to end of September 2023 = 10,213 main applicants, with a further 16,451 dependants
Indian Youth Mobility visas issued to end of September 2023 = 1,956
Investor visas issued to end of September 2023 = 5,104 main applicants with a further 8,785 dependants
High Potential Individuals to end of September 2023 = 3,062 main applicants with a further 419 dependants
Global Talent Network and Global Entrepreneur figures are included in the Global Talent and Entrepreneur respective responses above.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) India Young Professionals Scheme visas, (2) Entrepreneur visas (Tier 1), (3) Investor visas (Tier 1), (4) Global Talent visas, and (5) High Potential Individual visas, have been issued to date.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Global Talent visas issued to end of September 2023 = 8,707 main applicants with a further 6,380 dependants
Entrepreneur visas issued to end of September 2023 = 10,213 main applicants, with a further 16,451 dependants
Indian Youth Mobility visas issued to end of September 2023 = 1,956
Investor visas issued to end of September 2023 = 5,104 main applicants with a further 8,785 dependants
High Potential Individuals to end of September 2023 = 3,062 main applicants with a further 419 dependants
Global Talent Network and Global Entrepreneur figures are included in the Global Talent and Entrepreneur respective responses above.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Global Talent Network visas have been issued to date.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Global Talent visas issued to end of September 2023 = 8,707 main applicants with a further 6,380 dependants
Entrepreneur visas issued to end of September 2023 = 10,213 main applicants, with a further 16,451 dependants
Indian Youth Mobility visas issued to end of September 2023 = 1,956
Investor visas issued to end of September 2023 = 5,104 main applicants with a further 8,785 dependants
High Potential Individuals to end of September 2023 = 3,062 main applicants with a further 419 dependants
Global Talent Network and Global Entrepreneur figures are included in the Global Talent and Entrepreneur respective responses above.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers have been deported from the United Kingdom over the last five years.
Answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach
It is not possible to provide information on the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers who have been deported from the UK, as sexual identity is not information that the Home Office centrally records.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom on the grounds of trans-related issues have been refused asylum and deported to their countries of origin over the last five years.
Answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach
The Home Office does not centrally record this specific data and the information requested could only be obtained through a manual search of
individual case files. This would exceed the cost limit.