Money Laundering

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. A very large number of hon. and right hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye, but I remind the House that there are two further urgent questions to follow, meaning that there is a premium now upon brevity, which, as always, will be brilliantly exemplified by Sir Desmond Swayne.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

How much have we secured since the implementation of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002?

[Mr Wallace]

My right hon. Friend asks a pertinent question. It is well over £1 billion—it is about £1.6 billion, I think, and it has increased in the last few years. We have been determined, through the use of confiscation orders and the provisions we used to improve the Act through the Criminal Finances Act 2017, to start increasing the seizure and freezing of assets, to make sure that criminals lose their ill-gotten money.

Salisbury Incident

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 8th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I thank the hon. Lady for her support for the general tone of the Government’s approach, and I of course join in her admiration and support for the emergency services, which are doing such excellent work. I must repeat to the hon. Lady that the investigation is ongoing at pace, and the police and the other services involved appreciate the urgency. It does not help their work, which must be our priority, to speculate about what might happen when we make an attribution. When we are ready to bring more evidence to the House, I reassure the hon. Lady that I hope to be able to go further in answering her questions. For now, she must allow me to say that we will not be drawn any further as we allow the investigation to complete.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Whoever the culprit, it is just as well that we are currently reviewing our defence capabilities, so that we can increase them—can’t we?

[Amber Rudd]

As far as our security at home is concerned, I reassure my right hon. Friend that we have already put in substantial extra funds. The security services are recruiting 1,900 new people between now and 2020, and I am reassured by them that that recruitment is proceeding at pace and with success.

Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

The right hon. Lady has raised some very important points. I will first clarify the circumstances in which a letter is given to individuals who may be refusing food or fluid while in detention. A letter will only be handed to people after an extensive welfare interview, which happens with a medical professional, and is used to explain to individuals the very real risk that they are putting themselves at by refusing food and fluid. We want nobody in detention to be in that situation and it is important that we explain to them the risks involved.

The letter is, in fact, part of official Home Office guidance and was published on the gov.uk website in November last year. It was agreed after consultation with NHS England, Medical Justice, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and a range of non-governmental organisations, because it is important that we get the correct information to detainees who are choosing to refuse food and fluid.

I was first aware that individuals at Yarl’s Wood were refusing food and fluid at about the same time that the right hon. Lady undertook her visit. Of course I regard it as very serious. Nobody wants detainees to be at any risk, but it is important that they should not regard this as a route to preventing their removal from this country. As I said clearly in my opening statement, ensuring that individuals abide by immigration rules is an essential part of our immigration system. I wish to do nothing that encourages them to put their own health at risk by suggesting that doing so might prevent their removal from this country.

Indeed, there are some circumstances whereby people could be prioritised, such as if we anticipated that somebody needed escorts to be removed from the country, because there is always a long wait for that service. We can also talk to embassies to understand whether there is a problem with papers from someone’s home country, and get those expedited, so that the individual can be returned to their home country as swiftly as possible.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Accelerated processing would only be a threat if the judicial process was not seen to be fair and independent. Is it?

[Caroline Nokes]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that there is an extensive judicial process, whereby individuals seeking to stay in this country may apply to the first tier and, indeed, the upper tier tribunal at any stage in the process that they may apply for judicial review. We are determined to make the immigration system as fair as we possibly can, but also to uphold our rules.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 26th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

But should not the provision of prescription medicines, even if derived from narcotics, be a purely clinical matter?

[Mr Hurd]

As I have said, I am looking at this through the lens of what we can do within the existing regulations to support Alfie, and those decisions will be clinically led.

Medical Cannabis

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 20th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

There are good reasons for the Government’s current position. As I made clear in my statement, we are looking very closely at the approaches being taken by other countries. We have a keen eye on what the global experts, the WHO’s expert committee on drug dependence, conclude in relation to the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of cannabis.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

It is Bill number three on Friday. There is not going to be a debate, is there?

[Mr Hurd]

That depends on what happens to the first two Bills.

Immigration White Paper

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

First, I reassure the right hon. Lady that we are not kicking the can down the road. We are making sure we get a system that is right for people. That is why I make no apology for making our priority the 3 million EU citizens living here and the 1 million UK citizens living in EU states. We want to have a system in place for them during the implementation period so that we can register those 3 million people as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. It is imperative that, when we come to the House with a White Paper and an immigration Bill, they are the right pieces of legislation.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

When are we likely to get immigration down to the tens of thousands?

[Caroline Nokes]

My right hon. Friend will know as well as I do that in successive Conservative party manifestos we have made a commitment to making sure that we bring immigration down to sustainable levels.