Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the current agreement with Gerry's International (PvT) Ltd for visa services will expire.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office do not operate a contract agreement with Gerry's International (PvT) Ltd. The contract for providing Visa Application Centres in Pakistan was awarded to VFS Worldwide Holdings Ltd in 2014 initially for a five year period and extended recently for a further two years until 31 March 2021.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current additional cost of a UK visa applied for in Mirpur, compared to one applied for in Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad; whether they have sought to reduce that cost through procurement; and if so, how.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The cost of applying for a visa itself does not vary anywhere in Pakistan, however, the Mirpur Visa Application Centre is User Pays as opposed to the other sites in Pakistan which are Free To Use. As such use of the Mirpur site attracts a User Pays Fee, which is governed by Fees Regulations and is currently the equivalent of £55 in local currency and can be found on gov.uk under section 3 of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table/home-office-immigration-and-nationality-fees-2018 This amount is the same for all User Pays Centres across the globe and is set at a level only to meet the delivery costs of these sites.
If this amount was not charged then HM Government would be unable to provide a service in Mirpur and applicants from in and around that area would have to travel to another site, either in Pakistan or beyond, which they are still free to do, but at their own expense.
The costs associated with these sites are bound by the terms and conditions of the current Next Generations Visa Services contracts with VFS Worldwide and Teleperformance and which are currently set to expire on 31 March 2021. Under those terms no re-procurement of these services can take effect before this date.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to put in place processes enabling action to be taken against those whose immigration applications have been refused on the grounds of deception.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Guidance on character and conduct issued to caseworkers and visa officers considering applications from highly skilled migrants wishing to work in the UK is published on Gov.uk.
For those in the UK whose applications have been refused on the grounds of deception, processes are already in place to enable removal action to be taken against them.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have issued any policy guidance to help immigration caseworkers assess the character and conduct of highly-skilled migrants applying for visas to work in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Guidance on character and conduct issued to caseworkers and visa officers considering applications from highly skilled migrants wishing to work in the UK is published on Gov.uk.
For those in the UK whose applications have been refused on the grounds of deception, processes are already in place to enable removal action to be taken against them.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether UK citizens returning from Syria who are suspected to have been involved in supporting ISIS are eligible for council accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq will be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.
Local authorities lead on housing decisions and it is for them to decide whether their local criteria has been met for an individual to be provided with housing. HMG has not set out conditions to be met to house individuals returning from Syria.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government whether they have registered an increase in the number of attacks on the British Muslim community.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We condemn any attacks against people on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. Where a crime is motivated by race or religion it will be treated as a hate crime and the perpetrator will receive a higher sentence. The police now record religiously based hate crimes by faith. The figures for hate crime in 16/17 will be published in October.
The Government is committed to tackling hate crime and we have in place a comprehensive Hate Crime Action Plan to drive forward action against such crimes. The action plan includes additional funding for projects to tackle hate crime at local level and to protect places of worship from hate crime. A further £1M to protect places of worship and religiously based community centres that are vulnerable to attack was announced on 22 June.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government, in the light of an increase in the number of attacks on Muslims in the UK in 2017, whether additional resources have been directed towards preventing and responding to such attacks; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We condemn any attacks against people on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. Where a crime is motivated by race or religion it will be treated as a hate crime and the perpetrator will receive a higher sentence. The police now record religiously based hate crimes by faith. The figures for hate crime in 16/17 will be published in October.
The Government is committed to tackling hate crime and we have in place a comprehensive Hate Crime Action Plan to drive forward action against such crimes. The action plan includes additional funding for projects to tackle hate crime at local level and to protect places of worship from hate crime. A further £1M to protect places of worship and religiously based community centres that are vulnerable to attack was announced on 22 June.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what advice they have given to the police in relation to attacks on people perceived to be Muslims and from ethnic minorities.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We condemn any attacks against people on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. Where a crime is motivated by race or religion it will be treated as a hate crime and the perpetrator will receive a higher sentence. The police now record religiously based hate crimes by faith. The figures for hate crime in 16/17 will be published in October.
The Government is committed to tackling hate crime and we have in place a comprehensive Hate Crime Action Plan to drive forward action against such crimes. The action plan includes additional funding for projects to tackle hate crime at local level and to protect places of worship from hate crime. A further £1M to protect places of worship and religiously based community centres that are vulnerable to attack was announced on 22 June.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent acid attacks on Muslims in England and what advice they have provided to the police in relation to these attacks.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Attacks on people involving acids or other corrosives are a serious matter that can result in huge distress and life changing injuries. We are working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead to better understand the nature and scale of these crimes. On 4 July we hosted a joint event bringing together a range of partners including police, retailers, health professionals, relevant departments and agencies to agree what further action can be taken to prevent these kinds of attacks.
Asked by: Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government whether an acid attack would be classified as a terrorist attack.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The government has a longstanding and comprehensive strategic approach to tackling all forms of terrorism. It is for the police to decide whether an incident is terrorist in nature and ultimately for the independent Crown Prosecution Service to decide what charges are appropriate based on the facts of the case. Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 contains the definition of terrorism against which these decisions are made.