Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many reported instances there are of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of reported instances of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
However, the Government takes this issue extremely seriously and is introducing a new offence through the Online Safety Act to make communications which encourage or assist self-harm illegal. This will protect people of all ages from this harmful content.
Equivalent provisions are set out in the Criminal Justice Bill currently making its way through Parliament, which create the same prohibitions offline.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) asylum, or (2) humanitarian protection, visas were granted to people from China in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, and (d) 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on initial decisions made on asylum applications, including grants of refugee permission and humanitarian protection by nationality, can be found in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending June 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many recorded diagnoses of malnutrition have occurred among child asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not hold data on diagnoses of malnutrition in the asylum seeking population.
Asylum seekers in contingency accommodation are provided with breakfast, lunch, and evening meals, with a choice of at least one hot and one cold selection, at least one vegetarian option with each main meal and a food service for babies and small children with the appropriate foodstuffs. Food is provided in a location easily accessible to all.
Portion sizes will be in line with the NHS 5-a-day guidelines, available at: 5 A Day portion sizes - NHS (www.nhs.uk). If an asylum seeker would like to discuss their dietary requirements, they are advised and supported to contact Migrant Help.
We continuously look at ways to improve our procedures to ensure we address concerns quickly and effectively; one of the tools we use to achieve this is through our targeted surveys. These are 100% anonymous and available 24/7 in a variety of languages. The Initial Accommodation (IA) survey is aimed at all those who reside in all forms of contingency accommodation and seeks insight on the fundamental aspects of the provision. This includes questions on the accommodation standards and suitability, food offering, information provided.
The Home Office monitors our service providers closely to ensure the requirements we set out in our contracts are being delivered. This includes physically inspecting contingency sites and food provision. The food service at hotels meets appropriate nutritional standards for each menu and satisfies cultural, religious, health or other specific requirements.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were extradited from the UK to another country to face trial in each year between 2019 and 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The number of persons extradited under Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003 to face trial in another country in each year between 2019 and 2022 may be listed as follows:
Year | On Accusation Warrants |
2019 | 23 |
2020 | 17 |
2021 | 17 |
2022 | 20 |
All figures are from local management information. As such they should be treated as provisional and subject to change.
The figures do not include Scotland, which deals with its own extradition cases. Only those surrendered on accusation warrants are included. The figures also do not include persons extradited to requesting states on the basis of a conviction warrant, as this assumes they will not be facing trial in the requested state on return.
Extraditions from the UK under Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 are handled by the National Crime Agency and statistics are published on their website:
https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/how-we-work/providing-specialist-capabilities-for-law-enforcement/fugitives-and-international-crime/extradition-arrangements-with-eu-countries
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what, if any, extradition arrangements exist between the UK and (1) the People’s Republic of China, and (2) the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK does not have a bilateral extradition treaty with the People’s Republic of China. The Foreign Secretary made a statement in the House of Commons in July 2020 on the status of the UK-Hong Kong Extradition Treaty, confirming its indefinite suspension.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of installing tracking devices on farm machinery to reduce rural crime.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to driving down rural crime. Whether someone lives in the countryside or a town or city they should get the same high-quality service from the police if they fall victim to a crime.
To help prevent the theft of agricultural machinery the Government is supporting the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill which will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to all new All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes. These measures are designed to prevent theft of agricultural equipment subject to the legislation. The Bill does not include a requirement for tracking devices to be installed, as these assist with recovering vehicles rather than preventing theft.
The Bill also provides a power for the Secretary of State to extend the legislation to other equipment designed or adapted primarily for use in agricultural or commercial settings. We are intending to consult on extending the legislation to other agricultural machinery and handheld power tools.
The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Commons and was introduced in the House of Lords on 6 March
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of number of girls under the age of 18 who are British Citizens who have been married abroad.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). On 27 February 2023 we brought into force legislation which raises the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expands the offence of forced marriage soit is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even if coercion is not used.
Since April 2019, the Annual Data Requirement for England and Wales has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns to the Home Office on the number of offences they have recorded which they have identified as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. The table below shows the number of FGM offences recorded by the police from April 2019 to March 2022.
| April 2019-March 2020 | April 2020-March 2021 | April 2021-March 2022 |
FGM offences recorded by police | 74 | 78 | 77 |
There have been two prosecutions for FGM under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, these occurred in 2019.
We do not hold information on the number of British girls under the age of 18 who have been married abroad or on the total numbers of forced marriages which have occurred.
We recognise that data on the prevalence of FGM and forced marriage is limited. That is why are funding a feasibility study explore whether a more rigorous estimation of the prevalence of these crimes in England and Wales can be made. This study is estimated to complete later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many instances of forced marriage occurred in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). On 27 February 2023 we brought into force legislation which raises the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expands the offence of forced marriage soit is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even if coercion is not used.
Since April 2019, the Annual Data Requirement for England and Wales has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns to the Home Office on the number of offences they have recorded which they have identified as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. The table below shows the number of FGM offences recorded by the police from April 2019 to March 2022.
| April 2019-March 2020 | April 2020-March 2021 | April 2021-March 2022 |
FGM offences recorded by police | 74 | 78 | 77 |
There have been two prosecutions for FGM under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, these occurred in 2019.
We do not hold information on the number of British girls under the age of 18 who have been married abroad or on the total numbers of forced marriages which have occurred.
We recognise that data on the prevalence of FGM and forced marriage is limited. That is why are funding a feasibility study explore whether a more rigorous estimation of the prevalence of these crimes in England and Wales can be made. This study is estimated to complete later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of female genital mutilation have been (1) investigated, and (2) prosecuted, in (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). On 27 February 2023 we brought into force legislation which raises the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expands the offence of forced marriage soit is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even if coercion is not used.
Since April 2019, the Annual Data Requirement for England and Wales has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns to the Home Office on the number of offences they have recorded which they have identified as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. The table below shows the number of FGM offences recorded by the police from April 2019 to March 2022.
| April 2019-March 2020 | April 2020-March 2021 | April 2021-March 2022 |
FGM offences recorded by police | 74 | 78 | 77 |
There have been two prosecutions for FGM under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, these occurred in 2019.
We do not hold information on the number of British girls under the age of 18 who have been married abroad or on the total numbers of forced marriages which have occurred.
We recognise that data on the prevalence of FGM and forced marriage is limited. That is why are funding a feasibility study explore whether a more rigorous estimation of the prevalence of these crimes in England and Wales can be made. This study is estimated to complete later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the measures they would need to implement to ensure the UK is compliant with international human rights obligations to migrants in the event of withdrawal from the ECHR.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Further detail regarding the new legislation to tackle small boats will be set out in due course.