Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the context of any handover of responsibility for counter-extremism work from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Home Office, which department will have responsibility for (1) cross-Government engagement principles, (2) establishing an extremism-specific due diligence tool, (3) blasphemy-related extremism, and (4) religiously motivated hate crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
On the definition of extremism, I refer Lord Godson to the Answer provided by the Security Minister on 22 January to Question UIN 23874, and to the Urgent Question response provided by the Security Minister on 28 January.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a decision has been made as to whether or not the process of listing extremist organisations and groups should be continued and, if not, whether they have any plans to publicly announce its discontinuance.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
On the definition of extremism, I refer Lord Godson to the Answer provided by the Security Minister on 22 January to Question UIN 23874, and to the Urgent Question response provided by the Security Minister on 28 January.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions have taken place between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Home Office regarding the handover of responsibility for counter-extremism work to the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
On the definition of extremism, I refer Lord Godson to the Answer provided by the Security Minister on 22 January to Question UIN 23874, and to the Urgent Question response provided by the Security Minister on 28 January.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of having a single definition of extremism.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office work on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.
On the definition of extremism, I refer Lord Godson to the Answer provided by the Security Minister on 22 January to Question UIN 23874, and to the Urgent Question response provided by the Security Minister on 28 January.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals entering the UK from Israel or Palestine, who are not UK–Israeli citizens or IDF veterans or serving personnel, the UK Border Force detained for questioning in the periods (1) October 2023 to present, (2) October 2022–October 2023, and (3) October 2021–October 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force does not publish information on operational activities. Doing so would publicise operational practices which would be used to assist in the evasion of customs controls and compromise border security.
However, the Home Office published data can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d887a154f1e70011165914/passengers-refused-entry-border-datasets-dec-2023.xlsx.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) UK–Israeli citizens, and (2) IDF veterans or serving personnel, the UK Border Force detained for questioning in the periods (a) October 2023 to present, (b) October 2022–October 2023, and (c) October 2021–October 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force does not publish information on operational activities. Doing so would publicise operational practices which would be used to assist in the evasion of customs controls and compromise border security.
However, the Home Office published data can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d887a154f1e70011165914/passengers-refused-entry-border-datasets-dec-2023.xlsx.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what policies, guidance and practices the Border Force has adopted in relation to the arrival of (1) Israeli nationals, and (2) individuals with joint UK–Israeli citizenship in the UK; and whether there has been any change in this policy and its operation since October 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force’s number one priority is to keep our borders safe and secure, and we will never compromise on this.
Border Force would not comment on individual policies that could jeopardise border security.
Border Force performs checks on 100% of passengers arriving at the UK border on scheduled services, enabling interventions against those known or suspected to pose a risk to the national interest.
There are many reasons why a Border Force Officer may feel it necessary to ask additional questions to satisfy themselves of eligibility to enter. Officers carry out checks that are deemed necessary in accordance with immigration procedures.
In the UK, the Immigration Rules require all arriving passengers, regardless of their nationality or country they arrived from, to establish their eligibility for admission. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked. There are also times when extra checks are conducted.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what policies, guidance and practices the Border Force has adopted in relation to the arrival in the UK of (1) Israeli nationals, and (2) individuals with joint UK–Israeli citizenship, who have served in the IDF.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force’s number one priority is to keep our borders safe and secure, and we will never compromise on this.
Border Force would not comment on individual policies that could jeopardise border security.
Border Force performs checks on 100% of passengers arriving at the UK border on scheduled services, enabling interventions against those known or suspected to pose a risk to the national interest.
There are many reasons why a Border Force Officer may feel it necessary to ask additional questions to satisfy themselves of eligibility to enter. Officers carry out checks that are deemed necessary in accordance with immigration procedures.
In the UK, the Immigration Rules require all arriving passengers, regardless of their nationality or country they arrived from, to establish their eligibility for admission. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked. There are also times when extra checks are conducted.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Home Office has spent on the Issues in Countering Terrorism course by the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London in the last 12 months, and on what dates the training has taken place.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Issues in Countering Terrorism course, delivered by King's College London, was held four times in 2023: 28th February to 2nd March; 28th to 30th March; 18th, 19th and 21st September; and 18th to 20th December. The FCDO has spent £109,583.68 on those courses in total, with 32 people attending each course. The course is administered through a Cabinet Office contract.
Civil servants attend a variety of training courses in order to learn. As required by the Civil Service Code, and as the public rightly expects, all civil servants must act impartially.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide further advice to the Metropolitan Police and other territorial police forces as to the selection of, and relationships with, strategic partners, with a view to ensuring diversity in approach but excluding partnerships with those who have expressed extremist views, following recent reports concerning two members of the London Muslim Communities Forum.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Police operate independently from the Home Office. The Prevent Duty Guidance (2023) provides recommendations to police on what to consider when conducting due diligence and ensuring they have an understanding of associated risks.
The Government does not tolerate those who spread divisive and harmful narratives and efforts to counter extremism span a broad range of Government and law enforcement activity and we must persist in our efforts to challenge extremist narratives, disrupt the activity of radicalising groups, and directly tackle the causes of radicalisation.