Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the threat posed by repurposed previously decommissioned firearms.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This country has some of the toughest firearms controls in the world to safeguard against abuse by criminals and terrorists and to preserve public safety.
There were six recorded offences involving reactivated handguns in England and Wales in the year ending March 2020, a decrease from 11 compared with the previous year. In the same period, there was one offence involving a weapon recorded as an “other reactivated weapon”, a decrease from two in the previous year.
The controls on deactivated firearms have been strengthened in recent years. New technical specifications for deactivated firearms were introduced in 2016. The aim was to set standards which would render deactivated weapons irreversibly inoperable. The specifications were updated again in 2018. To enforce these standards, the Policing and Crime Act 2017 created a specific new offence of selling or gifting a weapon that had not been deactivated to the new specifications. The current deactivation standards are published on GOV.UK.
The Firearms Regulations 2019 further strengthened the controls through the requirement for owners of deactivated firearms to notify the Home Office regarding the possession and transfer of permanently deactivated firearms.
Our firearms law is kept under constant review to safeguard against abuse by criminals and to preserve public safety and we will not hesitate to act whenever the need arises.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of writing to individuals born in the EU but naturalised as British citizens, stating that they require UK Immigration Status after 30 June in order to carry on living in the UK.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is using every possible channel to encourage everyone who is eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to apply. The Home Office is currently working with HMRC and DWP to send letters to EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who receive benefits, but it appears are yet to apply to the EUSS. These letters seek to encourage recipients to apply to the EUSS to protect their existing rights in the UK before the deadline of 30 June 2021.
In trying to reach as many people as possible, there may be a small number of instances where these letters are sent to recipients who are naturalised as a British citizen. The letter may also be received by a small number of individuals who have already applied to the EUSS, for example because they applied after the initial exercise with DWP or HMRC was completed, but before the letter was sent out. The letter makes clear anyone who is a British citizen or already has EUSS status does not need to take any action.
As of 30 April 2021, 4.9m grants of status had been made. The Home Office urges anyone eligible for the EUSS to apply before the 30 June deadline to ensure their rights are protected following the end of the grace period.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact assessments they have conducted of their New Plan for Immigration policy paper, published on 24 March, on the protection and rights of victims of modern slavery as set out in (1) section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, (2) the 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, (3) the EU Directive on Human Trafficking (Directive 2011/36/EU), and (4) the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK is committed to ensuring victims of modern slavery are identified quickly and provided with the support they require to start to rebuild their lives.
More potential victims are being identified and protected than ever before. National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals more than doubled between 2017 and 2020 from 5,135 to 10,613. There is more information on referrals available at: Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In March 2021, the Government published a report on issues raised by people in immigration detention. This provides data on some of the concerns we are seeking to address through the New Plan for Immigration. This is available at: Issues raised by people facing return in immigration detention - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
There are concerns about the potential for a referral to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to be used to frustrate Immigration Enforcement processes or to gain access to support inappropriately. For example, there has been a growth in NRM referrals being made after a person enters immigration detention. In 2019, 16% of people detained within the UK following immigration offences were referred as potential victims of modern slavery. This is up from just 3% in 2017.
This raises legitimate concerns that some referrals are being made late in the process to frustrate immigration action and that legitimate referrals are not being made in a timely way. The New Plan for Immigration will address both concerns.
We are currently preparing an Impact Assessment (IA) for all elements of the Borders Bill which aims to appraise impacts of the policy changes being introduced. This appraisal is in line with HMT’s Green Book Guidance on economic appraisal and will include the modern slavery measures. Exact timings for the IA will depend on timings for the Bill itself, but the IA will be made available as early as is practicable.
We are also comprehensively assessing the equalities impacts in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many potential victims of modern slavery referred into the National Referral Mechanism who received positive reasonable grounds decisions were (1) perpetrators of serious criminality, and (2) found to have a vexatious claim.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK is committed to ensuring victims of modern slavery are identified quickly and provided with the support they require to start to rebuild their lives.
More potential victims are being identified and protected than ever before. National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals more than doubled between 2017 and 2020 from 5,135 to 10,613. There is more information on referrals available at: Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In March 2021, the Government published a report on issues raised by people in immigration detention. This provides data on some of the concerns we are seeking to address through the New Plan for Immigration. This is available at: Issues raised by people facing return in immigration detention - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
There are concerns about the potential for a referral to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to be used to frustrate Immigration Enforcement processes or to gain access to support inappropriately. For example, there has been a growth in NRM referrals being made after a person enters immigration detention. In 2019, 16% of people detained within the UK following immigration offences were referred as potential victims of modern slavery. This is up from just 3% in 2017.
This raises legitimate concerns that some referrals are being made late in the process to frustrate immigration action and that legitimate referrals are not being made in a timely way. The New Plan for Immigration will address both concerns.
We are currently preparing an Impact Assessment (IA) for all elements of the Borders Bill which aims to appraise impacts of the policy changes being introduced. This appraisal is in line with HMT’s Green Book Guidance on economic appraisal and will include the modern slavery measures. Exact timings for the IA will depend on timings for the Bill itself, but the IA will be made available as early as is practicable.
We are also comprehensively assessing the equalities impacts in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty.