Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to the Metropolitan Police to assist with the investigation of any Rwandan nationals living in the UK who were allegedly involved in the 1994 genocide in that country.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is responsible for the investigations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and torture. It has the specialist skills to conduct an investigations or decide that a criminal investigation is not feasible.
The Home Office has a long-standing relationship with that unit and those individuals identified in the immigration system who are suspected of being involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, are referred to the MPS, including those who may have been involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received complaints about how the United States Department of Homeland Security conducts the selection of travellers for additional security checks by and on behalf of United States authorities; and if so, how many complaints they have received.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Further to the answer at HL6289 and HL6290 the CBP officers hold no authority in the UK, conduct no formal checks and can only advise airline staff. The decision whether or not to board a passenger rests with the airline. The last recorded complaint was in 2016.
We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the (1) arrangements granted, and (2) facilities given, to the United States Department of Homeland Security to conduct security checks at airports on UK sovereign territory.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Further to the answer at HL6289 and HL6290 the CBP officers hold no authority in the UK, conduct no formal checks and can only advise airline staff. The decision whether or not to board a passenger rests with the airline. The last recorded complaint was in 2016.
We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have benchmarked the way that that the list of those selected for enhanced security checks by US Homeland Security at UK sites is compiled; and whether they have compared this with any other countries in which US Homeland Security has the right to require such checks in their sovereign territory.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Further to the answer at HL6289 and HL6290 the CBP officers hold no authority in the UK, conduct no formal checks and can only advise airline staff. The decision whether or not to board a passenger rests with the airline. The last recorded complaint was in 2016.
We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurances they have received from the US ambassador to the UK on the operation of the Homeland Security checks on UK territory; and when was the last time such checks were discussed by UK Ministers.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the US Immigration Advisory Program, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have operated in an advisory capacity at Heathrow airport, since 2007, to support airlines in identifying passengers who may be inadmissible to the US and should not board flights to the US. This reflects an established recommended practice of Annex 9 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention).
The CBP officers hold no authority in the UK, conduct no formal checks and can only advise airline staff. The decision whether or not to board a passenger rests with the airline.
We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what verification checks are conducted on the permitted US Homeland Security procedures at UK airports; who conducts these checks; in which department the people that conduct these checks are based; and when was the last time these checks were conducted.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the US Immigration Advisory Program, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have operated in an advisory capacity at Heathrow airport, since 2007, to support airlines in identifying passengers who may be inadmissible to the US and should not board flights to the US. This reflects an established recommended practice of Annex 9 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention).
The CBP officers hold no authority in the UK, conduct no formal checks and can only advise airline staff. The decision whether or not to board a passenger rests with the airline.
We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Commissioner for Countering Extremism COVID-19: How hateful extremists are exploiting the pandemic, published in July, what new financial provision and resources are being made available, and to whom, to prevent extremists capitalising on the impacts of COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government engages closely with the Commission for Countering Extremism on their work on COVID-19 and extremism. After publication of their initial findings in July, we have supported further work undertaken by them on this subject.
The Home Office has undertaken work to counter the spread of hatred and extremism during the pandemic, both online and offline, including working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on additional hate crime support and community work and working with civil society partners and social media platforms to encourage victim reporting of online hate crime.
The increased use of the Internet as a result of Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the need to be vigilant against those seeking to exploit the situation to radicalise others into terrorism. We are working closely with tech companies to ensure preventing terrorist use of their platforms continues to be a priority and that companies are responding quickly to any emerging threats. As well as engaging with companies, we are working with our Five Country partners to deliver a joint assessment on the impacts of Covid-19 on the online process of radicalisation, as agreed at the Virtual Five-Country Ministerial meeting in June. We also continue to support efforts by DCMS to work alongside social media platforms to analyse and quickly remove Covid-19 disinformation content.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by the Commissioner for Countering Extremism COVID-19: How hateful extremists are exploiting the pandemic, published in July.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government engages closely with the Commission for Countering Extremism on their work on COVID-19 and extremism. After publication of their initial findings in July, we have supported further work undertaken by them on this subject.
The Home Office has undertaken work to counter the spread of hatred and extremism during the pandemic, both online and offline, including working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on additional hate crime support and community work and working with civil society partners and social media platforms to encourage victim reporting of online hate crime.
The increased use of the Internet as a result of Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the need to be vigilant against those seeking to exploit the situation to radicalise others into terrorism. We are working closely with tech companies to ensure preventing terrorist use of their platforms continues to be a priority and that companies are responding quickly to any emerging threats. As well as engaging with companies, we are working with our Five Country partners to deliver a joint assessment on the impacts of Covid-19 on the online process of radicalisation, as agreed at the Virtual Five-Country Ministerial meeting in June. We also continue to support efforts by DCMS to work alongside social media platforms to analyse and quickly remove Covid-19 disinformation content.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made by the Commissioner for Countering Extremism’s legal review, announced in June, examining the effectiveness of legislation in relation to hateful extremism.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The work of the Commission for Countering Extremism is independent from government. The Government engages closely with the Commission for Countering Extremism on their work. We look forward to considering their upcoming legal review, which we understand is expected to be published in early 2021.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken in response to the report by the Commissioner for Countering Extremism Challenging Hateful Extremism, published in October 2019, in the last year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government engages with the Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism on a regular basis and this includes discussing the report on Challenging Hateful Extremism that was published last year. The Government will respond formally to the report in due course.