Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their assessment of section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government supports the police to use section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to tackle serious violence and keep the streets safe. A decision on publication of materials supporting the Government’s assessment of police use of section 60 will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the recruitment of black police officers.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is clear that the police uplift is a once in a generation opportunity to increase the diversity of police officers in England and Wales. This includes increasing the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic recruits.
It is encouraging to see that the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers is growing and is at its highest since comparable records began. There are now over 10,000 officers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background in forces across England and Wales however there is much more to be done and forces cannot be complacent.
Through the Police Uplift Programme, we are supporting all forces with a variety of attraction and recruitment strategies, whilst delivering a national campaign designed to reach diverse audiences. Sharing best practice, engagement with police staff associations, upskilling recruitment teams and enhanced data capture are just some of the efforts being made to improve police diversity.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to give Ofcom emergency powers to investigate Facebook's encrypted messaging plans before they are introduced.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK Government supports the responsible use of encryption. It is critical to protecting UK citizens from harm online. But we are clear that companies such as Facebook – now Meta – should not implement end-to-end encryption unless they can do so in a way that would not reduce public safety.
As the Home Secretary said at the G7 Security and Interior Ministers’ Meeting in September, tech companies and national governments must work together to protect the public. It is a vital point of principle that when tech firms are making decisions which affect public safety, representatives of democratically elected governments are closely involved.
Under the Online Safety Bill, tech companies are going to be accountable to an independent regulator (Ofcom) to keep their users safe. It is right that the Online Safety Bill goes through the proper process of parliamentary scrutiny before Ofcom takes up their role as the online safety regulator. We do not intend to give Ofcom emergency powers before then.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that there is single sex housing for uncoupled women at all points during the asylum process.
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 provides accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
Those receiving this support are not required to share sleeping quarters with unrelated individuals of the opposite sex, but may, depending on the circumstances, be placed in accommodation facilities which are used to house such individuals.
There are no plans to change these arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa scheme to people from Hong Kong who (1) are aged between 18 and 25, and (2) have a parent with BN(O) status.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Hong Kong BN(O) route is for those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members including adult children who were born on or after 1 July 1997 and who live with their parents. This is grounded in the UK’s obligations to those who elected to retain ties to the UK by obtaining BN(O) status; and enables them to relocate as a family. We do not currently have any plans to change these requirements.
Other routes are available to those without BN(O) status, including the undersubscribed Youth Mobility Scheme which offers 1,000 places each year to Hong Kongers and the new Skilled Worker Visa which enables individuals to come to the UK in a wider range of professions and at a lower general salary threshold than in the past.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to withdraw the responsibility for the Windrush Compensation Scheme from the Home Office and give the responsibility to an independent body.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Moving the operation of the Scheme from the Home Office would risk significantly delaying payments to people.
Since the changes we made to the Scheme in December, the amount of compensation paid has risen from less than £3 million to over £31.6 million, with a further £5.6 million having been offered, and there is no cap on the amount of compensation we will pay out.
The compensation scheme continues to be subject to robust internal scrutiny and regular scrutiny from external stakeholders.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reinstate the scheme protecting unaccompanied refugee children to provide a safe route for unaccompanied migrant children.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government remains committed to the principle of family reunion and supporting vulnerable children.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe with family members in the UK are able to apply under existing routes to join eligible sponsors, such as those with refugee leave or humanitarian protection or with British or settled status. The Immigration Rules already make provision for a child to be reunited with a parent in the UK either under the Refugee Family Reunion Rules or via Appendix FM - depending on the immigration status of the parent.
In addition, paragraphs 319X and 297 of the Rules are extremely flexible provisions that already allow for children to apply to join a wide range of adult family members who are not their parents, if the relevant requirements are met. Under these Rules, we do not restrict the range of those family members. The requirements are there are serious and compelling family or other considerations which make exclusion of the child undesirable, suitable arrangements have been made for the child’s care and those relatives can adequately maintain and accommodate the child without recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent reports that 2,500 long-serving police officers and other police staff are working despite not having up-to-date vetting; and what steps they are taking to ensure that all serving police officers have been vetted.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government recognises public concern around police vetting which is why the Home Secretary has recently commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire & Rescue Service (HMICFRS) to carry out an urgent thematic inspection of vetting and counter-corruption procedures in policing across England and Wales – including forces’ ability to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour.
Alongside this, the Home Secretary has also announced a two-part inquiry which will be able to look at the conduct of, and career of, the officer who murdered Sarah Everard as well as any wider issues across policing, including workplace behaviour and culture.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with the government of France to provide safe access to asylum procedures on both sides of the English Channel.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The UK and France have fully functioning asylum systems which can be safely accessed on the respective territories. Individuals in need of international protection can claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, this is the fastest route to safety.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide councils with £28 per person per day to support Afghan refugee families.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
There is a package of support for local authorities to assist the resettlement of families through either the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) in addition to the additional funding for wraparound support.
We are currently working with HM Treasury and other government departments to finalise the arrangements for providing the funding for both the ARAP and ACRS schemes and the bridging hotel funding. We recently shared the final drafts of the Funding Instructions for local authorities providing hotel wraparound support and the ARAP/ACRS post 1 September 2021 schemes, with strategic migration partners for comment.
We hope to issue these instructions as soon as possible. Once these are published, we will also write to each local authority and invite them to submit their claims for processing.