Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether workers and short-term travellers will be able to travel from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland using an electronic travel authorisation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The ETA scheme applies to passengers visiting or transiting the UK, who do not currently need a visa for short stays and who do not have a valid UK immigration status prior to travelling.
British and Irish nationals do not require an ETA, and an exemption also exists for legal residents of Ireland entering the UK from Ireland.
Other individuals crossing the land border into Northern Ireland will need to continue to enter in accordance with the UK’s immigration framework, including the requirement to obtain an ETA when the scheme is fully rolled out.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Migration Advisory Committee Review of the Seasonal Worker visa, published on 16 July, what is the status of the future of the Seasonal Workers Scheme.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is carefully considering the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Seasonal Worker route and will announce a detailed response in due course.
On 21 October 2024, the Government underlined its commitment to the horticultural and poultry sectors by confirming that the quota of visas for Seasonal Workers would be 43,000 visas for the horticultural sector in 2025, with 2,000 visas for the poultry sector.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications the Government made to the Department of Justice and Equality of the government of the Republic of Ireland seeking extradition of persons within that state's jurisdiction for alleged criminal offences not related to acts of terrorism within the UK from 1969 to 1998.
Answered by Ben Wallace
This information is not held centrally, but the information that is available covers 1973 and 1999 eight people in total were extradited to the UK from Ireland for terrorism offences and the UK made 110 extradition requests to Ireland in relation to terrorist offences. No information is available on how many requests were made for alleged criminal offences not related to acts of terrorism.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications the Government made to the Department of Justice and Equality of the government of the Republic of Ireland seeking extradition of persons within that state's jurisdiction for alleged criminal offences related to acts of terrorism within the UK from 1969 to 1998.
Answered by Ben Wallace
This information is not held centrally, but the information that is available covers 1973 and 1999 eight people in total were extradited to the UK from Ireland for terrorism offences and the UK made 110 extradition requests to Ireland in relation to terrorist offences. No information is available on how many requests were made for alleged criminal offences not related to acts of terrorism.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures are in place to ensure the timely resolution of immigration queries relating to people working on fishing boats.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office does not break down immigration queries by sector.
However, UK Visas and Immigration’s (UKVI's) customer service teams have a service standard of answering 95% of written immigration enquiries within 20 working days.
Each customer service team, including for Members’ correspondence, has a Standard Operating Procedure in place to ensure that replies are handled in a timely manner, or that the customer is contacted if the service standard cannot be met. Performance is closely monitored at a local and senior level.
Customers may also use UKVI's Customer Contact Centre where they are sign posted to relevant information available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department's definition of a skilled worker includes labourers on fishing boats.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The skills threshold for the admission of a non-EEA skilled worker under Tier 2 is that the job the worker is coming to do is skilled to National Qualifications Framework Level 6 (graduate level).
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration queries have come from Northern Ireland in the last 12 months; and which industry sectors each of those queries related to.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that there is not a backlog of visa applications after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There have been no changes in the requirements for European nationals entering or currently residing in the UK, nor of British citizens elsewhere in the EU. The precise way in which these requirements may change following the UK’s exit from the EU is yet to be determined.
The UK’s visa operation is resourced to meet demand, and we will ensure that any operational implications of the UK’s exit from the EU are fully factored into business planning.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that social media websites remove abusive and threatening posts.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We expect social media companies, and internet platforms, to have robust processes in place and to act promptly when abuse is reported; including acting quickly to removing inappropriate content, and where appropriate, suspending or terminating the accounts of those breaching the rules in place.
We are working with the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) to keep children and young people safe online. UKCCIS brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to help to keep children and young people safe online. UKCCIS is co-chaired by Ministers from Department for Education, Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sport.
In December 2015 we published guidance to encourage responsible practice from industry, and ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way.
The Criminal Justice Act 2015 strengthened two existing communications offences: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 which can now be used to prosecute misuse of social media. The police now have longer to investigate either offence, and the maximum penalty for the former has been increased to two years imprisonment.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on (a) border security and (b) terror threats of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by James Brokenshire
At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. The Government published a white paper, ‘The best of both worlds’, on 22 February, which sets out how membership of the EU enhances our ability to co-operate with other EU Member States to combat crime and terrorism and keep all parts of the United Kingdom safe while maintaining our own border controls, remaining outside of the Schengen border-free area.