Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people with similar names to people on watchlists are not harassed during border checks at airports.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our priority is to maintain a secure border. We will not compromise on this. Border Force performs checks on all passengers arriving at the UK border on scheduled services to identify individuals who pose, or are suspected to pose, a risk to the national interest.
Identities, and combinations of names and dates of birth, are not necessarily unique. Individuals who share names with persons of interest may experience closer examination than would otherwise be the case.
The Home Office is making significant investment to improve the underlying technical infrastructure which performs border checks to identify individuals more precisely. This will reduce the number of individuals incorrectly matched to persons of interest and enable Border Force to identify more quickly individuals who are not to be confused with persons of interest. We expect these improvements to start having effect over the summer.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the treatment that people with similar names to people on watchlists receive during border checks at airports.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our priority is to maintain a secure border. We will not compromise on this. Border Force performs checks on all passengers arriving at the UK border on scheduled services to identify individuals who pose, or are suspected to pose, a risk to the national interest.
Identities, and combinations of names and dates of birth, are not necessarily unique. Individuals who share names with persons of interest may experience closer examination than would otherwise be the case.
The Home Office is making significant investment to improve the underlying technical infrastructure which performs border checks to identify individuals more precisely. This will reduce the number of individuals incorrectly matched to persons of interest and enable Border Force to identify more quickly individuals who are not to be confused with persons of interest. We expect these improvements to start having effect over the summer.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations have been tested for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent and therefore it is the individual responsibility of each police force to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation. This includes duties to maintain a safe workplace, as set out in relevant health and safety legislation.
Last year the National Police Estates Group, working with Home Office officials, conducted a stocktake of all police forces in England and Wales regarding the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. This identified a small number of forces with instances of RAAC, most relating to single building locations. All have reported that remedial action has been taken to mitigate potential risk.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations has reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete been identified in.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent and therefore it is the individual responsibility of each police force to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation. This includes duties to maintain a safe workplace, as set out in relevant health and safety legislation.
Last year the National Police Estates Group, working with Home Office officials, conducted a stocktake of all police forces in England and Wales regarding the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. This identified a small number of forces with instances of RAAC, most relating to single building locations. All have reported that remedial action has been taken to mitigate potential risk.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which airlines his Department has held discussions on the Rwanda scheme in the last six months.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Department engages with commercial partners where required to deliver on its responsibilities. The details of any such discussions are commercially sensitive and therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on them.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to implement the recommendations of the review entitled The process of police officer dismissals, published by his Department in September 2023, which do not require secondary legislation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In August 2023, the Government announced a series of reforms to the police misconduct, vetting and performance systems, following conclusion of the review into police officer dismissals.
Legislative changes are being delivered in three tranches, with the aim to implement amendments to secondary legislation in the spring and summer, as well as a clause within the Criminal Justice Bill. These changes will be accompanied by strengthened statutory guidance
It remains essential that the dismissals system is fair and transparent for the public, forces and all police officers and staff. That is why the Government, with the policing sector, continue to improve data collection to better understand and tackle disparities across the disciplinary system.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the recommendations of the review entitled The process of police officer dismissals, published by his Department in September 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In August 2023, the Government announced a series of reforms to the police misconduct, vetting and performance systems, following conclusion of the review into police officer dismissals.
Legislative changes are being delivered in three tranches, with the aim to implement amendments to secondary legislation in the spring and summer, as well as a clause within the Criminal Justice Bill. These changes will be accompanied by strengthened statutory guidance
It remains essential that the dismissals system is fair and transparent for the public, forces and all police officers and staff. That is why the Government, with the policing sector, continue to improve data collection to better understand and tackle disparities across the disciplinary system.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions his Department had with Ukrainian refugees ahead of the decision to extend visas by 18 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In response to calls for certainty about the future of the Ukraine visa schemes from the Ukrainian community, on 18 February we announced that existing Ukraine scheme visa holders will be able to apply for permission to remain in the UK for an additional 18 months under a new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme set to open in early 2025 (before the first UKR scheme visas start to expire in March 2025).
Since the announcement, alongside colleagues in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, we have participated in extensive engagement with the Ukrainian community via an ongoing programme of stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with neurodiverse people on the potential impact of the Prevent duty on them.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office keeps the needs of people referred to Prevent under review. Over the past 3 years, this has included training for Prevent practitioners - including Intervention Providers and Channel panels - from the National Autistic Society to ensure that people with neurodiverse conditions are effectively supported throughout their engagement with Prevent.
Neurodiversity was also considered as part of the Prevent Duty Guidance Equality Impact Assessment, which was updated in September 2023.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of neurodiverse people referred to Prevent in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of neurodiverse people referred to Prevent, as neurodiversity is not recorded on either the police or Home Office-owned Prevent databases.
A new Prevent case management system will be launched next year which will be able to capture data more accurately, including information relating to neurodiversity.