Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claims have been successfully made by citizens of (a) Israel, (b) the United States, (c) Canada, (d) New Zealand, (e) Australia, (f) Germany, (g) Spain, (h) France and (i) Italy in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications received, and the initial decisions on claims, is published in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. This data includes nationality breakdowns.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of each workbook. The latest data relates to 31 December 2023. Data up to the end of March 2024 will be published on 23 May 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse for policing (a) national and (b) regional marches in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting the police in the robust use of their existing powers to prevent the incitement of hatred, disorder and disruption.
The management of protests, including the resourcing is an operational matter for the police.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent and protect against human trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable people in the short-term lettings and stays sector.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery. We are identifying more victims of modern slavery and doing more to bring perpetrators to justice than ever before.
We have also introduced several initiatives aimed at preventing human trafficking and exploitation, these include:
Supporting the police to tackle modern slavery, including dedicated funding totalling £17.8 million since 2016. This funding has supported the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, run by Devon and Cornwall Police, to increase police awareness and ability to tackle modern slavery across England and Wales.
Introducing training interventions for frontline services that might encounter victims of modern slavery, making sure operational colleagues such as Border Force can recognise the signs of modern slavery and are equipped to step in.
Between 2016 and March 2023, the Home Office spent over £37m through the Modern Slavery Fund, which has a strong focus on upstream prevention.
The government has not assessed the prevalence of exploitation of workers in the short-term holiday and short-term stays sector.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the prevalence of exploitation of workers in the short-term holiday and short-term stays sector.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery. We are identifying more victims of modern slavery and doing more to bring perpetrators to justice than ever before.
We have also introduced several initiatives aimed at preventing human trafficking and exploitation, these include:
Supporting the police to tackle modern slavery, including dedicated funding totalling £17.8 million since 2016. This funding has supported the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, run by Devon and Cornwall Police, to increase police awareness and ability to tackle modern slavery across England and Wales.
Introducing training interventions for frontline services that might encounter victims of modern slavery, making sure operational colleagues such as Border Force can recognise the signs of modern slavery and are equipped to step in.
Between 2016 and March 2023, the Home Office spent over £37m through the Modern Slavery Fund, which has a strong focus on upstream prevention.
The government has not assessed the prevalence of exploitation of workers in the short-term holiday and short-term stays sector.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the total cost to her Department of administering applications for electronic travel authorisation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
On 6 June, I set in a Written Ministerial Statement (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-06-06/hcws821(opens in a new tab)), that the proposed fee for an ETA application is £10.00. This is set at a level that will cover the costs of administering the system and is competitive compared with similar international schemes by international partners.
It is the government’s policy that those who use and benefit most from the immigration system should contribute towards the cost of operating the system, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer.
The estimated cost of administering each ETA application will be published when the ETA fee is formally set in the Immigration and Nationality Fees Regulations in Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to proscribe the Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Whilst the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.
The Government remains concerned about Russia's use of private military companies such as the Wagner Group. We take the provision of mercenaries and other military support to parties in conflicts such as Libya, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere very seriously. We continue to work closely with our international partners to counter Russian malign activity and respond to actions that undermine the rules based international system.
Our package of sanctions in support of Ukraine targets those aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes the Wagner Group and on 24 March 2022 the UK designated Wagner Group under our autonomous sanctions regime.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking in preparation for a potential increase in channel crossings in the Spring.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We expect to see increased attempts by criminal gangs to facilitate these dangerous and unnecessary Channel crossings as the weather and sea conditions improve. Our focus is on prevention, and our ongoing support to the French Government provides for additional police patrols, improved detection technology and strengthened border security infrastructure on the French side. And at home, we are overhauling our broken asylum system to ensure people smugglers cannot profit from this vile trade.
We are exploring with Ministry of Defence partners how best we can use the full range of HMG’s capabilities to intercept and manage those that cross the Channel more effectively, safely and securely.
We have already improved the facilities at the Port of Dover. We have also set up a new, secure site at Manston to hold small boat arrivals for up to five days as security and identity checks are completed.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential level of risk to the UK Parliament arising from Christine Lee's reported attempted interference in UK politics on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Home Secretary made the Government’s position on this issue clear in a statement to the House on 17 January.
Investigations are ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further on intelligence matters. However, the interference alert was used in this case by our intelligence agencies to mitigate and prevent further risk to Parliament.
Unfortunately, we must face the reality that some foreign states will seek to operate covertly and below current criminal thresholds in an attempt to interfere with our democracy. We can expect to see these kinds of alerts become more commonplace as a result of the work our world class intelligence agencies who have adapted to counter these threats.
The Government intends to bring forward new legislation to further enhance our ability to counter threats from foreign states when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making Holocaust denial a criminal offence.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There are no plans to make Holocaust denial a criminal offence.
The Government believes that Holocaust denial is both immoral and factually wrong. However, legislation reflects the enormous value this country rightly places upon free speech. It enables people to engage in debate freely, while protecting people from criminal activity including threatening and abusive behaviour or behaviour which is intended to, or is likely to, stir up hatred.
I am clear that antisemitism in any form is inexcusable and this Government has taken a number of steps to help eliminate it over the last five years. In 2016 we became the first country in the world to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. We’ve since had organisations such as the Premier League and over three-quarters of councils adopt the definition.
In July 2019 we also appointed Lord John Mann as an independent antisemitism advisor, to provide advice to the Government on the best ways to tackle antisemitism. Finally, we have provided £14m in funding this financial year (2021/22) for protection of Jewish institutions through the Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant, administered through the Community Security Trust (CST).
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of ending online anonymity on abuse against (a) hon. Members and (b) other public figures.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We are considering this issue as part of our work with DCMS on the Online Safety Bill, which is currently going through pre-legislative scrutiny.
Harmful online abuse is unacceptable, and the online safety framework will require companies to take robust action to improve the safety of their users. The Bill will introduce a Duty of Care which will apply to all online services that allow user generated content. Companies will need to have systems and processes in place to keep their users safe, and Ofcom will have tough enforcement powers to use against those which do not comply.
We need to take a balanced approach given that anonymity can be important for a range of cases – such as pro-democracy movements. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Online Safety Bill provides an opportunity to hear a range of views on the topic.