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Written Question
Aviation: Facilities
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to reduce contraband entering the UK through aerodromes.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office’s priority is to deliver a safe and secure border and we will never compromise on this. Border Force maintain 100% checks for all scheduled arriving passengers into the UK. Border Force performs checks on passengers arriving at the UK border and risk-based intelligence led checks on goods, enabling interventions against those known or suspected to pose a risk to the national interest.

Border Force has reduced the number of aerodromes able to handle flights to and from the UK as of 1 January 2024. From 3135 aerodromes in GB, now only 16% are designated to facilitate international and CTA flights. This will continue to have a positive impact on Border Force operations. Routine work continues at aerodromes, enabling Border Force to carry out customs duties as laid out in CEMA (Customs & Excise Management Act).


Written Question
Aviation: Facilities
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to increase border security at aerodromes.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office’s priority is to deliver a safe and secure border and we will never compromise on this. Border Force maintain 100% checks for all scheduled arriving passengers into the UK. Border Force performs checks on passengers arriving at the UK border and risk-based intelligence led checks on goods, enabling interventions against those known or suspected to pose a risk to the national interest.

Border Force has reduced the number of aerodromes able to handle flights to and from the UK as of 1 January 2024. From 3135 aerodromes in GB, now only 16% are designated to facilitate international and CTA flights. This will continue to have a positive impact on Border Force operations. Routine work continues at aerodromes, enabling Border Force to carry out customs duties as laid out in CEMA (Customs & Excise Management Act).


Written Question
Cybercrime
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to tackle (a) online scams and (b) other cyber crime.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

Fraud is designated a priority offence under the Online Safety Act (OSA), meaning companies will be held to account if they fail to remove illegal content on their platforms. This is expected to have a strong impact on some of the highest harm fraud types, such as online purchase, investment and romance scams, as well as key fraud enablers such as the recruitment and use of money mules.

However, the OSA will take time to come into force. Therefore, the Government has also created the Online Fraud Charter: a voluntary agreement bringing together the largest companies in the tech sector, who have committed to a series of actions aimed at reducing fraud on their platforms and services. The Charter was signed on 30 November, and will deliver a much quicker and more targeted response than regulation: Online Fraud Charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Tackling cyber crime is at the heart of the Government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022-25, which is supported by £2.6 billion of investment through the National Cyber Fund.

As part of the Criminal Justice Bill, we are also introducing a new power for law enforcement and other investigative agencies to act to suspend IP addresses and domain names where they are being used for a criminal activity with a link to the UK.


Written Question
Drugs: Misuse
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits introducing drug contamination testing facilities in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has not made a formal assessment of the benefits of drug checking facilities, but it recognises the potential harm reduction benefits of them.

The Government facilitates drug checking facilities provided that the possession and supply of controlled drugs are licensed by the Home Office Drugs and Firearms Licensing Unit or, exceptionally, relevant exemptions under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 may apply.

Ministers are clear that drug checking services must not condone drug use and should only be delivered where licensed and operated responsibly, in line with Government policy to ensure that they discourage drug use and signpost potential users to treatment and support.


Written Question
Asylum: Anti-social Behaviour
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of how many incidents of anti-social behaviour (a) on and (b) related to sites of temporary accommodation for asylum seekers there were in each of the last three years.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Our accommodation providers deliver induction briefings and information packs to all new arrivals. Asylum seekers are clearly advised of the expectations the Home Office and accommodation providers have for them to behave responsibly while they are accommodated in Home Office properties.

The Home Office expects the highest standards from its accommodation providers, and we have a robust governance framework in place to manage service delivery of the Asylum Accommodation Support Contracts (AASC). Further details can be found at: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2018-1112/AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf.

The specific information you have requested is not held in a readily reportable format.


Written Question
Crown Dependencies: Companies
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the decision by (a) Guernsey, (b) Jersey and (c) the Isle of Man to withdraw the commitment to allow public access to registers of company beneficial ownership.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

A Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) on 19 December 2023 provided a comprehensive update on this issue (HCWS151).

Publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership are an essential tool for tackling illicit finance. That is why in 2016 the UK set up our own publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership, the People with Significant Control (PSCs) register, which was the first of its kind in the world. The UK Government is still committed to publicly accessible registers becoming the global norm, including in the Crown Dependencies (CDs) and Overseas Territories (OTs). Many other countries and jurisdictions around the world have joined us. We are still working with others to achieve this aim.

Regarding the 2022 CJEU judgment and other relevant rulings, the UK is satisfied with the lawfulness of our own publicly accessible registers and continues to believe that the CDs could legally implement public registers of their own. As set out in my WMS in December, according to Transparency International, currently 14 EU Member States allow public access to their beneficial ownership registers. Gibraltar has maintained a publicly accessible beneficial ownership register since 2020 and has not noted any negative economic impacts resulting from implementation of its public register.

On 13 December 2023, the CDs issued new public commitments on providing access to their beneficial ownership registers for obliged entities and those with a legitimate interest, including media and civil society organisations. While the Home Office broadly welcomed these commitments as a very significant step forward in beneficial ownership transparency, it is not the pace the UK Government expects, and the CDs have been urged to implement them as quickly as possible this year.

On 18 January 2024, the EU published proposals on their Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD), which the CDs stated in their public commitments will help inform the development of their own definitions of legitimate interest access. With this important development, and considering the time that has elapsed since their original 2019 commitments, and the importance these improvements will bring to the security of the UK and the wider British family, the Home Office is urging the CDs to make progress as quickly as possible this year.

The UK Government position remains that the CDs should be working towards publicly accessible registers in the longer term. Nevertheless, the Home Office looks forward to seeing these commitments on legitimate interest access being adopted by the appropriate CD parliaments. Parliament will wish to consider the CDs’ commitments and will closely monitor the situation.


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the number of illegal migrants who arrived in the United Kingdom from the Republic of Ireland in each of the last three years.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

Operation Gull is an ongoing Home Office Immigration Enforcement intelligence led initiative that tackles Common Travel Area (CTA) immigration abuse in air and sea ports in Northern Ireland. Operation Gull and its outcomes are systematically monitored to ensure that threats and trends are continuously assessed.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.

Our published data is available at the following link: Statistics relating to Illegal Migration - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Written Question
Police: British Overseas Territories
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to second UK police officers to the British Overseas Territories.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Officials have been working closely with the FCDO and UK policing colleagues as well as our partners across the British Overseas Territories to identify police requirements and support. While there have been and are instances of deploying UK officers (see Annex A), all considerations are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. When UK police officers are not available or not the most appropriate response, retired officers have been contracted into operational or support roles. In addition, UK officers regularly deploy in a training capacity as part of a wider and longer-term HO Overseas Territories Police Strategy.

Annex A: Examples of UK Police Deployments

Turks and Caicos Islands – Devon and Cornwall Police (Sept 21 – Feb 22)

UK police staff seconded for six months to provide analytical support in relation to serious organised crime.

Anguilla – British Transport Police (Sept 22 – Dec 22)

UK officer seconded to establish an intelligence led policing business model and to improve crime investigation performance and capability.

Montserrat - Suffolk Police (Oct 22- Nov 23)

UK officer seconded for 12 months to develop RMPS capabilities for leadership and demand management.

British Virgin Islands – Dyfed Powys Police (Oct 22 – Apr 23)

UK officer seconded for 6 months to lead the modernisation of the BVIPF Marine Unit capabilities.

Montserrat – Hertfordshire Police (March 2023 – December 2023)

UK officer seconded for 9 months as interim Commissioner of Police. March 2023 – December 2023

Turks and Caicos Islands – South Yorkshire Police (November 2022 – Feb 2023)

UK officer seconded for 3 months to provide investigative support and assist the command team in responding to critical incidents, leadership development and management of local processes and operations.

Falkland Islands – Police Scotland (Oct 23 – Jan 24)

Two officers seconded to provide assistance with leadership stability and assist with transformational work regarding recruitment of new officers to Royal Falklands Islands Police


Written Question
Police: British Overseas Territories
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has taken steps to provide training to police forces in British Overseas Territories in the last 12 months.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

In the last 12 months, the Home Office in partnership with UK police have delivered training to police forces across the British Overseas Territories.

This includes Multi Agency Gold Incident Command (MAGIC) training, Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and Identifying Criminal Activity (ICA) courses. We are also working with UK police officers to deliver regional courses such as risk management and intelligence next month.


Written Question
Crossbows
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of crossbows in the UK; and what plans he has to (a) categorise crossbows as firearms and (b) restrict the ownership of crossbows.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

It is not possible to estimate the number of crossbows in the United kingdom as there is no license or registration scheme for the sale or ownership of crossbows.

The Home Office has undertaken a review into whether there should be further controls on the use of crossbows on public safety grounds, which was commissioned at the end of 2021 by the, then, Home Secretary, the Right Honourable Priti Patel MP.

The review has been completed and we will announce the outcome shortly.