Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing entitlement to legal aid to Windrush scandal victims to navigate the compensation process; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to improve the accessibility of the compensation scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have designed the Compensation Scheme to be as clear and simple as possible, so people do not need legal assistance to make a claim. However, for those who want or need support to make a claim, the Home Office provides free assistance in making applications through our independent claims assistance provider – We Are Digital (WAD).
WAD has extensive experience of dealing with isolated and vulnerable customers and working with the Home Office and, through their partners, have a nationwide network of community-based centres.
Were we to allow applicants to recover legal costs in applying to the Scheme, we may serve to encourage organisations to take advantage of potentially vulnerable individuals and charge them for unnecessary support to complete a claim.
Claims forms were redesigned in 2021, in collaboration with stakeholders to make them easier to complete. This included obtaining the Crystal Mark, demonstrating our commitment to clarity, and communicating with claimants using plain English.
Decision makers also work with claimants to gather information on their behalf.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of findings by Human Rights Watch that human rights are being violated as a result of the failure to implement an effective compensation scheme under the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We do not accept the Human Rights Watch assessment of the Windrush Compensation Scheme nor that human rights are being violated in the way it is operated. We remain absolutely committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush. The latest Windrush Compensation Scheme statistics show that £57.13m had been paid out by the end of February 2023 across 1,520 claims. A further £11.13m has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review, taking the total amount paid or offered to £68.27m. In addition, over 60% of claims have received a final decision.
We have engaged with Human Rights Watch in response to their report and will continue to work with them to discuss their findings. We are making good progress towards the vast majority of recommendations from Wendy Williams’ report and believe there are more meaningful ways of achieving the intent of a very small number of others.
Through this work, we will make sure that similar injustices can never be repeated and are creating a Home Office worthy of every community it serves.
The Home Secretary continues to co-host Windrush Working Group meetings to discuss how we can work together to drive further improvements.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to grant victims of the Windrush scandal the right to have a hearing at the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. This will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case (Tier 1 review).
If an individual remains dissatisfied, they can then request an external independent review (Tier 2 review). Their claim will be looked at by the Adjudicator’s Office.
The Adjudicator’s Office is a separate organisation, independent of the Home Office who can look at, among other things, whether the department has followed its policies, and the use of discretion by the Windrush Compensation Team.
The compensation scheme is intended to properly compensate members of the Windrush generation and to deliver on the commitment to right the wrongs that were experienced, while avoiding the need for court proceedings. We think this is in the best interests of those affected.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist victims of the Windrush scandal who still face long waits; and what plans they have to review the levels of compensation granted to applicants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following implementation of the significant changes made to the Scheme since December 2020, we are now fully focused on reducing the time between claim submission and decision. The Scheme continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who have left. Alongside significantly increasing the number of EO decision makers, the Scheme has also increased quality assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace.
In the meantime, as set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making, this is in addition to the established EO decision makers that are already in post.
Alongside significantly increasing the amount of Decision makers, we have also increased our Quality Assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace. Furthermore, we are improving the evidence gathering process, including revising our data sharing agreements with other government departments.
We continue to listen and respond to feedback received from stakeholders and our customers to ensure the Scheme is operating effectively for everyone.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include in the National Crime Agency’s Missing Persons Data Report data on the ethnicity of people who go missing including (1) the recorded risk factors of those people, such as mental health issues, sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation, (2) the length of time missing, and (3) how those people are found or return.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This is a matter for the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is operationally independent of Government. The NCA’s annual Missing Persons Data Report includes analysis of risk factors, duration of missing incidents and statistics on found and returned persons.
The Home Office has funded the National Policing lead for Missing persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report will be completed this year. Deputy Chief Constable Hankinson, the National Policing lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues of unconscious bias if this is indicated in the research.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many criminal investigations have (1) had to be abandoned, and (2) taken an unusual amount of time to investigate since The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' changes to accessing WHOIS data came into effect; and what has been the effect on victims of crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Whilst changes to WHOIS access have presented difficulties for some UK law enforcement investigations, the UK Government does not hold statistical data on the impact of these changes.
The Government is working with law enforcement and other affected stakeholders to ensure these impacts are mitigated, including through engagement with ICANN and industry to identify solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' changes to accessing WHOIS data have materially affected or delayed any investigations into online crimes against (1) adults, and (2) children, since they came into force; and whether any UK law enforcement agencies have had to incur additional expenditure as a result of those rules in order to further their investigations into such matters.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Whilst changes to WHOIS access have presented difficulties for some UK law enforcement investigations, the UK Government does not hold statistical data on the impact of these changes.
The Government is working with law enforcement and other affected stakeholders to ensure these impacts are mitigated, including through engagement with ICANN and industry to identify solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether UK law enforcement agencies have experienced any new or increased difficulties or obstacles in their investigations since The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers changed the basis on which WHOIS data can be accessed.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Whilst changes to WHOIS access have presented difficulties for some UK law enforcement investigations, the UK Government does not hold statistical data on the impact of these changes.
The Government is working with law enforcement and other affected stakeholders to ensure these impacts are mitigated, including through engagement with ICANN and industry to identify solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of what has happened to the trafficked young people who were being helped by Kids Company to obtain the necessary legal documents required to attend a United Kingdom university.
Answered by Lord Bates
The welfare of the young people who used Kids Company services continues to be of primary concern and we are working closely with local authorities to make sure they have access to the support and services they require. Under the Children Act 2004 local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in need of protection, including trafficked children. Under these arrangements, looked after children are provided with access to all their needs be they in relation to education, accommodation, psychological or health. Local authorities co-ordinate the arrangements for each looked after child to ensure they are safeguarded and have their welfare promoted.