To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Visas: British Nationals Abroad
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government with how many countries the UK has visa-free travel arrangements for UK citizens.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

UK passport holders can travel visa free to 153 countries and territories. Information on entry requirements for each country can be found at Foreign travel advice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Written Question
Plants: Theft
Tuesday 21st March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent estimate they have made of the amount of organised plant theft in England; and what steps they are taking in response.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government is committed to driving down rural crime.  We are on target to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. This is unprecedented and reflects the biggest recruitment drive in decades, and will help ensure the public is better protected, including in rural communities.

To help prevent the theft of agricultural machinery the Government is supporting the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill which will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to all new All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes. We are intending to consult on extending the legislation to other agricultural machinery.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, information on what is stolen is not routinely collected by the Home Office. All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that data requested from the police is proportionate to the need for the data and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested.

The Home Office has not made an estimate of the of the loss to the UK economy from rural crime or heritage crime. However, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) estimates that in 2021 rural theft cost the UK £40.5m, based on their insurance claim statistics.


Written Question
Cultural Heritage: Crime
Tuesday 21st March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent estimate they have made of the loss to the UK economy from heritage crime.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government is committed to driving down rural crime.  We are on target to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. This is unprecedented and reflects the biggest recruitment drive in decades, and will help ensure the public is better protected, including in rural communities.

To help prevent the theft of agricultural machinery the Government is supporting the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill which will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to all new All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes. We are intending to consult on extending the legislation to other agricultural machinery.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, information on what is stolen is not routinely collected by the Home Office. All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that data requested from the police is proportionate to the need for the data and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested.

The Home Office has not made an estimate of the of the loss to the UK economy from rural crime or heritage crime. However, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) estimates that in 2021 rural theft cost the UK £40.5m, based on their insurance claim statistics.


Written Question
Crime: Rural Areas
Tuesday 21st March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to the UK economy of rural crime.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government is committed to driving down rural crime.  We are on target to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. This is unprecedented and reflects the biggest recruitment drive in decades, and will help ensure the public is better protected, including in rural communities.

To help prevent the theft of agricultural machinery the Government is supporting the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill which will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to all new All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes. We are intending to consult on extending the legislation to other agricultural machinery.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, information on what is stolen is not routinely collected by the Home Office. All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that data requested from the police is proportionate to the need for the data and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested.

The Home Office has not made an estimate of the of the loss to the UK economy from rural crime or heritage crime. However, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) estimates that in 2021 rural theft cost the UK £40.5m, based on their insurance claim statistics.


Written Question
Visas: British Nationals Abroad
Thursday 9th February 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which countries the UK has visa free travel arrangements with for British citizens.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

FCDO, who have responsibility for this information, have said that the information this question is requesting can be found in public domain https://visaguide.world/visa-free-countries/uk-passport/

We have included the list for ease:

Albania

American Samoa

Andorra

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Aruba

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Bermuda

Bolivia

Caribbean Netherlands

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

British Virgin Islands

Brunei

Bulgaria

Canada

Cabo Verde

Cayman Islands

Chile

Colombia

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Croatia

Curaçao

Cyprus

Czechia

Denmark

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

El Salvador

Estonia

Falkland Islands

Faroe Islands

Fiji

Finland

France

French Guiana

French Polynesia

French West Indies

Georgia

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Greenland

Grenada

Guam

Guatemala

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hong Kong

Hungary

Iceland

Indonesia

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Kazakhstan

Kiribati

Kosovo

Kyrgyzstan

Latvia

Lesotho

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macau

Malaysia

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritius

Mayotte

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Montserrat

Morocco

Namibia

Netherlands

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niue

North Macedonia

Northern Mariana Islands

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palestine

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Qatar

Réunion

Romania

San Marino

São Tomé and Príncipe

Senegal

Serbia

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sri Lanka

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Martin

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Gambia

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turks and Caicos Islands

Türkiye

United States Virgin Islands

Ukraine

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City

Venezuela

Vietnam

Zambia

Eswatin


Written Question
Slavery: Supply Chains
Thursday 22nd December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in driving slavery out of supply chains.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The landmark ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’ provisions in the Modern Slavery Act have driven a change in business culture, spotlighting modern slavery risks on boardroom agendas and within the international human rights community. We recognise, however, there is more to do to keep businesses focused on this important issue.

Compliance with section 54 is high. In 2019, the Home Office contracted the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) to undertake an audit of compliance with section 54. The audit was concluded in January 2020 with data accurate up to this point. The high-level findings of this audit were published on 17 September 2020 in the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s annual report available here at Gov.UK.

In addition, in March 2021, the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to radically enhance transparency by bringing together modern slavery statements on a single platform. The registry will provide a key tool for Government and others to monitor and drive compliance with section 54 . We have been encouraged by use of the registry. Since launch, over 9,300 modern slavery statements covering over 31,200 organisations have been submitted on a voluntary basis.


Written Question
Slavery
Thursday 22nd December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the number of people in modern slavery in the UK.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The hidden nature of modern slavery makes producing an accurate measure of its scale difficult.

In March 2020 the Office for National Statistics noted that there is no definitive source of data or suitable method available to accurately quantify the number of potential victims of modern slavery in the UK.

The Government is, however, committed to improving its understanding of the nature and scale of this complex crime. Since 2019, the Government has invested £10 million in the creation of the Policy and Evidence Centre for Modern Slavery and Human Rights to transform our understanding of modern slavery. The Home Office will continue working with the Centre and other partners to strengthen the evidence base underpinning our policy and operational response to modern slavery and to develop more robust ways to assess prevalence.


Written Question
Firearms
Wednesday 1st September 2021

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the legislation on firearms.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

This country has some of the toughest firearms controls in the world and our firearms law is kept under constant review to safeguard against abuse by criminals and to preserve public safety.

We will not hesitate to act whenever the need arises. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 introduced bans on the civilian possession of certain rapid-firing rifles and devices known as ‘bump stocks’. And the Home Office is bringing forward new statutory guidance to improve how people applying for a firearms licence are assessed in future. The new guidance draws on previous lessons learned and will ensure better consistency and improved standards across police firearms licensing departments.

Following the tragic shootings in Plymouth on 12 August, the Home Secretary has, as a matter of urgency, written asking all police forces in England, Wales and Scotland to review their current firearms licensing processes set against the current Home Office guidance and legislation. This review will help to reassure people that all necessary checks have been made to keep them safe. In particular, all forces are asked to carry out a full review of all certificates that have been seized, refused, revoked or surrendered in the past twelve months, and subsequently approved by the police.


Written Question
Overseas Companies: Africa
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compliance by UK companies doing business in Africa with legislation and regulations in respect of combating forced labour.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.


Written Question
Pets: Sales
Thursday 13th August 2020

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to stop scams that aim to defraud customers with the sale of non-existent pets.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

We are aware that some criminals are seeking to exploit the present demand for pets.

The Government launched a new campaign in March 2020, raising awareness of the dangers associated with buying pets online and deceitful sellers. The campaign, including advice for potential owners to follow, can be found at: https://getyourpetsafely.campaign.gov.uk/.

In parallel, City of London Police, as the National Lead Force for fraud, has been raising awareness about the specific risk of pet fraud. They publicised a story focused on this issue in May 2020 through social media. Their advice was highlighted by a number of news outlets, including the BBC.

We would encourage those who have been victimised to report their case to Action Fraud.