Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to introduce a requirement for retailers to hold a licence to sell nitrous oxide.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Nitrous oxide is subject to the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 which makes it an offence to supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, produce, import or export nitrous oxide knowingly or recklessly for its psychoactive effect. Possession of nitrous oxide is lawful, except in custodial settings, and a Home Office controlled drugs licence is not required by those who wish to use it for legitimate medical, research, catering or industrial purposes.
The Government are concerned about the misuse of nitrous oxide, its recognised health harms and the potential impact on communities. That is why I wrote to the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on 7 February asking them to expedite their updated harms assessment on nitrous oxide following the Government’s initial request to the ACMD in September 2021.
The ACMD published their report on nitrous oxide on the 6 March, setting out the evidence as it currently stands and making a number of recommendations for action. The Government will consider the ACMD advice carefully along with any other available evidence, as appropriate, before deciding how to proceed.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' review into potential harms caused by nitrous oxide launched in September 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is an advisory non-departmental public body. The ACMD is independent of Government and therefore the timescales for, and progress of, their reviews are a matter for them.
Home Office officials work closely with the ACMD and the Government will consider their recommendations on nitrous oxide once they are published.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to introduce a levy on companies employing foreign workers below an agreed wage threshold.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Foreign workers in the UK benefit from the same rights under National Minimum Wage legislation as UK workers.
In addition, companies sponsoring non-EEA workers to fill vacancies under Tier 2 (General), the skilled work immigration route, must pay a salary of at least £20,800 (rising to £25,000 later this autumn and £30,000 in April 2017) or the appropriate rate for the particular occupation, whichever is higher. For non-EEA workers using the Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) route for multi-national companies, the salary minimum is £24,500, rising to £30,000 later this autumn and £41,500 from April 2017.
From April 2017, the Government will levy an Immigration Skills Charge on Tier 2 employers of £1,000 per sponsored worker per year. A reduced rate of £364 will apply to small and charitable sponsors. PhD-level roles, intra-company transfer graduate trainees, and graduates switching from the student route will be exempt.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will assess the potential merits of deploying fishing trawlers to patrol the UK coastline to prevent illegal immigration.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Border Force is actively engaged through partners in the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with commercial fishing operators. The UK’s commercial fishing operators already form a valuable part of the Project KRAKEN network providing ‘intelligence’ reports based on their assessment of unusual activity, however, they are not specifically tasked with official patrolling.
Border security is a priority for this Government. We are committed to countering threats to the UK coastline using an intelligence-led approach and through working with the wider law enforcement community. Border Force has long-standing working relationships and intelligence-sharing practices in place, and is increasing interaction with key partners as well as undertaking joint operations in order to disrupt organised criminal gangs looking to facilitate illegal entry into the UK.
Border Force and operational partners are conducting activity on a number of fronts to prevent migrants from entering the UK via clandestine and illegal means, strengthening the coordination of maritime security assets so that maximum coverage at sea is delivered. Border Force currently operates three cutters in UK territorial waters at any given time.
The cutters form part of a layered approach to coastal defence, including patrols comprising additional law enforcement vessels, on-shore resources and intelligence and surveillance. Border Force has invested in additional coastal patrol vessels (CPV) to complement the work being done by our cutters to combat attempts to smuggle migrants and illicit goods into the UK illegally.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to make the punishment of people traffickers more severe to increase its deterrent effect.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 increased the maximum sentence for modern slavery offences from 14 years to life imprisonment. The Act also gave law enforcement agencies the power to seize traffickers’ assets and introduced risk and prevention orders which restrict the activities of traffickers outside prison if they are judged to pose a serious threat.
Earlier this year, the Government commissioned the barrister Caroline Haughey to carry out an independent review of the operation of the criminal justice provisions in the Modern Slavery Act. Ms Haughey found that the Act had set an international benchmark to which other jurisdictions aspire, and recommended that we do more to ensure that law enforcement agencies use the Act to full effect.
The Government agrees and the Prime Minister recently announced that she will be chairing a modern slavery taskforce to ensure that we leave no stone unturned in bringing the perpetrators of this vile crime to justice.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether every police force has an action plan in place to ensure that domestic violence is dealt with quickly and fairly.
Answered by Mike Penning
All 43 police forces have now published domestic abuse action plans, which have been reviewed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Following the publication of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s report of the police response to domestic abuse in March 2014, the Home Secretary wrote to all chief constables making it clear that every police force must have an action plan in place to detail how they would improve their response to domestic abuse.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to introduce the use of drunk tanks by the police to alleviate pressure on A&E departments at weekends.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Government is taking a wide range of action to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder and has increased the powers available to police and local authorities. We are supporting innovative action at a local level and it is up
to local authorities and agencies, including the police, to decide what works best in their area, using the powers available. The term "drunk tank" is used in a variety of ways. In some areas, local agencies have already set up centres
whose aims include the reduction of pressure on health and ambulance services. However, the Government has no plans to introduce legislation on new forms of police detention.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will amend visa regulations affecting citizens of Australia and New Zealand to allow them to stay in the UK.
Answered by James Brokenshire
On 17 November we expanded our Registered Traveller (RT) scheme: Australians and New Zealanders being two of only five nationalities who may join the scheme. The scheme gives regular travellers to the UK who meet the qualifying
criteria use of our ePassport gates or the EEA/RT lanes at Heathrow and Gatwick. We estimate that up to 75,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders could now be eligible to join RT, expediting their clearance through the UK border. More details about RT can be found on https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller
There are a wide range of opportunities available to citizens of Australia and New Zealand to stay in the UK. We currently have no plans to change the Immigration Rules beyond these.