Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of whether Hamas is conducting any financial activities in the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters.
Hamas is subject to an asset freeze under the Counter-Terrorism (International Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations, 2019.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will extend the automatic 12-month visa extension to (a) ST3 GP trainees and (b) other international staff working in the NHS.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The introduction of the Health and Care visa last August made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals and their dependents to secure their visa. This includes ST3 (Speciality Trainee, 3rd year) GP trainees who are eligible under the standard occupation classification code for medical practitioners.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has extended the visas of over 10,000 key, frontline regulated health and care professionals, and their eligible family members. The visa extension scheme was recently extended in April to cover visas which expire between 1 April 2021 until 30 September 2021. The intention of the scheme is to allow frontline medical professionals to focus on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than worrying about renewal applications.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria the Government uses to distinguish between the political and military wings of Hamas in relation to the proscribing of organisations.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The elements of Hamas which meet the criteria for proscription under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are listed in Schedule 2 to that Act. The relevant entry proscribes “Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades (Hamas IDQ)”. Those parts of Hamas which do not fall within the Schedule 2 entry are not proscribed.
Hamas IDQ, the military wing of Hamas, was proscribed in March 2001. The political wing of Hamas is not proscribed as it is considered that there is a clear distinction between Hamas’s military and political wings.
In distinguishing between the political and military wings for the purposes of proscription, the Government's aim is to proscribe only those parts of Hamas which are directly concerned in terrorism.