Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the status is of her Department's public consultation on Protect Duty, announced on 24 February 2020; and what the timescale is for that consultation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office remains committed to developing a Protect Duty to further improve security at publicly accessible locations. We will launch a public consultation for the duty by the end of February.
This launch had been paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on many of the organisations we would hope to respond.
We know public venues and spaces vary; across sectors, size, geographies and nature of their operations. Whilst circumstances vary between different sectors and organisations, we know many have been dealing with an increased workload during COVID-19.
We will progress with an 18-week consultation period (instead of the usual 12) to take us into the summer, when we hope that the impacts of COVID-19 will lessen and businesses should be in a better position to engage with the consultation.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2020 to Question 126066, for what reason her Department does not collect information on the number of people re-arrested after being previously released on terrorism-related charges.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
National security is a Government priority and we take police activity to disrupt individuals suspected of terrorism-related activity seriously.
The Home Office publishes quarterly national statistics on the use of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent relevant legislation in Great Britain. This includes information on arrests, charges and convictions for terrorism-related offences. The most recent publication up to the quarter ending September 2020 was published on 10 December on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-quarterly-update-to-september-2020.
The quarterly publications establish transparency by ensuring that data is publicly available on the use of police powers in a consistently categorised way. As with all crime statistics published by the Home Office, data providers are not required to routinely provide further detail on an individual’s previous arrest and charge history, as to do so would place a disproportionate burden on the organisations responsible, particularly the National Counter-Terrorism Police Operations Centre. As with all Official Statistics, we continually review outputs taking account of user needs.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on work permits for creative workers since 24 December 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport hold regular bilateral discussions on a range of policy issues at official and Ministerial level.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on the use of Mode IV exemptions for mobility.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It is common for free trade agreements to include Mode IV commitments on the temporary entry of businesspersons. These commitments do not exempt such persons from immigration control.
It is Home Office policy to ensure any such commitments are delivered through its domestic immigration requirements, in particular through the Intra-Company Transfer, Tier 5 International Agreement Worker and Visitor categories of the Immigration Rules.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms and structures have been agreed between the EU and the UK on future security co-operation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.
The Trade Co-operation Agreement (TCA) was signed by the EU and the UK on 30 December. The agreement delivers a comprehensive package of capabilities that ensures we can work with counterparts across Europe to tackle serious crime and terrorism – protecting the public and bringing criminals to justice.
This includes: streamlined extradition arrangements which prevent disproportionate extradition requests and long periods of pre-trial detention; effective operational co-operation with Europol and Eurojust that reflects the scale of our contribution to these agencies; fast and effective exchange of national DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data via the Prüm system; fast and effective arrangements for exchanging criminal records data via shared technical infrastructure; the continued transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from the EU; and arrangements that will simplify and speed up cooperation with EU Member States on mutual legal assistance and asset freezing and confiscation. The agreement also provides an additional basis for bilateral law enforcement cooperation to continue between the UK and EU Member States. This includes information sharing in response to requests, as well as on a spontaneous basis, such as information on wanted and missing persons and objects.
Further detail on the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice co-operation elements of the TCA are available on GOV.UK.
The UK is, and will continue to be, a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the Common Travel Area.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government is committed to maintaining the Common Travel Area arrangements and has done so throughout the pandemic. There continue to be no routine immigration controls on journeys from within the CTA to the UK, with no immigration controls whatsoever on the land border.
Those arriving in England from within the CTA will only be required to provide locator details and self-isolate in certain circumstances. These requirements apply to all nationalities, including British and Irish nationals.
The Government has also announced passengers arriving from all international destinations will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result before entering England. However, people travelling to England from within the Common Travel Area will be exempt.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people convicted of terrorism-related charges have been released in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office collects data from Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service and the Scottish Prisons Service on the number of terrorist prisoners released in Great Britain.
These data are published quarterly in ‘Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 statistics’, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000