Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect on the ability of police to identify criminals following the European Parliament’s decision to reject the European Council’s proposal to allow the UK to participate in the automated searching of fingerprint data stored in the EU’s Prum DNA database.
Answered by James Brokenshire
UK Police forces are already identifying criminals as a result of the UK’s connection to Prüm DNA exchanges. Since joining Prüm in July last year, the UK’s connection to Prüm has led to tens of thousands of DNA profiles being matched in the UK and across EU Member States, advancing law enforcement investigations in the UK and the EU.
We are ready to begin sharing fingerprints with EU Member States and next steps are with the European Commission to determine when the UK can begin to exchange fingerprint data via Prüm.
The vote in the European Parliament does not affect our ability to continue to participate in DNA exchanges with EU Member States on a reciprocal basis. We are committed to cooperation that keeps our citizens safe.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2020 to Question 42080 on Internet: Safety, when her Department plans to publish the interim voluntary codes on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government will be publishing interim codes of practice on terrorist use of the internet and child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) as part of the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper. This will ensure that companies are provided with the necessary context to understand the expectations around what companies should do to address CSEA and terrorist content and activity online.
We are working on preparing the interim codes of practice and full government response to the White Paper as soon as possible. We will follow this publication with legislation when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to provide additional support to Business Crime Reduction Partnerships during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Provisional data from police forces in England and Wales shows a reduction in crime during the Coronavirus outbreak and, as a result, the Government has no plans to provide additional support to Business Crime Reduction Partnerships during the covid-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce delays to substantive interviews for asylum seekers during the covid-19 outbreak; and whether (a) video conferencing and (b) other alternative processes are being assessed as a means of conducting substantive interviews for people seeking asylum in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office takes the wellbeing of asylum seekers extremely seriously and has already put in place a range of measures to support asylum seekers affected by the covid-19 outbreak. In line with the Home Office’s commitment to protect the health and wellbeing of its staff and customers as a top priority, Asylum Operations made the decision to cease face to face substantive asylum interviews with effect from Thursday 19th March 2020.
Asylum Operations have secured a mobile digital and video interviewing solution to support remote interviewing and are working with delivery partners, to enable the use of this technology. We remain committed to restarting substantive asylum interviews as soon we can establish a process that safely allows the participants - applicants, representatives, interpreters and interviewers - to do so safely.
Asylum Operations are continuing to make and serve decisions on cases where there is enough information to do so. We are continuing to review these on a case by case basis, ensuring those with significant safeguarding concerns or vulnerabilities are only served if appropriate to do so.
These are unprecedented times and we are adjusting processes and procedures where necessary and appropriate to adapt to these changes.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of re-introducing a target of six months for the completion of asylum applications to the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
A new service standard for asylum applications is currently being developed, which is intended to bring balance back to the asylum system.
Until October 2018, there was a published service standard in place to decide 98% of straight-forward cases within six months from date of claim. Whilst the operation consistently achieved this for three years, the number of non-straight forward cases awaiting a decision grew rapidly and it became clear that the former service standard no longer best served those that used our services. For these reasons, former Ministers agreed that we should move away from the service standard to reprioritise cases in the short term, whilst we come to longer term arrangement for service standards that meet the needs of all parties.
As a result, we moved away from the 6-month service standard to concentrate on older claims, cases with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). Additionally, we are prioritising cases where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required.
In line with UKVI’s ambition to promote a greater understanding and transparency of the asylum system and to develop a service standard that is meaningful and commands confidence, we have engaged with stakeholders as part of our plans and are considering this valuable insight as we work to shape the new service standard.
We are committed to ensuring that asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay, to ensure that individuals who need protection are granted asylum as soon as possible and can start to integrate and rebuild their lives, including those granted at appeal.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her Dutch counterpart on reducing the volume of child sexual abuse images and videos that are hosted in that country.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse wherever and however it occurs. There can be no safe space for paedophiles to operate either here or abroad and we will do all we can to keep children safe. We continue to work closely with law enforcement in the UK and international partners to close down online networks and bring offenders to justice. We announced in the 2019 Spending Round an investment of an £30 million to support UK law enforcement to bear down on child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The Government is working closely with the Netherlands to tackle online child sexual abuse material that is held in, and distributed from, the Netherlands and available in the UK. The Dutch approach to addressing the threat of online child sexual exploitation and abuse was outlined in a letter from their Ministry of Justice and Security to the European Union. This provided a useful platform for our engagement on how we can work together on this issue, identify areas of common interest, best practice and ways to coordinate our efforts to tackle the threat.
The Dutch hotline, EOKM, will also be working with the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation to combat the issue of child sexual abuse material. In 1996 when the Internet Watch Foundation was founded, the UK hosted 18% of the global total of online child sexual abuse content; in 2019 this figure was just 0.1%.
UK police have existing powers under section 72 and Schedule 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which provides for extra-territorial jurisdiction in relation to certain offences under the 2003 Act where the victim is under the age of 18 years old. We continue to look at what more we can do with our international partners giving due consideration to the findings of the “Children Outside the UK report’ published by the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse in January 2020.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the deadline for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme beyond 30 June 2021 as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There are still nearly 15 months before the deadline of 30 June 2021 for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme. The published statistics, to 29 February 2020, show the scheme is performing well, with more than 3.3 million applications having been received and applications continuing to be received and processed.
EU citizens can apply online, free of charge, simply by completing three key steps: proving their identity, showing they live in the UK and declaring any criminal convictions. There is support available online and by email.
Where a person eligible for leave under the scheme has reasonable grounds for missing the application deadline, they will be given a further opportunity to apply. Our compassionate and flexible approach will ensure individuals who miss the deadline through no fault of their own can still obtain lawful status in the UK. We will publish clear guidance for caseworkers in due course to ensure consistency of approach.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to create new endorsing bodies for the new global talent visa to enable science and technology companies in (a) Cambridge and (b) the UK to access the global talent that they need to innovate and grow.
Answered by Kevin Foster
On 27 January, the Government announced details of the reformed Global Talent visa, including a new fast-track scheme for top scientists, researchers and mathematicians, which would be managed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). These changes are part of an initial phase of wider reforms to enable those with world-class specialist skills to come to the UK.
The Government will continue to work closely with the existing Endorsing Bodies, including UKRI, and the wider scientific community. As part of this development we will discuss the inclusion of additional endorsing bodies.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to consult with groups representing (a) medical research, (b) science and (c) the NHS in advance of reforms to the immigration system.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office have conducted a large-scale engagement programme with businesses, communities and local governments on the future border and immigration system. More than 150 events reaching over 2,400 stakeholders have been held, including representatives from the medical, research and NHS sectors. Advisory Groups have also been established to consider specific aspects of the new system and Ministers continue to regularly engage with sector groups.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many valid British national (overseas) passports were in issue on 31 December 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The total number of valid British National Overseas Passports as at 03/01/2020 was 316,344.