Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has held recent discussions with the European Commission on the implications for the timing of the EU Entry/Exit System on delays at (a) UK and (b) EU (i) ports, (ii) railway stations and (iii) airports.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government continues to engage regularly at ministerial and official levels with the European Commission and the French government on EES implementation.
The Government also continues to work with port owners and operators, including the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel and Eurostar / HighSpeed1 (St Pancras) to understand the impact of EES and support their plans to mitigate these. However, it is ultimately for EU Member States to implement EES.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that first-language Welsh speakers are not unfairly disadvantaged in the (a) process and (b) written tests for police entry.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing.
There is currently no formal obligation for the College of Policing to prepare a statutory language scheme in respect of the Welsh language. Nevertheless, the College published its first Welsh Language Scheme in 2021, which sets out the College’s commitment to supporting Welsh forces.
In the scheme, the College has committed to work together with Welsh forces’ recruitment departments to offer the candidate a bilingual recruitment journey. To date, the College has produced the national application form, and all candidate information and guidance for the recruitment process in Welsh.
The College remains committed to exploring further options to delivering elements of the assessment phase of the end-to-end process in Welsh to support candidates who have Welsh as their first language.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) performance and (b) efficacy of Action Fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Action Fraud is the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime. Reports received by Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), both of which are operated by the City of London Police as the UK’s lead force for fraud.
In light of advances to technology and growing demand on the service and an independent review by Sir Craig Mackey exploring the performance and function of Action Fraud, we are providing over £30 million to City of London Police over the next three years to support the upgrade of the Action Fraud service.
Improvements are already being rolled out on an ongoing basis, with the new service expected to be fully operational by 2024. The upgrades will provide better support services and reporting tools for victims, produce greater intelligence and insight for policing so they can investigate more frauds, and allow for greater prevention and disruption at scale using this intelligence
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce dedicated entry channels for UK nationals only at UK airports.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Whilst there are currently no plans to change queuing arrangements at the UK Border, those arrangements remain under constant review in order to prioritise security, maintain fluidity and ensure that we continue to run our border in the UK's best interests.
As the quickest and most efficient method of crossing the border, we encourage all eligible passengers to make use of the e-Gates at our ports of entry where possible.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the context of the drone attack on Abu Dhabi airport, if she will proscribe Ansar Allah, the Houthi Movement, as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters, including whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. The Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to reform the police complaints process.
Answered by Mike Penning
Complaints made against the police must be responded to in a way that builds public confidence, and allows lessons to be learned.
The Policing and Crime Bill will reform the complaints system so that the handling of police complaints is customer focused and that cases are dealt with quickly and effectively, not just for the benefits of the public, but also for officers who have done nothing wrong.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications by Syrian nationals resident in Syria for UK visitor visas have been (a) received and (b) granted in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The available information is given in the table below, relating to all Syrian nationals.
Entry clearance visitor visa applications and resolutions (grants, refusals, withdrawn or lapsed): All Syrian nationals
| Applications |
| of which | |||
Year |
| Decisions | Granted | Refused | Withdrawn or lapsed |
|
2010 | 6,181 | 6,157 | 4,349 | 1,724 | 84 |
|
2011 | 6,681 | 6,640 | 4,596 | 1,965 | 79 |
|
2012 | 5,366 | 5,368 | 2,691 | 2,604 | 73 |
|
2013 | 5,432 | 5,421 | 2,537 | 2,805 | 79 |
|
2014 | 5,370 | 5,477 | 1,495 | 3,910 | 72 |
|
Source:
Immigration Statistics July - September 2015, Home Office, tables vi_01_q, vi_06_q_o and corresponding datasets.
Notes. Information is not available on centrally collated statistical databases on the country of residence of applicants. Corresponding data for the calendar year 2015 will be published on 25 February 2016. Some applications made in a particular year may be resolved (granted, refused, withdrawn or lapsed) in a subsequent year.
The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, July-September 2015’, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she (a) expects to receive and (b) plans to publish her Department's report on the review of the legal basis, regulation, governance and procedures for the use and retention of custody images.
Answered by Mike Penning
It is very important that the issues identified by the review are properly tested with operational decision makers, so as to appropriately balance the protection of personal data and privacy with the public protection benefits and the operational need. Due to the complexity of the issues raised in the evidence gathering stage and the number of important stakeholders, we now do not expect to complete the review and recommendation before September 2015. It will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on issuing visas to the 17 residents of Camp Liberty, Iraq, whose admission to the UK has been agreed in principle by the Government.
Answered by James Brokenshire
It has not been possible to make further progress on issuing visas until arrangements have been made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to transfer a large number of Camp Liberty residents out of Iraq to
Albania. It is understood from the London office of the UNHCR that the move of some 240 Camp residents, including the 17 we have already agreed in principle to re-admit to the United Kingdom, was completed on 24 November.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will establish dedicated entry gates for Commonwealth citizens at UK ports and airports.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Eligible Commonwealth citizens may apply to join the Government's registered traveller scheme, via https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller, allowing them to use ePassport gates at the UK border.