Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people the UK has resettled from the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger following their evacuation from Libya.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UNHCR is conducting lifesaving evacuations of targeted groups of extremely vulnerable persons of concern currently in Libya who have been subject to serious violations of their human rights, including different forms of inhumane treatment and indefinite detention without access to effective legal remedies.
Following UNHCR’s appeal for resettlement places, the UK has committed to resettle some of the most vulnerable refugees who have been evacuated by UNHCR from Libya to Niger. This will include unaccompanied minors.
Our prime concern is their safety and protection as they arrive in this country. We want to protect their privacy and ensure their recovery and integration, as they rebuild their lives in safe and secure surroundings, among supportive communities in the UK. We will, therefore, not be providing a running commentary on this specific cohort.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ban the Al Quds march planned for Sunday 10 June as a result of the potential threat to public order.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Secretary has no power to initiate a ban on marches. As set out in the Public Order Act 1986, section 13 prohibiting public processions, a march can only be banned where the police consider that it would result in serious public disorder and that placing restrictions or conditions on such a march – for example its duration, location and size – would not be enough to prevent this. In the London area, should this threshold be met, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner would then need to apply to the Home Secretary for consent to ban the march. No such application has been made.
We have a long-standing tradition of freedom of expression and association in this country and the Government is clear that people are free to gather to protest and express their views in public. However, the right to protest does not extend to threats and other criminal behaviour. Like all members of the public, protesters are subject to the law and should individuals cross the boundary into criminal acts including public order offences, hate crime offences including anti-Semitic or violent behaviour, the police have powers to act and I would expect them to use these robustly.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Ministers and staff of her Department will be attending the Hanoi Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in November 2016; and what the projected cost of that attendance will be in (a) staff salaries, (b) travel and (c) other costs.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The UK remains committed to its global leadership role in helping to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. During his visit to Vietnam in July 2015, the Prime Minister confirmed that the UK would provide £200,000 to support Vietnam in hosting a third high level international conference on the illegal wildlife trade. The Conference, to be held on 24-25 November 2016, will build on the successful London and Kasane Conferences of 2014 and 2015. Decisions about who will represent the UK at the Vietnam Conference have not yet been made.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chinese nationals currently have refugee status.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not hold figures on the total number of people with refugee status.
The Home Office publishes annual and quarterly statistics on grants of asylum and other forms of protection, and those resettled under the Gateway Protection Programme, Mandate and Vulnerable Persons Relocation Schemes.
These statistics are published quarterly in tables as_01 and as_19_q of the Immigration Statistics release, which is available online via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2015/asylum#data-tables
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria the UK Visa and Immigration Service uses to withdraw a licence from a Tier 4 sponsor; and how proper notice is given to students with Tier 4 visas.
Answered by James Brokenshire
A Tier 4 licence may be revoked if we find that a sponsor has not been complying with any, or all, of its sponsorship obligations and responsibilities.
We will support the students who were not actively involved in the circumstances which led to the licence being revoked, by giving them up to 60 days to find a new course and sponsor.
We will write to the above students at the contact address the student provided on their visa application. This will advise them that their permission to study in the UK has been curtailed.
We are not able to offer students direct assistance on the issue of tuition fees. This is a commercial arrangement between the student and the college and is the subject of the refund policy of the college.
Full detailed reasons why a licence may be revoked and how revocation affects sponsored students are set out in the Tier 4 Sponsor Guidance which can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/270492/sponsor-guidancet4.pdf
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what help or advice her Department gives to students with Tier 4 visas whose sponsor loses their licence in relation to (a) mitigating loss of tuition paid and (b) finding another course.
Answered by James Brokenshire
A Tier 4 licence may be revoked if we find that a sponsor has not been complying with any, or all, of its sponsorship obligations and responsibilities.
We will support the students who were not actively involved in the circumstances which led to the licence being revoked, by giving them up to 60 days to find a new course and sponsor.
We will write to the above students at the contact address the student provided on their visa application. This will advise them that their permission to study in the UK has been curtailed.
We are not able to offer students direct assistance on the issue of tuition fees. This is a commercial arrangement between the student and the college and is the subject of the refund policy of the college.
Full detailed reasons why a licence may be revoked and how revocation affects sponsored students are set out in the Tier 4 Sponsor Guidance which can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/270492/sponsor-guidancet4.pdf