Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made with Cabinet colleagues of the threat posed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to (a) the UK, (b) the UK's interests in the Middle East and (c) Iranians critical of the Iranian regime who are living in the UK.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We do not routinely comment on operational or intelligence matters, however the UK will always stand up to threats from foreign nations.
As I announced in my statement to the House on the 20 February, HMG have responded to 15 credible threats to kidnap or even kill UK-based individuals by the Iranian regime. We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and will continue to take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.
The UK Government has been clear about its continued concerns over destabilising activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the UK and overseas. This includes IRGC political, financial and military support to a number of militant and proscribed groups in the region, including Hizballah in Lebanon and Syria, militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. The UK already sanctions the IRGC in its entirety and on the 20 March, 7 further individuals were sanctioned.
In concert with partners, the Home Office is leading work on countering Iranian-state threats, making use of the full breadth and expertise of the government and our extraordinary and courageous police, security, and intelligence agencies.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she has made an assessment of the threat posed by potential hate preachers supporting the persecution of and attacks on the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the UK; and whether her Department holds data on the number of visas refused due to the individual supporting the persecution of Ahmadiyyas.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is committed to tackling those who spread views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society, particularly minority groups. We assess all evidence of those that support for or justify violence and will not tolerate those who spread divisive and harmful narratives.
We are aware of hate preachers and wider organisations in the UK who spread such harmful and inflammatory narratives against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Such narratives have called for the boycott and even death of Ahmadi Muslims. We are continuing to work with law enforcement agencies and multi-agency partners to ensure this is appropriately tackled and that we continue to increase our understanding of this threat.
Information on the reasons why visas have been refused is not available without a manual search of individual records.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the threat posed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to (a) the UK and its interests in the Middle East and (b) Iranians critical of the regime in the UK.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We do not routinely comment on operational or intelligence matters, however the UK will always stand up to threats from foreign nations.
As I announced in my statement to the House on the 20 February, HMG have responded to 15 credible threats to kidnap or even kill UK-based individuals by the Iranian regime. We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and will continue to take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.
The UK Government has been clear about its continued concerns over destabilising activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the UK and overseas. This includes IRGC political, financial and military support to a number of militant and proscribed groups in the region, including Hizballah in Lebanon and Syria, militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. The UK already sanctions the IRGC in its entirety and on the 20 March, 7 further individuals were sanctioned.
In concert with partners, the Home Office is leading work on countering Iranian-state threats, making use of the full breadth and expertise of the government and our extraordinary and courageous police, security, and intelligence agencies.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fulfils the criteria under the Terrorism Act 2006 for a terrorist organisation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
While the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.
The UK Government has long been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK maintains sanctions on over 300 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The Government has also imposed sanctions on the IRGC in its entirety and on several senior security and political figures in Iran, including senior commanders within the IRGC and its Basij force. The Government will continue to hold Iran and the IRGC to account.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department decided which news organisations to invite to join her recent visit to Rwanda; and whether she made an assessment of the potential impact of the Government Communication Service Propriety Guidance on the organisations invited.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due consideration of the GCS guidelines is undertaken in Home Office communications.
All news organisations were kept informed of the progress of the visit regardless of whether they attended or not.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in ensuring the (a) reliable and accurate reporting of and (b) reduction of modern slavery in company supply chains since it came into force.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to report annually on the steps taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
Compliance with section 54 is high. Following a Home Office commission, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre completed an audit of compliance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act. The high-level findings of this audit were published on 17 September 2020 in the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s annual report (available here): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-anti-slavery-commissioners-annual-report-2019-to-2020).
To further increase compliance with section 54, the Government response to the Transparency in Supply Chains consultation, published on 22 September 2020, committed to taking forwards an ambitious package of measures to strengthen the Act’s transparency legislation, including: extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more; mandating the specific reporting topics statements must cover; and requiring organisations to publish their statement on the new Government registry.
The Government has also committed to introduce financial penalties for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. These measures require primary legislation and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.
In March 2021, the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry as a key tool to monitor and improve compliance with Section 54. Since launch, over 9,800 modern slavery statements covering over 32,800 organisations have been voluntarily submitted.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications for a visitor visa made by Iranian relatives of British citizens were rejected by her Department in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on Visitor visa applications, grants, and refusals for Iranian nationals are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02, respectively, of the ‘Entry clearance visa application and outcomes detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much ministerial severance pay has been (a) paid out by her Department and (b) accepted since 1 June 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of payments connected to the loss of ministerial office is set out in legislation. Outturn figures will be published in the department’s audited annual reports and accounts in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the new requirement for EU children on school exchanges to have a passport on revenues in the British tourism industry.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As part of the changes to the Immigration Rules in September 2021, we no longer accept national identity cards as a valid travel document from EU, EEA and Swiss visitors to the UK. Almost a year’s notice was provided for this change to allow groups to plan ahead and obtain passports where they do not already have them before they travel.
We have always expected people who visit the UK, including children visiting as part of a school group, from outside the EU (including close allies such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to hold a passport and we now expect those visiting from EU countries to do the same.
The experience at the UK border since the change has been positive, with EU, EEA and Swiss citizens making the switch to using their passport for travel. Using a passport also means most EU nationals making a short visit can also use e-gates where available for a quicker and easier arrival experience. There are no plans to change our approach.
An impact assessment was undertaken of this change. There are no plans to make an assessment of the effect of this policy on the number of British school children involved in school exchanges.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the new requirements for EU children visiting the UK on school exchanges to have a passport on the number of British children (a) from state schools, (b) with low-socioeconomic status and (c) from all backgrounds participating in school exchanges.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As part of the changes to the Immigration Rules in September 2021, we no longer accept national identity cards as a valid travel document from EU, EEA and Swiss visitors to the UK. Almost a year’s notice was provided for this change to allow groups to plan ahead and obtain passports where they do not already have them before they travel.
We have always expected people who visit the UK, including children visiting as part of a school group, from outside the EU (including close allies such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to hold a passport and we now expect those visiting from EU countries to do the same.
The experience at the UK border since the change has been positive, with EU, EEA and Swiss citizens making the switch to using their passport for travel. Using a passport also means most EU nationals making a short visit can also use e-gates where available for a quicker and easier arrival experience. There are no plans to change our approach.
An impact assessment was undertaken of this change. There are no plans to make an assessment of the effect of this policy on the number of British school children involved in school exchanges.