Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the employer checking service for people seeking employment.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Employers have various statutory duties to conduct checks on people seeking employment. These include the need to comply with Home Office regulations under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 on the prevention of illegal working, which involve checking specified documents which evidence a person’s right to work in the UK.
The Home Office continues to operate a checking service for employers to confirm a migrant’s right to work where the individual has an outstanding immigration application, administrative review or appeal. The Home Office remains committed to strengthening and simplifying checks to better prevent illegal working, and continues to work closely with UK employers towards this objective.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government policy is on introducing visa bans on military personnel from Burma.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Burma is currently on the visa national list and nationals of Burma therefore need to apply for a visa in advance of travel to the UK. All applications for visas are considered on an individual basis.
Individuals subject to a UN or EU travel ban will be automatically refused a UK visa or leave to enter the UK should they be encountered at the border.
The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. Decisions on changes are always taken in the round, and reflect key facets of the bilateral relationship with the country concerned. The Government is monitoring the situation in Burma.
There are currently no plans to change the visa policy for individuals from Burma.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Joint Fraud Taskforce is taking to help consumers affected by authorised push payment scams.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The threat posed by frauds enabled by social engineering, such as authorised push payments frauds, is one this Government takes very seriously. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics data showed there were 3.6m fraud offences against individuals in the year to September 2016, as estimated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The statistics are presented in terms of fraud type (for example ‘bank and credit card fraud’, ‘advanced fee fraud’, etc.) rather than by the method used to commit the fraud.
Through the Joint Fraud Taskforce we are taking steps to ensure that individuals, including the most vulnerable and susceptible are protected from all types of frauds. The Taskforce is: investing in a nationwide fraud prevention campaign ‘Take 5’, funded by the financial sector and Government, so that individuals know how to act when faced by a fraudster to avoid being scammed; introducing a BSI standard so that victims receive a consistent victim care response, closely linked to their individual needs; and, exploring ways in which more stolen funds could be repatriated back to the victims of fraud, stopping the money from getting into the hands of the criminal.
Finally, the Taskforce is also working with the Payment Service Regulator (PSR) following its response to the Which? Super-complaint asking for greater protections for victims of push payment frauds. The PSR will continue to drive forward the programme of work it has developed to better protect consumers and increase awareness of payment scams.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Joint Fraud Taskforce has made an assessment of the scale of authorised push payment fraud in the UK; and what steps that taskforce is taking to tackle such fraud.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The threat posed by frauds enabled by social engineering, such as authorised push payments frauds, is one this Government takes very seriously. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics data showed there were 3.6m fraud offences against individuals in the year to September 2016, as estimated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The statistics are presented in terms of fraud type (for example ‘bank and credit card fraud’, ‘advanced fee fraud’, etc.) rather than by the method used to commit the fraud.
Through the Joint Fraud Taskforce we are taking steps to ensure that individuals, including the most vulnerable and susceptible are protected from all types of frauds. The Taskforce is: investing in a nationwide fraud prevention campaign ‘Take 5’, funded by the financial sector and Government, so that individuals know how to act when faced by a fraudster to avoid being scammed; introducing a BSI standard so that victims receive a consistent victim care response, closely linked to their individual needs; and, exploring ways in which more stolen funds could be repatriated back to the victims of fraud, stopping the money from getting into the hands of the criminal.
Finally, the Taskforce is also working with the Payment Service Regulator (PSR) following its response to the Which? Super-complaint asking for greater protections for victims of push payment frauds. The PSR will continue to drive forward the programme of work it has developed to better protect consumers and increase awareness of payment scams.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what circumstances documents associated with (a) asylum applications and (b) other forms of visa application are retained by her Department after verification.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Documents associated with an asylum claim will be retained when :-
1. The claim is ongoing, if a claimant is subsequently granted leave their passports or identifying documents will be returned to them at that point.
2. When a negative decision is made we will retain documents that may be required to facilitate removal, the power to do this comes from Section17 of the Asylum and Immigration (treatment of claimants Act, etc) 2004.
3. Any documents verified as being non genuine will be retained for disposal by the National Document Fraud Unit.
4. In EEA/EU asylum claims if removal, deportation or extradition is being pursued, any documents must be retained until a decision is taken. If removal is not being pursued, for example if the claimant is exercising their free movement rights, any documents should be returned.
A document that has been submitted with a visa application will be retained for 10 years if the document has been verified as being false and has been relied upon in a refusal decision. If it has been verified as being genuine, copies will be kept for up to 2 years. A copy of the application form is retained electronically with the case record.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests for confirmation of the right to work in the UK were received by the Employer Checking Service in the last 12 months; and how many such requests were confirmed.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
81,642 checks were received by the Employer Checking Service between 1st September 2015 and 31st August 2016. 53,006 of these checks confirmed the subjects right to work in the UK.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the number of job offers made to people with 3C Leave and subsequently withdrawn by employers (a) unwilling to use and (b) unaware of the Employer Checking Service in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We do not hold this information.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to promote use of the Employer Checking Service.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Employer Checking Service is promoted on GOV.uk. Employers are also directed to the service by the Preventing Illegal Work help line. The Employer Checking Service meet regularly with large employers to promote the service.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make representations to the relevant French authorities to ensure that humanitarian convoys destined for Calais refugee camps are not impeded.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The decision to allow entry to France is a matter for the French authorities.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 11 May 2016, Official Report, column 627, when she plans to decide whether to launch an independent panel hearing into the policing of the miners' strike at Orgreave in 1984.
Answered by Theresa May
I am currently considering a submission from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign on the need for an inquiry into the events at Orgreave and will set out the Government's position in due course.