Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to reduce the number of children separated from their mothers and families through maternal imprisonment.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Custody should be a last resort and only imposed after the court has considered alternative sentences to be served in the community. We are committed to making sure that as many women as possible are effectively rehabilitated in the community to better protect the public and deliver better outcomes for female offenders.
This department has not made any assessment of the effect of maternal imprisonment on a child’s emotional development. However, the government has funded a contract worth over £1.4m for Barnardo’s to operate the i-HOP service to share evidence on practice and advise commissioners and practitioners on the options available to support the families of offenders.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of maternal imprisonment on a child's emotional development; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Custody should be a last resort and only imposed after the court has considered alternative sentences to be served in the community. We are committed to making sure that as many women as possible are effectively rehabilitated in the community to better protect the public and deliver better outcomes for female offenders.
This department has not made any assessment of the effect of maternal imprisonment on a child’s emotional development. However, the government has funded a contract worth over £1.4m for Barnardo’s to operate the i-HOP service to share evidence on practice and advise commissioners and practitioners on the options available to support the families of offenders.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to commence its review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government is considering the planned post-implementation review of recent legal aid reforms and we will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which options the Government plans to assess on reducing the number of litigants in person as part of its review into the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Since 2015, the Government has invested £5 million of funding to support litigants in person through a range of measures designed to provide practical support and information, as well as providing routes to free or more affordable legal advice services.
The Government is considering the planned post-implementation review of recent legal aid reforms and we will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which provisions of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 the Government's plans to scrutinise in its post-implementation review.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government is considering the planned post-implementation review of recent legal aid reforms and we will make an announcement in due course.
We are aware that previous Ministers agreed to submit a post-legislative memorandum for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act to Parliament and to begin a post-implementation review of recent legal aid reforms shortly afterward. We are also aware that the Government has had a long-standing commitment to doing this review and publishing it by April 2018.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on resuming the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from France under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
On 10 March 2017 the Government published the basis on which future transfers under section 67 will take place, up to the specified number of 480. We are fully committed to delivering section 67 and are working very closely with France, Greece and Italy to agree processes for identifying and transferring further children. We have a Home Office secondee in each of Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children under section 67 and the Dublin Regulation, who work with a network of partners including the Member State authorities, British Embassies, UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. During the Calais operation, at the invitation of the French government, over 200 Home Office officials were deployed to France to interview children for transfer to the UK. Further data on transfers of unaccompanied children from Europe will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff of her Department were seconded to (a) France, (b) Italy and (c) Greece to facilitate the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
On 10 March 2017 the Government published the basis on which future transfers under section 67 will take place, up to the specified number of 480. We are fully committed to delivering section 67 and are working very closely with France, Greece and Italy to agree processes for identifying and transferring further children. We have a Home Office secondee in each of Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children under section 67 and the Dublin Regulation, who work with a network of partners including the Member State authorities, British Embassies, UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. During the Calais operation, at the invitation of the French government, over 200 Home Office officials were deployed to France to interview children for transfer to the UK. Further data on transfers of unaccompanied children from Europe will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied refugee children were transferred from Italy to the UK in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
On 10 March 2017 the Government published the basis on which future transfers under section 67 will take place, up to the specified number of 480. We are fully committed to delivering section 67 and are working very closely with France, Greece and Italy to agree processes for identifying and transferring further children. We have a Home Office secondee in each of Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children under section 67 and the Dublin Regulation, who work with a network of partners including the Member State authorities, British Embassies, UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. During the Calais operation, at the invitation of the French government, over 200 Home Office officials were deployed to France to interview children for transfer to the UK. Further data on transfers of unaccompanied children from Europe will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied refugee children were transferred from Greece to the UK in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
On 10 March 2017 the Government published the basis on which future transfers under section 67 will take place, up to the specified number of 480. We are fully committed to delivering section 67 and are working very closely with France, Greece and Italy to agree processes for identifying and transferring further children. We have a Home Office secondee in each of Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children under section 67 and the Dublin Regulation, who work with a network of partners including the Member State authorities, British Embassies, UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. During the Calais operation, at the invitation of the French government, over 200 Home Office officials were deployed to France to interview children for transfer to the UK. Further data on transfers of unaccompanied children from Europe will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied refugee children were transferred from France to the UK in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
On 10 March 2017 the Government published the basis on which future transfers under section 67 will take place, up to the specified number of 480. We are fully committed to delivering section 67 and are working very closely with France, Greece and Italy to agree processes for identifying and transferring further children. We have a Home Office secondee in each of Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children under section 67 and the Dublin Regulation, who work with a network of partners including the Member State authorities, British Embassies, UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. During the Calais operation, at the invitation of the French government, over 200 Home Office officials were deployed to France to interview children for transfer to the UK. Further data on transfers of unaccompanied children from Europe will be published in due course.