Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications of the covid-19 outbreak for the implementation of the Prevent strategy.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Prevent programme has continued to be delivered effectively throughout Covid-19. Prevent referrals are continuing to be assessed and managed by Local Authorities and Police, and individuals are continuing to be supported through the Channel early intervention programme. Engagement and training are being delivered to Prevent practitioners and Prevent Duty statutory partners to ensure they remain well-equipped to identify and support those vulnerable to radicalisation.
The increased use of the internet as a result of Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the need to remain vigilant of terrorists and their supporters seeking to exploit the situation. We are working closely with tech companies, international partners and civil society organisations to ensure preventing terrorist use of their platforms continues to be a priority and that tech companies are effectively responding quickly to any emerging threats.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has undertaken due diligence checks on projects that receive Prevent strategy funding.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
For projects that receive Prevent strategy funding, due diligence checks are undertaken by the relevant Local Authority before entering into any agreement with a Project Provider. The due diligence requirement is set out in the terms and conditions agreement between the Home Office and the relevant Local Authority which has been awarded funds for Prevent delivery.
The terms and conditions require the relevant Local Authority to “ensure that it carries out a thorough and proportionate documented due diligence process to understand an organisations’ financial status, viability and capability; technical skills and capacity; operational and commercial processes and procedures; background and history”.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she takes to assess the (a) potential effectiveness and (b) effectiveness of projects that receive Prevent strategy funding.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office funds dedicated Prevent posts and locally commissioned projects in local authorities where the risk of radicalisation is most acute, to reduce the threat from terrorism.
Evaluating the effectiveness of projects that receive Prevent funding and learning what is working is an integral part of the Prevent programme. Regular assessments are conducted by the Home Office, and we commission independent evaluation of a selection of projects that receive funding each year. In addition, local authorities commission and undertake their own evaluation of the projects that they fund.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that victims of modern slavery with EU/EEA nationality living in the UK before December 31 2020 are able to apply for settled status in the event that they do not meet the deadline to apply as a result of their experience of exploitation; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In line with the Citizens’ Rights Agreements, the Government has made clear, where a person has reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June 2021 deadline for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme by EEA citizens and their family members resident in the UK by the end of the transition period, they will be given a further opportunity to apply.
Examples of such reasonable grounds will include victims of modern slavery and other people in abusive or controlling situations or relationships who were prevented from applying. Non-exhaustive guidance will be published on what constitutes such reasonable grounds, to underpin a flexible and pragmatic approach to considering late applications under the scheme, in light of the circumstances of each case.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to transpose into domestic law EU Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery and to ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives.
While the EU Exit transition period ended on 31 December 2020, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and relevant policy guidance is unaffected. The UK is still bound by international obligations in relation to preventing and combatting human trafficking and modern slavery – most notably the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT) and Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), neither of which have been impacted by our exit from the EU.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has consulted public health directors on the potential effect on public health of the cessation of people's refugee status in areas where those people are due to receive eviction letters from asylum accommodation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Failed asylum seekers who have exhausted their appeal rights are eligible to receive accommodation and other support provided they take reasonable steps to leave the UK or there is a legal or practical obstacle to their departure. The Home Office Voluntary Returns Scheme pays for the flight to the home country and provides reintegration assistance.
Only failed asylum seekers who are able to take steps to leave the UK, but choose not to, are therefore issued with notices that their support will be discontinued.
The process of issuing discontinuation notices is kept under regular review, taking consideration of public health guidance.
These decisions currently remain paused pending consideration of the impact of the current coronavirus restrictions.
We have been working closely with National and Local health Colleagues throughout the pandemic to inform our approach and will continue to do so.
Before taking any decision to resume negative cessations we will continue to work with and share our approach with Public Health authorities and will work within public health guidelines and legal advice.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards are in place to ensure that people who have been refused asylum will not become homeless after 21 days of receiving their cessation letter.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Failed asylum seekers who have exhausted their appeal rights are eligible to receive accommodation and other support provided they take reasonable steps to leave the UK or there is a legal or practical obstacle to their departure. The Home Office Voluntary Returns Scheme pays for the flight to the home country and provides reintegration assistance.
Only failed asylum seekers who are able to take steps to leave the UK, but choose not to, are therefore issued with notices that their support will be discontinued.
The process of issuing discontinuation notices is kept under regular review, taking consideration of public health guidance.
These decisions currently remain paused pending consideration of the impact of the current coronavirus restrictions.
We have been working closely with National and Local health Colleagues throughout the pandemic to inform our approach and will continue to do so.
Before taking any decision to resume negative cessations we will continue to work with and share our approach with Public Health authorities and will work within public health guidelines and legal advice.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial support her Department provides to specialist services for women who experience racism and who have survived sexual exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
All forms of sexual violence are terrible crimes and the Government continues to fund support to victims.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we allocated £76m to support victims of modern slavery, domestic abuse and sexual violence. This included a £25m package to support victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, £10m of which was ringfenced for organisations supporting victims of sexual violence. The Ministry of Justice have also recently announced that £10.1m will be provided to rape and domestic abuse support centres and Police and Crime Commissioners to fund services in local areas. The Home Office is also providing £200,000 in 2020/21 to specialist sexual violence support services through its National Sexual Violence Support Fund.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice has awarded £12 million to 91 rape support centres across England and Wales to provide independent, specialist support to female and male victims of sexual violence, including victims of child sexual abuse. This is an increase of £4 million from 2019/20, and a total investment of £32m over three years from April 2019 to March 2022.
An additional £4m per annum until 2022 is also being invested in recruiting more Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) to help victims feel informed and supported at every stage of their recovery journey.
We understand that individuals can be the victims of multiple and different abusive behaviours because of the way different characteristics, including immigration status, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic position and sexuality intersect and overlap, particularly in relation to accessing services and support. We will be publishing a new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in the spring which will ensure we can better support victims. To inform the new strategy, we launched a Call for Evidence on 10 December, inviting responses from the public, organisations that provide support to victims and survivors, frontline professionals, and academics. We are actively seeking input from minority groups and intend to hold focus groups to ensure we hear the perspectives of people with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, refugee violence against women and girls experts, deaf and disabled violence against women and girls experts, and others.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure there is adequate access to safe accommodation for adults fleeing sexual exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Sexual exploitation can be a form of modern slavery. The Government remains committed to ensuring the safety and security of victims of modern slavery and supports adult victims through the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC).
The MSVCC is available for adult victims in England and Wales. Support for victims of modern slavery is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The MSVCC provides support to adults who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive Reasonable Grounds decision, and have consented to support.
The MSVCC ensures the safeguarding and protection of victims as well as providing tailored support according to each victim’s recovery needs, including accommodation, financial support and specialist support workers.
Emergency accommodation is available before a Reasonable Grounds decision for any potential victim who has consented to enter the NRM and is destitute with no access to safe accommodation. In this situation, an immediate referral can be made by a First Responder Organisation to The Salvation Army.
Individuals supported through the MSVCC receive a needs-based assessment which considers whether they have a need for MSVCC accommodation. Accommodation is available where a need is identified, and due regard is given to the circumstances of each potential or confirmed victim.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason her Department changed the immigration rules concerning the Overseas Domestic Worker visa in April 2012; and which (a) people and (b) groups made representations to her Department to call for those changes.
Answered by Kevin Foster
This refers to decisions taken by a previous Government, following public consultation.
Details of this consultation can be found at: