Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people involved in the criminal exploitation of vulnerable young people in county lines operations have been charged with modern slavery offences.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The police and Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) are responsible for charging decisions with regards to county lines related criminality. The key is that prosecutions are brought, and the charges should cover the full range of criminality involved including Modern Slavery offences.We are working with the police and the CPS to take full advantage of powers in the Modern Slavery Act when making charging decisions against county line gang members. The CPS have issued an overview of the approach to be taken in criminal investigations and prosecutions linked to ‘county lines’ offending, with a particular focus on the relevance of the Modern Slavery Act.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU citizens (a) have been and (b) will be prevented from obtaining settled status due to the technical inability of the settlement scheme app to convert pre-settled status into settled status.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
No EU citizens have been or will be prevented from obtaining settled status due to the technical inability of the EU Settlement Scheme app to convert pre-settled status to settled status. The online process which will allow an applicant to convert their pre-settled status to settled status is on track to be available from the end of July 2019. Currently, applicants who have obtained pre-settled status can make a fresh application to the scheme by contacting the Settlement Resolution Centre.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the viability of return to Sudan for people from Darfur or Nuba ethnicities.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. Each case is carefully considered on its individual facts and merits in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw.
Our assessment of the situation in Sudan is set out in the relevant country policy and information notes, which are available on the Gov.uk website.
Where someone establishes a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm in their country they are normally granted protection and are not expected to return there.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2019 to Question 254162, what the planned timescale is for the next knife amnesty action.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Individual police forces may use knife amnesties and surrender bins at any time, as decisions of this kind are an operational matter. Such initiatives are a key component of Operation Sceptre. The most recent week of coordinated national action under Operation Sceptre took place in March, during which 10215 knives were surrendered, including in surrender bins.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the proportion of staff working on counter-terrorism who are (a) women and (b) black, Asian or minority ethnic.
Answered by Ben Wallace
For the Office of Security and Counter Terrorism within the Home Department, the current proportion of staff working on counter-terrorism who are:
a) Women is 48.85%; and
b) BAME is 24.5%
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many knife amnesty bins there were in the UK in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Information relating to knife amnesty bins and amnesty days is not collected centrally. The use of knife amnesties and bins are an operational decision for individual police forces.
It is also open to police forces to deploy surrender bins at any time as well as during the coordinated weeks of national action that take place as part of Operation Sceptre. In the previous phase of the operation in September 2018, 8,781 knives were surrendered using amnesty bins or personally handed in at police stations.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many knife amnesty days there have been in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Information relating to knife amnesty bins and amnesty days is not collected centrally. The use of knife amnesties and bins are an operational decision for individual police forces.
It is also open to police forces to deploy surrender bins at any time as well as during the coordinated weeks of national action that take place as part of Operation Sceptre. In the previous phase of the operation in September 2018, 8,781 knives were surrendered using amnesty bins or personally handed in at police stations.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the 13th edition of the ILGA State Sponsored Homophobia Report, how many people were deported to each of the 71 countries where homosexuality is illegal in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The number of enforced returns from the UK by year and country of destination is published in table rt_05 (returns data tables, volume 5) in ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending December 2018’, available from the GOV.uk website at:
Deportations are a subset of enforced returns. They may occur either following a criminal conviction, or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information on those deported is not separately available. The published statistics refer to enforced returns, which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers who have declined to leave voluntarily. Most illegal immigrants are removed from the UK under administrative or illegal entry powers and not deported.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what oversight his Department has on the content included in Life in the United Kingdom: A guide for new residents.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office manages the Life in the United Kingdom contract and approves the content of each publication.
The Department is reviewing the content of the handbook to ensure it re-flects modern society and British values – including the diversity of the UK.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the people listed in the next edition of Life in the United Kingdom: A guide for new residents reflect the diversity of the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office manages the Life in the United Kingdom contract and approves the content of each publication.
The Department is reviewing the content of the handbook to ensure it reflects modern society and British values including the diversity of the UK.