Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Detention Services Order 01/2016 on The Protection, Use and Sharing of Medical Information Relating to People Detained Under Immigration Powers, whether his Department has shared medical files of detained persons with foreign Governments since 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Detention Services Order (DSO) 01/2016 sets out the Home Office’s policy on the protection, use and sharing of detainees’ medical information. As set out in this DSO the medical record is a confidential document and is the property of the detainee.
In the case of an unescorted removal, the medical record is handed over to the detainee at the point of boarding the aircraft. During an escorted removal, the escort staff will hold the record until the end of the escort, when it is given over to the detainee before they are received by their own authorities. If the detainee does not want the record, the escort staff will return it to the UK where it will be securely stored.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2018 to Question 185472 on Drugs: crime, whether he has plans to gather specific information on children under 10 years of age involved in county lines.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We have no specific plans to collect information on under 10s.
However, the criminal exploitation of children in county lines drugs dealing is of significant concern to us. We have supported the formation of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to provide a greater law enforcement focus on county lines. We also keep the situation under regular review through the annual reports on county lines that we commission from the National Crime Agency. The next report will be published shortly.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2018 to Question 189531 on Crime: Social Media, whether he has plans to widen membership of his Department's social media action group; and what the criteria are for joining that group.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We have no plans at present to widen membership of the Social Media Action Group. The Group was established by the Home Office in April 2018 to help action to be taken against gang and violent content online by bringing together social media companies, key voluntary sector partners, the police, and government.
However, depending on the agenda and discussion and action being taken, we are willing to invite different organisation or groups to its meetings if they can make a contribution.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Sri Lankan nationals have been granted refugee status after having previously been removed to Sri Lanka following a refused application for asylum since 18 May 2009.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Specific information relating exclusively to Sri Lankan nationals is not available in the requested format, however information generally on Asylum applicants granted Asylum, after previously having been refused asylum and removed, is published in the Home Office’s asylum transparency data table ASY_09_q at;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-august-2018
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Sri Lankan nationals have been (a) removed to Sri Lanka and (b) removed to Sri Lanka following a refused application for asylum since 26 October 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on the number of Sri Lankan nationals that have been returned from the UK to Sri Lanka, is available in table rt_04 (returns data tables, volume 4) in ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending June 2018’, available from the GOV.uk website at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/734184/returns4-jun-2018-tables.ods
The data can be broken down by asylum and non-asylum related returns. Asylum-related returns relate to cases where there has been an asylum claim at some stage prior to the return. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been refused, and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those retuned under third country provisions, as well as those granted asylum/protection, but removed for other reasons (such as criminality).
Information for October to December 2018 will be available in February 2019.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170665 on crime: social media, if he will publish a list of all the participating organisations in his Department’s social media action group.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The social media action group provides a forum for police, social media companies and voluntary and community groups to take action against violence related content on social media.
The group is chaired by the Home Office and includes representatives from the following organisations:
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Metropolitan Police Service
Snap Inc
St. Giles’ Trust
Safer London
Catch 22
Ben Kinsella Trust
Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime
Mayor of London’s Office
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders Regulations 2017 are able to prevent Wi-Fi messaging on mobile devices associated with county lines activity.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office has not produced technical guidance on the scope of Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders Regulations (DDTROs). However we have funded the establishment of the National County Lines Coordination Centre, which launched in September, and provides a central source of expertise and best practice for police forces.
The DDTRO legislation has been drafted to enable the blocking of access to Wi-Fi service and future proof the legislation as far as possible against developments in technology. The legislation makes provisions for a communications provider ‘to take whatever action the order specifies for the purpose of preventing or restricting the use of communication devices in connection with drug dealing offences’. The definitions of communications provider, communication devices and telecommunications service are wide enough to encompass developments in technology.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has published any technical guidance on the scope of the Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders Regulations 2017.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office has not produced technical guidance on the scope of Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders Regulations (DDTROs). However we have funded the establishment of the National County Lines Coordination Centre, which launched in September, and provides a central source of expertise and best practice for police forces.
The DDTRO legislation has been drafted to enable the blocking of access to Wi-Fi service and future proof the legislation as far as possible against developments in technology. The legislation makes provisions for a communications provider ‘to take whatever action the order specifies for the purpose of preventing or restricting the use of communication devices in connection with drug dealing offences’. The definitions of communications provider, communication devices and telecommunications service are wide enough to encompass developments in technology.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department holds information on trends in the number of children below the minimum age of criminal responsibility involved in county lines activity.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We do not have specific information about children under 10 years of age involved in county lines. However, the Home Office has commissioned regular threat assessments of county lines by the National Crime Agency, which provide the most detailed and reliable intelligence on the scale and nature of county lines.
The threat assessments do not contain estimates of the number of children involved due to data limitations but they report that the threat has grown. The NCA is currently preparing a new threat assessment for publication shortly.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children below the minimum age of criminal responsibility who were involved in county lines activity in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We do not have specific information about children under 10 years of age involved in county lines. However, the Home Office has commissioned regular threat assessments of county lines by the National Crime Agency, which provide the most detailed and reliable intelligence on the scale and nature of county lines.
The threat assessments do not contain estimates of the number of children involved due to data limitations but they report that the threat has grown. The NCA is currently preparing a new threat assessment for publication shortly.