Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the Government's response to the Air Weapons Review before the House rises for the Christmas adjournment.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government fully understands the interest that Members of Parliament and others have in the outcomes of the Home Office review of the regulation of air weapons. It remains our intention to set these out as soon as we can.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to publish a response to his Department's Air Weapon's Review, announced on 12 December 2017.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government announced the review of the regulation of air weapons on 9 October. We received a large number of representations from interested parties and members of the public and we are now considering these carefully. We will publish our findings in due course.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to publish a response to his Department's Air Weapon's Review, announced on 12 December 2017.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government announced the review of the regulation of air weapons on 9 October. We received a large number of representations from interested parties and members of the public and we are now considering these carefully. We will publish our findings in due course.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 136733 on Brexit: Northern Ireland, and with reference to section 3.6(iv) of the Civil Service Nationality Rules: Guidance on Checking Eligibility, whether a decision has been reached on whether to reserve Border Force jobs in Northern Ireland to UK nationals.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office Policy on the nationality of appointments is governed by the Civil Service Nationality Rules. All operational roles in Border Force are deemed reserved in accordance with these rules.
These rules are a matter of public record at:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the compatibility with the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement of the decision as to which passport holders are permitted to carry out public sector Brexit-related functions in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government is fully committed to the Belfast Agreement.
Recruitment to Home Office functions including in Northern Ireland is conducted in accordance with the Civil Service Nationality Rules. These are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536134/civil_service-nationality_rules_20_june__2016.pdf
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a requirement that air rifles should be kept in a locked cabinet; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government keeps the legislation relating to air weapons in England and Wales under review. High-powered air weapons require a firearms licence and low-powered air weapons are already subject to a range of controls, such as the requirement that owners take reasonable precautions to prevent young people from gaining unauthorised access to air weapons. Guidance is published on the safe use and storage of air weapons and this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117804/air-weapons-safety-leaflet.pdf
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a compulsory trigger lock on air rifles; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government keeps the legislation relating to air weapons in England and Wales under review. High-powered air weapons require a firearms licence and low-powered air weapons are already subject to a range of controls, such as the requirement that owners take reasonable precautions to prevent young people from gaining unauthorised access to air weapons. Guidance is published on the safe use and storage of air weapons and this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117804/air-weapons-safety-leaflet.pdf
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to accelerate the reunification of families for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.
We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.
We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe.
We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional steps her Department is taking to ensure that all victims of historic child abuse are encouraged to come forward with evidence which may result in the prosecution of offenders.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Tackling child sexual abuse is a top priority for this government. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to safeguard children.
We have provided £1.7 million to fund Operation Hydrant, which co-ordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support a new network of regional co-ordinators and analysts to improve the police response to child sexual exploitation.
In addition, the Home Secretary has established an independent statutory inquiry into child sexual abuse. The Inquiry has the power to compel witnesses and call for evidence and any specific allegation will, where necessary, be referred by the Inquiry to the police for consideration for criminal investigation.
No case of child abuse is ‘historic’ for victims and survivors. They must live with the consequences of their abuse each and every day of their lives.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people resident in Bristol South constituency were deported in each year from 2005 to 2014.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The information requested is set out in the table below:
Year | Total |
2006 | 14 |
2007 | 13 |
2008 | 20 |
2009 | 14 |
2010 | 16 |
2011 | 30 |
2012 | 10 |
2013 | 15 |
2014 | 10 |
Total | 142 |
Caveats
Bristol South constituency postcodes taken from the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) (Office for National Statistics)
Data is based on the last recorded address on CID at the time of departure, incorrect/incomplete postcodes will not have been matched
Removal figures uses Management Information based on the Historical Removal report.
Figures provided from 2006 onwards as earlier data is not captured due to the unreliability of CID data at that time.
The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.