Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 2.4.55 of the 2021 UK annual report on modern slavery, what progress she has made on embedding the survivors’ voice in future policy on modern slavery.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to continuously strengthening our approach to modern slavery. Survivors hold a vital role in informing policy development, and we have worked to embed survivor voice in a number of ways.
In March 2021, the Government announced that it would be undertaking a review of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy. A revised strategy will allow us to build on the progress we have made to date, adapt our approach to the evolving nature of these crimes and continue our leadership in tackling modern slavery. As part of this work, we are considering further ways to embed survivor voice in our future policy-making and international programmes. We have engaged with survivors and survivor groups as we develop a new modern slavery strategy, including through our Modern Slavery Strategy Implementation Group. We are also in the process of commissioning research to inform the strategy, which will seek survivors’ views on their experiences of modern slavery and on the most appropriate ways to engage survivors in our future policy-making and international programmes.
We have worked with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct independent inspections of the services provided to victims of modern slavery under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC). During inspections CQC seek to engage with survivors to gather their views on the quality of safehouse accommodation and outreach services provided and to gain feedback on their experiences. Furthermore, there are processes embedded within the MSVCC which provide victims with the opportunity to raise complaints via the official MSVCC complaints procedure.
We also engage survivor groups through our regular stakeholder engagement on modern slavery policy.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her proposed changes to immigration on the (a) number and (b) duration of stay of international exchange students studying in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Under the new simplified immigration rules which came into effect on 1 December 2020, study for up to six months at an accredited institution is permitted under the visitor route.
The visitor route is for a person who wants to come to the UK for a temporary period, usually up to 6 months.
Visitors may also learn about and undertake research as part of a course they are studying overseas.
There are no plans to allow visitors to study for more than six months.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of the increased cost of immigration facing EU nationals coming to the UK as a result of the UK leaving the EU on international exchange student placements of over six months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Under the new simplified immigration rules which came into effect on 1 December 2020, study for up to six months at an accredited institution is permitted under the visitor route.
The visitor route is for a person who wants to come to the UK for a temporary period, usually up to 6 months.
Visitors may also learn about and undertake research as part of a course they are studying overseas.
There are no plans to allow visitors to study for more than six months.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of universities and other stakeholders on increasing the length of time that short-term exchange students are permitted to stay in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Under the new simplified immigration rules which came into effect on 1 December 2020, study for up to six months at an accredited institution is permitted under the visitor route.
The visitor route is for a person who wants to come to the UK for a temporary period, usually up to 6 months.
Visitors may also learn about and undertake research as part of a course they are studying overseas.
There are no plans to allow visitors to study for more than six months.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing the length of the visit period for international exchange students who are visiting the UK on a visitor visa in line with that of academics visiting the UK on an academic visitor visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Under the new simplified immigration rules which came into effect on 1 December 2020, study for up to six months at an accredited institution is permitted under the visitor route.
The visitor route is for a person who wants to come to the UK for a temporary period, usually up to 6 months.
Visitors may also learn about and undertake research as part of a course they are studying overseas.
There are no plans to allow visitors to study for more than six months.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) training on how to identify and support victims of online abuse is made available to the police and (b) the police have adequate resources and technology to promptly investigate online abuse.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Digital Intelligence and Investigation (DII) programme, which is funded by the Home Office and run by the College of Policing, is aimed at ensuring front line officers and staff have the digital skills they need to undertake investigations effectively. This includes accredited training on digital forensics, internet intelligence and investigations and supporting victims of all digital crimes. A new module focusing on assessing risk and vulnerability in a digital environment is due to be released in January. This programme helps ensure the police have the range of skills they need to tackle a range of crimes which involve the internet.
We also fund the Police Online Hate Crime Hub to improve the police response to victims of online hate crime and help police forces to coordinate investigations. The Hub allows the public to report any online abuse through a single online portal, known as True Vision, and where a jurisdiction can be identified, it is passed to the relevant force. Where this is not possible (e.g. because a perpetrator cannot be identified) the Hub also directs support to victims.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that online platforms are obliged to cooperate with the police and with other platforms to pursue perpetrators of abuse on their platforms.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Online Safety Bill will place duties on companies to take responsibility for the safety of their users. All companies will need to take swift and effective action against criminal online abuse. If platforms don’t fulfil their duties, they could face an investigation and enforcement action.
The Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill published a report on 14 December, having conducted pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft bill. The report included recommendations on cooperation between platforms and law enforcement in relation to identifying the perpetrators of online abuse. We are currently in the process of considering the recommended changes to the legislation that the committee have proposed, including on this issue.
We are grateful for the committee’s work and we will introduce the Bill as soon as possible, once we have considered their recommendations.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of (a) the level of demand for and (b) the potential merits of introducing funding mechanisms for specialist services to provide support to victims of online abuse and other forms of online violence against women and girls.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Harmful online abuse is unacceptable, and the online safety framework will require companies to take robust action to improve the safety of their users. The Online Safety Bill will introduce a Duty of Care which will apply to all online services that allow user generated content. Companies will need to have systems and processes in place to keep their users safe, and Ofcom will have tough enforcement powers to use against those which do not comply.
On July 21 we published our new cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, on the streets, and online.
The Strategy was informed by a national Call for Evidence on Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses and highlighted numerous issues - including online abuse - that the Government is determined to address.
Through the Tackling VAWG Strategy we have committed to an additional £1.5m this year for specialist support services and to increase our funding for helplines, such as the Revenge Porn Helpline and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust’s national stalking helpline, which provide support to victims of intimate image abuse and cyber-stalking online.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2021 to Question 903764 on Agri-food Industry: Labour Shortages, how many visas have been issued for (a) HGV food drivers, (b) poultry workers and (c) fuel tanker drivers.
Answered by Kevin Foster
With regards to fuel tanker drivers, I refer the Honourable Member to my response to the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale’s question of 26 October (63690).
Details of the numbers of temporary work visas granted for HGV drivers and poultry workers will be published in the usual way via the Home Office’s quarterly immigration statistics.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what target timescale she has set to open the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme is not yet open and remains under development. However, the first to be resettled through this scheme will be some of those who arrived in the UK under the evacuation programme, which included individuals who were considered to be at particular risk – including women’s rights activists, prosecutors and journalists.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.