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Written Question
Human Trafficking: Essex
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department will provide financial assistance for repatriation of the bodies of the people discovered in a shipping container in Essex on 23 October 2019 once their identities are confirmed.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

Once the identities of the victims of the tragic incident in Grays are confirmed we will liaise with the relevant embassies on how to provide support to the victims’ families.


Written Question
EU Citizenship: Northern Ireland
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland are able to continue to exercise their EU rights after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make an assessment of the compatibility of those steps with the identity rights guaranteed to Irish citizens by the Belfast Agreement.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Upholding the Belfast Agreement and its successors in all their parts, including the Agreement's citizenship and identity provisions, has been central to the Government’s approach to the Exit negotiations. The Withdrawal Agreement with the EU recognises that the people of Northern Ireland who are Irish – and thus EU – citizens will continue to have access to rights, opportunities and benefits that come with EU citizenship. We are committed to working with our EU partners to put in place arrangements that will allow Irish citizens resident in Northern Ireland to enjoy the EU rights available to them.


Written Question
Frontier Workers: Republic of Ireland
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to protect the rights of frontier workers who are citizens of EU countries but who are not Irish or UK citizens, who live in Ireland but travel to work in Northern Ireland each day; and if he will publish guidance on their rights in the event the UK leaves the EU (a) with a deal and (b) without a deal.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Whether the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal, the UK has committed to protect the position of EEA citizens (including Swiss citizens) who, at the specified date, work in the UK but live in another country (‘frontier workers’). This includes EEA citizens who live in Ireland and work in Northern Ireland.


The draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU protects the rights of those who are frontier workers at the end of the implementation period, for as long as they continue to be frontier workers in the host state. After the end of the implementation period, they will be subject to a requirement to obtain a document to evidence their right to enter and work in the UK as a frontier worker, in line with Article 26 of the draft Withdrawal Agreement.


If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, we will protect the position of those who are frontier workers at exit date. Until free movement is ended by the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, they will be able to enter the UK as now. Once free movement ends, they will be able to obtain a separate UK immigration status which will allow them to continue frontier working in the UK after exit.


Further information about how frontier workers can apply for a frontier worker document in a deal scenario, or for frontier worker status in a no-deal scenario, will be published in due course.


In either a deal or no-deal scenario, frontier workers may be resident in the UK for sufficient periods during their work here to be eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if they wish to do so. However, they are not required to do so, as they will be able to apply for a frontier worker document or status if they wish to continue working in the UK but living in another country


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Friday 1st March 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of the EU Settlement Scheme on cross-border workers that live in Ireland but work in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Under the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement and equivalent agreements with the EFTA states, EEA and Swiss citizen frontier workers, including those who live in Ireland and work in Northern Ireland, will be able to continue to come to the UK on the same basis as now until the end of the implementation period. After that date, they can continue to come to the UK for work for as long as they continue to be frontier workers.

In the event of no deal and once free movement is ended, although the underlying legal framework will change, EEA and Swiss citizens coming for short visits for work will be able to enter the UK without a visa and stay for up to three months from each entry. This is set out in the Home Office’s policy paper which was published on 28 January and can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-immigration-after-free-movement-ends-if-theres-no-deal. Further information about frontier workers after 31 December 2020 will be published in due course.

As part of the reciprocal Common Travel Area (CTA) rights between the UK and Ireland, Irish citizens have the right to move freely between the UK and Ireland, the right to reside, the right to study, the right to access social welfare and housing and the right to vote in certain elections. The CTA rights are maintained in all outcomes of EU Exit.


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Friday 1st March 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which (a) organisations and (b) other Departments his Department shares personal data with that has been captured during the settled status application process; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

The Home Office takes its data protection and data security obligations very seriously. All our data activity must be compliant with data protection legislation.

Within the EU Settlement Scheme, in addition to an identity check, applicants’ personal data is used in three main ways:

• Criminality and security checks;
• If a National Insurance number has been provided, real time checks with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs to consider evidence of residency in the UK (for example tax or benefit records); and
• On a case by case basis, sharing information with other organisations to verify evidence you have provided within your application to protect against fraud and the use of counterfeit documents (for example verifying with a university that the university certificate you have provided is genuine).

This data sharing is designed to help applicants evidence their status in a quick and straightforward way by using data already held by other Government departments.

The Home Office may also process the information provided in other ways in order to fulfil its legal and official functions. This could include, for example:

• If we find evidence a significant crime has been committed;
• We discover an immigration offence (like a sham marriage) is being committed;
• If, in the future, you apply for UK citizenship; or
• To allow the Home Office to carry out its safeguarding duties.

This is set out in more detail in the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System privacy information notice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-information-use-in-borders-immigration-and-citizenship/borders-immigration-and-citizenship-privacy-information-


Written Question
Borders: Northern Ireland
Friday 8th February 2019

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on proposals made by Border Force on technological solutions to monitor the movement of people across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

The Home Secretary confirmed that he has received advice on technological solutions for the movement of goods, but Her Majesty’s Government will not be giving further detail at this stage.

The UK Government has been resolute in its commitments to Northern Ireland, and remains committed to avoiding a ‘hard border’.


Written Question
Extradition: Burma
Thursday 28th June 2018

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons his Department refused to extradite to Myanmar the main suspect involved in the murder of Gary Ferguson from Bangor, County Down; when that decision not to extradite was made; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

As a matter of long-standing policy and practice, the UK will neither confirm nor deny that an extradition request has been made or received until such time as an arrest has been made in relation to that request.
The UK does not have extradition relations with Burma. Whilst we are able to consider requests from countries without a treaty, to be successful, any such request would have to meet the requirements in the Extradition Act 2003, including in respect of the protection of human rights.


Written Question
Police: Ethnic Groups
Monday 18th June 2018

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police officers are from minority ethnic communities.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the ethnicity of the police officers on an annual basis. The latest data show that as at 31 March 2017, 6.3% of police officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales were from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds.

The latest available data are published in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2017’ statistical bulletin:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2017

Data, broken down by Police Force Area, can be found in Table D1 of the accompanying data tables.

The data can also be found on the police.uk website:

https://www.police.uk/metropolitan/E05000148/performance/diversity/


Written Question
UK Border Force: Northern Ireland
Monday 11th June 2018

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the Northern Ireland Equality Commission's advice to the UK Border Force on the recruitment of border force staff in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

The Northern Ireland Equality Commission has made a public statement on some of the advice given to Border Force, this is available at https://www.equalityni.org/Footer-Links/News/Employers-Service-Providers/Equality-Commission-Comment-on-Border-Force-Recrui

Furthermore in response to the answer to Question 140136 of 8 May 2018 the Minister of State for Immigration summarised the rest of the advice given.

These pieces of correspondence and advice are not routinely published, there are currently no plans to do so.


Written Question
UK Border Force: Northern Ireland
Thursday 9th November 2017

Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of additional UK Border Agency officials that will be needed in Northern Ireland as a result of the UK leaving the EU; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

Additional staffing required by Border Force, across the UK, following exit from the European Union will depend on the final outcome of the negotiations. Government departments are working together across a range of complex issues to develop our future approach to the border and immigration system.

The government recognises the unique case of the Northern Ireland – Ireland land border, and we have been clear about avoiding any physical infrastructure at the border. We have developed joint principles with the Commission to ensure the continuation of the Common Travel Area. Avoiding a ‘hard border’ between Ireland and Northern Ireland is one of the Government’s three strategic objectives that have informed development of the policy options outlined in the recently published Customs Bill White Paper.