Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what community-based alternatives to detention her Department developed and implemented as a result of the report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, published in March 2015, and the report by Stephen Shaw, Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons, Cm 9186, published in January 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There is always a presumption of liberty and detention is only ever used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. For those individuals with no right to remain in the UK, we expect them to leave the country of their own volition and the Home Office has programmes to support voluntary return.
The Home Office expects that current and planned reforms, and broader changes in legislation, policy and operational approaches will lead to a reduction in the number of the most vulnerable detained and the duration of detention before removal.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to develop and implement community-based alternatives to detention for (a) vulnerable people who have already been detained and (b) people at risk of vulnerability as a result of detention.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There is always a presumption of liberty and detention is only ever used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. For those individuals with no right to remain in the UK, we expect them to leave the country of their own volition and the Home Office has programmes to support voluntary return.
The Home Office expects that current and planned reforms, and broader changes in legislation, policy and operational approaches will lead to a reduction in the number of the most vulnerable detained and the duration of detention before removal.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of immigration detention was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Detention costs over the past three financial years have been published in the Home Office’s Annual Report and Accounts, for 2015-16 and 2014-15. Copies of these publications can be found on the .gov.uk website:
For 2015-16: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539638/HO_AR_16_gov.pdf
For 2014-15: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441282/HO-AR15_web.pdf
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish her Department's Immigration and Enforcement Business Plan 2016-17.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Immigration Enforcement Business Plan will be published in due course.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation is taking place to prepare her Department's Immigration and Enforcement Business Plan 2016-17.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Internal consultation has taken place on Immigration and Enforcement’s 2016/17 business plan and it will be published in due course. External consultation does not routinely take place on the business plan document.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are held in immigration detention who have been detained for (a) less than three months, (b) between three months and one year, (c) between one year and three years and (d) for more than three years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The information requested is published in table dt_11_q (detention data tables) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April - June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546763/detention-q2-2016-tabs.ods
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the scenarios and charges in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 2008 were last reviewed to ascertain whether they should be updated.
Answered by Mike Penning
The current scenarios and charging regime in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicle Regulations dates from 2008, when a table of varying rates for different prescribed scenarios replaced the previous flat rate charge in place since 1989. The Government keeps these scenarios and charges under regular review. Currently, there are no plans to change this.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the new migrant camp being built in Dunkirk does not have a negative effect on UK-bound lorries.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Any proposals for accommodation for migrants in Dunkirk, or elsewhere in Northern France, are a matter for the French authorities.
The haulage industry is hugely important to UK trade and prosperity and the Government takes the security of UK-bound traffic, as well as the safety of hauliers and tourists using the ports in Northern France, very seriously.
The Government has listened to industry concerns and continues to work closely with the French authorities at both political and operational levels on a package of measures to bolster the security of the ports. Action has been taken to improve the flow of traffic at the Juxtaposed Controls; and a new secure waiting area at Calais for UK-bound lorries with capacity for 230 vehicles will be completed by spring 2016. In the interim, Border Force has worked with the Calais port operator and introduced a secure freight circulation and waiting area for around 200 vehicles.
Border Force advice for drivers - published on gov.uk - is to alert the authorities of the country they are in as soon as they suspect persons may be seeking to enter their vehicle. The website also provides hauliers and drivers with emergency contact details for the relevant French authorities and is applicable at all the ports in Northern France.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what jurisdiction the police have to investigate allegations of fraud relating to the falsification of documents and declarations of a spouse's estate and other matters relating to wills.
Answered by John Hayes
There are a number of offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 that would relate to the falsification of a document such as a will, or other testamentary documents. There are also offences under the Fraud Act 2006 that may be applicable depending on what action is taken subsequent to such falsification. Police have powers conferred on them to investigate these offences under legislation such as the Police Act 1997 and Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many commercial drivers (a) have been and (b) are in the process of being fined for bringing people illegally into the UK via North East France in (i) the last month, (ii) between the last one and six months and (iii) between the last six and 12 months.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Border Force issued penalties for those attempting to enter the UK as follows:
i) Last Month (May 2015) – 268 penalties issued
ii) Between the one and six months (November 2014 – April 2015) – 1,407 penalties issued
iii) Between last six and twelve months (October – May 2014) – 1,891 penalties issued
Figures are not yet available for June 2015.