Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claimants, excluding foreign national offenders, have been subject to electronic monitoring as a condition of immigration bail since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does not electronically monitor asylum claimants as a matter of course. However, Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016 provides a discretion for the SSHD or the First Tier Tribunal to impose such a condition which may mean that a small number of individuals who have claimed asylum may be subject to electronic monitoring as a condition of bail. In such instances, an individualised assessment of the claimant’s suitability for electronic monitoring would be undertaken either by the Home Office, the relevant Immigration Judge, or both.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total allocation of funds to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command in (1) the current, and (2) previous, financial year; and what proportion of those funds in each period was allocated to the War Crimes Unit.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Budget allocations are set by Counter-Terrorism Policing Headquarters, who work with the Home Office and police forces to advise on funding for the counter-terrorism police network, including for specific units. Breakdowns of allocations to police forces or specific units are not provided publicly for national security reasons.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have given any consideration to the use of ID cards.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is not considering ID cards at this time.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2024 to Question 23168 on Asylum: Rwanda, how many immigration removal centres make up the detention capacity of around 2200 people; and if he will list those centres.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office currently operates seven immigration removal centres (IRCs) throughout the UK (six in England and one in Scotland); Harmondsworth and Colnbrook IRCs at Heathrow; Brook House and Tinsley House IRCs at Gatwick; Derwentside IRC in County Durham; Yarl’s Wood IRC in Bedfordshire and Dungavel House IRC in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
As of 24 April, the Home Office has the capacity to detain around 2,200 people in IRCs, including those liable for removal to Rwanda.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detention spaces are reserved for individuals seeking asylum who are designated for deportation to Rwanda.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office currently operates seven immigration removal centres (IRCs) throughout the UK (six in England and one in Scotland); Harmondsworth and Colnbrook IRCs at Heathrow; Brook House and Tinsley House IRCs at Gatwick; Derwentside IRC in County Durham; Yarl’s Wood IRC in Bedfordshire and Dungavel House IRC in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
As of 24 April, the Home Office has the capacity to detain around 2,200 people in IRCs, including those liable for removal to Rwanda.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how he measuring is the level of synthetic drugs being (a) manufactured in the UK and (b) trafficked into the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling illicit drugs, including potent synthetic opioids, is a priority for the Government and through our 10 year drugs strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ we are taking action to tackle drug supply and reduce demand.
UK agencies are highly alert to the threat from synthetic drugs, including synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes, as well as synthetic cannabinoids and benzodiazepines. The Home Office, Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and the National Police Chiefs Council are working with local partners to proactively monitor and respond to synthetic opioid related deaths, tracking drug related deaths and other intelligence to ensure a quick response.
We assess that the scale of trafficking of synthetic opioids into the UK remains low. However, nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK during the last year. The NCA assess that these substances are manufactured in illicit labs in China and have no evidence to suggest they are manufactured in the UK.
Through the cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce we are taking action and are working to enhance our drug harms surveillance and early warning system to provide monitoring information on the presence and impact of synthetic opioids or other drug threats to inform our response. It will also include data on lab-tested police seizures as well as state-of-the-art monitoring for the presence of synthetic drugs by analysing wastewater.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have met with representatives of Pornhub since 2018.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling illegal online content and routinely engage in forums at which a range of external partners will be present, including technology companies, social media firms and other websites, to ensure that they are keeping their platforms and services safe.
Home Office officials have a long-standing provision of not disclosing the details of companies which have been engaged with on matters regarding Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, nor the specifics of discussions in the public domain.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of asylum seekers that have been transferred from (a) contingency and (b) bridging hotel accommodation in Aberdeen to similar accommodation in England in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Bridging hotel accommodation was previously used to temporarily house Afghans resettling in the UK and has not been used to accommodate asylum seekers. As of 31 August 2023, we have successfully ended the use of bridging hotels for legally resettled Afghans.
Asylum accommodation is offered on a no choice basis. Asylum seekers receiving asylum support may be accommodated in any area of the UK where the Home Office has a supply of accommodation available and ready to use.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the UK Border Force are identifying synthetic drugs being imported into the UK; and what steps is he taking to ensure effective monitoring of this.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Tackling illicit drugs, including potent synthetic opioids, is a priority for the Government, and through our 10-year drugs strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ the Home Office is taking action to tackle drug supply and reduce demand.
Border Force uses intelligence from law enforcement and sources overseas to target action at the border and identify shipments for examination.
The cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce is working with partners such as the NCA, the Department of Health and Social Care and the National Police Chiefs Council to deliver an evidence-based response to the risk posed by synthetic opioids, monitor the effectiveness of the response, including at the border, and to implement effective action to stem the demand and supply of these dangerous substances.
Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Knowledge of English Language requirement for citizenship, whether retesting is required after citizenship has been granted.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
With reference to the Knowledge of English Language requirement for citizenship, retesting is not required after citizenship has been granted.