Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the efficacy of the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The efficacy of the Home Office is regularly assured through a number of accountability mechanisms. These include Home Office questions and the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament.
The annual report and accounts provide a financial and narrative summary of the activities of the Department.
They are published yearly on gov.uk, offering a review of the Home Office's vision and priorities for the year, and are subject to review by the National Audit Office. The latest one to be published covers 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to the Fourth Report of Session 2022–23 of the Home Affairs Select Committee entitled Terrorism (Protection of Premises) draft Bill, HC 1359.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is grateful to the Home Affairs Commitee for the pre-legislative scrutiny undertaken. We remain committed to introducing the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill in this session of Parliament. The Bill which was announced in the King’s Speech on Tuesday 7th November.
Ahead of introduction, we will soon launch a public consultation on proposed amendments to the Bill’s Standard Tier, in light of the recommendations from HASC and wider engagement activity. We recognise the Bill must strike the right balance between public protection and avoiding undue burdens on smaller premises.
The Government is carefully considering its response to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which will be provided alongside a Government response to the consultation.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 2159 on Asylum: Rwanda, where on the Gov.uk website information on legal fees for R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The answer to Question 2159 was corrected on 21 November to give a link to the published data, which was provided to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of responding to legal challenges to the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership as of 15 November 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 198094 on Spiking, on what date he plans to publish the statutory report on spiking.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government will produce and publish a report on the prevalence and nature of spiking and the action that we are taking to tackle it.
The report is yet to be laid before Parliament, but we aim to do so by the end of the year. I will of course write to the Home Affairs Select Committee when I am able to confirm a specific date.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee's report entitled Draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, HC 1359, published 27 July 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We published the draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill on 2 May 2023. As you will be aware, the draft Bill has undertaken pre-legislative scrutiny through the Home Affairs Select Committee who published their report on 27 July.
We thank the committee for their diligent review of the draft measures and for the evidence sessions they hosted. The Government is carefully considering its response, which will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Draft Bill on rural businesses.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Terrorism (Protection of premises) draft Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC). As part of this process, the Home Office have published a full Impact Assessment, which can be found on gov.uk.
A fundamental consideration when developing this draft Bill is proportionality, and it is vital that we balance this against the threat we face today.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June to Question 189803 on Asylum: Children and with reference to oral evidence given by ECPAT UK and Barnardos to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 21 June 2023, how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children (a) were being accommodated in Home Office hotels and (b) remained missing from Home Office hotels on 26 June.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.
Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
There were 154 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) missing as of 8 June 2023. The further data requested cannot be provided as it is from live operational databases, not published data.
If any child goes missing, including an accompanied asylum seeking child, the MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed. A multi-agency, missing persons meeting is chaired by the local authority to establish the young person's whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe. Similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.
The Home Office continue to work with the police and local authorities to ensure the children in our care are safe. The police are responsible for locating any missing children.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pregnant women arrived in the UK by small boat in 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee recently asked a similar question and the response to that is currently under consideration by Ministers. That response will be given to Parliament shortly.