Home Office

As a result of changes implemented under The Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc.) Act 2019 all marriages in England and Wales are registered in an electronic register by a registrar for the district in which the marriage took place rather than in hard copy registers.

The Church of England were fully involved in the development of this policy, including direct engagement with Home Office Ministers. The Church of England has been supportive of the move to an electronic system of registration, including the move to include Mothers on Marriage Certificates as part of this.

The Home Office remains committed to ensuring those who are eligible can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), including those who are vulnerable, need extra support or are harder to reach.

£22 million of funding, through to 30 September 2021, has been awarded to a network of 72 charities and local authorities across the UK, to ensure important information and assistance gets through to those who are hardest to reach, and no one is left behind. This support has continued beyond the 30 June 2021 deadline to ensure continuing support for vulnerable citizens applying late

Guidance on how to apply and details of the support available to applicants is available through the EU Settlement Resolution Centre (SRC), which is open seven days a week to provide assistance over the telephone and by email, and the SRC also provides a direct line for organisations, charities, social workers, and local authorities working with vulnerable groups.

We are working closely with the Grant-funded Network (GFN) and other key stakeholders, collating feedback, to help establish the needs and scale of support beyond September 2021.

Since the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) opened in March 2019, the Home Office has undertaken a broad range of communications and stakeholder engagement activity to encourage EU, European Economic Area (EEA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nationals, and their family members, to apply for status under the EUSS and to explain why they should do so and secure their rights under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements.

We launched a further wave of UK-wide advertising in mid-May to help ensure they were aware of the EUSS and its benefits and of how to apply and access support in doing so if they needed it, although existing ILR holders need not apply. This built on the successful campaign already delivered – with £7.9 million having now been invested in such activity – with targeted adverts appearing on social media, website banners, catch up TV and radio up to the application deadline of 30 June.

The Home Office has also made available £22 million in grant funding for a network of now 72 organisations across the UK, which includes charities, local authorities and community groups, to engage with vulnerable groups and help them apply to the EUSS.

We are also continuing to engage with local authorities, the Devolved Administrations, employers, community groups and others to raise awareness of the EUSS and encourage those eligible who are yet to apply to do so.

Since the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) opened in March 2019, the Home Office has undertaken a broad range of communications and stakeholder engagement activity to encourage EU, European Economic Area (EEA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nationals, and their family members, to apply for status under the EUSS and to explain why they should do so and secure their rights under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements.

We launched a further wave of UK-wide advertising in mid-May to help ensure they were aware of the EUSS and its benefits and of how to apply and access support in doing so if they needed it, although existing ILR holders need not apply. This built on the successful campaign already delivered – with £7.9 million having now been invested in such activity – with targeted adverts appearing on social media, website banners, catch up TV and radio up to the application deadline of 30 June.

The Home Office has also made available £22 million in grant funding for a network of now 72 organisations across the UK, which includes charities, local authorities and community groups, to engage with vulnerable groups and help them apply to the EUSS.

We are also continuing to engage with local authorities, the Devolved Administrations, employers, community groups and others to raise awareness of the EUSS and encourage those eligible who are yet to apply to do so.

Decisions on prosecution is a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service, based on evidence provided to them by law enforcement agencies, including the Police.

On the question of fines, data on the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued under the COVID-19 regulations by police forces in England and Wales is published by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) on a monthly basis and can be found on the NPCC website.

The latest publication from 28th June 2021 can be found here and displays a list of the reasons for FPNs being processed:

https://cdn.prgloo.com/media/fefef3f0ea8241018b9bda2d33fa95be.pdf

Border Force Maritime Command’s fleet includes five cutters and six coastal patrol vessels as well as niche capability in the form of tactical watercraft (TWC) and dedicated mobile RHIB capability. Each cutter carries a jet driven RHIB capable of delivering a boarding team. The type of asset deployed will reflect the operational task and may be deployed as a standalone asset or as a combination, to allow for a broad range of tactical options, that can respond to a specific threat or event.

Border Force Vessels undertake strategic patrols, tactical surveillance and enforcement activity in support of Border Force and other government agencies providing a law enforcement capability at sea.

As a minimum a Cutter and two CPV’s will be permanently deployed to the south east to the 30-mile stretch of coast covering the Dover Straits with additional vessels deployed as operationally required.

We note the provisional agreement between the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament on a Regulation to create an EU asylum agency.

We will monitor further developments in relation to implementation of this legislation.

The ‘Face Behind the Case’ e-learning is for UKVI staff, to highlight the impact decisions have on our customers.

As of 28 June 2021, the training has been completed by 10,132 officials across the Home Office.

As this is an ongoing investigation, the decision to offer a reward for information, and other tactics deployed to further the work needed to bring a resolution to the case, is an independent operational matter for South Yorkshire Police.

Since 2019 we have invested over £65m to tackle county lines and drug supply. Through our county lines programme we have surged our activity against these ruthless gangs. This has already resulted in more than 1,100 lines closed, over 6,300 arrests, and more than 1,900 vulnerable adults and children safeguarded.

The police have a range of orders available to respond to county lines activity, including Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restrictions Orders (DDTROs). Through our County Lines programme the National County Lines Coordination Centre has established a dedicated orders team to promote and maximise the use of civil orders to tackle county lines, with a particular focus on DDTROs.

We are also working collaboratively with HMPPS to ensure there is a co-ordinated and robust response to disrupt county lines, as well as safeguarding vulnerable individuals from being involved in this offending.

The Home Office has been working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure forces have sufficient resourcing and guidance to operate safely. This includes managing crowded areas, such as during protests and other events. The NPCC also issued guidance to forces on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to ensure that officers carrying out critical services are not put at risk.

We will continue to work extremely closely with police, alongside the NPCC, to ensure forces receive the equipment and guidance they need, when they need it, in order to carry out their jobs safely.

Following the deletion of a number of No Further Action Cases the Home Secretary and I commissioned an independent review, led by an external panel chaired by Lord Hogan-Howe, to investigate how this happened and to ensure the necessary lessons are learned to avoid similar incidents in the future.

The review sets out a wide range of recommendations for both the Home Office as well as the Police to address the underlying factors that led to this unacceptable incident. Both the Home Office and the Police have accepted all the recommendations in full and work is already underway to take the necessary steps to respond to them.

A summary of the review was published in the House on 24 May.

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reviewed the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) in September 2020 and did not recommend adding early years workers to the UK SOL. A copy of the report can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-shortage-occupation-list-2020

The MAC found there was a low vacancy rate for primary and nursery teachers and a lack of evidence of shortage, although Gaelic medium teachers remain on the Scotland-only SOL.

An occupation does not need to be on the SOL to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa. Upon advice from the MAC, the Government broadened the eligibility of the route, enabling more roles to qualify in early years education and other sectors.

We have a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in-line with our international obligations. But we have been clear that individuals in need of protection should avoid making dangerous journeys and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety. The Nationality and Borders Bill will set up a range of measures to deter people from undertaking dangerous journeys via unauthorised routes.

As set out in the New Plan for Immigration, we are committed to review the refugee family reunion rules. Refugee family reunion will only be permitted where refusing would be a breach of our international obligations. In practice, this means refugees will be able to sponsor their spouse or partner and under-18 children if they can show there are insurmountable obstacles to their relationship continuing anywhere other than the UK and it is in the child’s best interests.

We have a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in-line with our international obligations. But we have been clear that individuals in need of protection should avoid making dangerous journeys and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety. The Nationality and Borders Bill will set up a range of measures to deter people from undertaking dangerous journeys via unauthorised routes.

As set out in the New Plan for Immigration, we are committed to review the refugee family reunion rules. Refugee family reunion will only be permitted where refusing would be a breach of our international obligations. In practice, this means refugees will be able to sponsor their spouse or partner and under-18 children if they can show there are insurmountable obstacles to their relationship continuing anywhere other than the UK and it is in the child’s best interests.

Since 2015 we have resettled more than 25,000 refugees through safe and legal resettlement routes direct from regions of conflict and instability - around half of whom were children. In addition to this our current family reunion policy has welcomed over 29,000 individuals to the UK in the last 5 years. The UK continues to welcome people through the global UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), as well as through the Community Sponsorship and Mandate Resettlement Schemes and our refugee family reunion policy. This commitment, alongside a fair but firm asylum system, will ensure we continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees in need of protection.

The New Plan for Immigration will strengthen safe and legal protection routes to the UK by ensuring our resettlement schemes are accessible and fair, resettling refugees from countries where the need is greatest, increasing the integration support of those we welcome, increasing opportunities for community participation in resettlement, supporting access to work visas for highly skilled displaced people and providing more flexibility to help people in truly exceptional and compelling circumstances.

Over three years, the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has been allocated £21 million from the Home Office’s Serious Violence Fund (SVF) to bring together key partners across health, education, policing, the criminal justice system, amongst others to identify the drivers of serious violence in London and deliver a tailored response to tackle them.

The VRU have utilised this funding to deliver a wide range of interventions which supported over 2750 young people in 2020/21. This includes innovative projects like the DIVERT programme, which engages with young people in custody immediately following a serious violence incident at a ‘teachable moment’ when they are expected to be most likely to change their behaviour.

This £21 million investment includes a £7 million allocation for London in the 2021/22 financial year. We have worked closely with the VRU on the development of their proposals for the year ahead, collaborating to ensure that effective interventions, structures, and partners are in place to respond to the root causes of violence across London’s 32 boroughs. These proposals have since been agreed and activity is being delivered throughout the summer months.

Future funding decisions are subject to the ongoing Spending Review, and we will engage with HM Treasury on proposals in due course as part of the departmental settlement. Whilst we cannot pre-empt the potential outcome of that process, we do recognise the need for VRUs to function as long-term, sustainable organisations and are working hard to achieve this.

The UK has a long history of supporting refugees in need of protection. Our resettlement schemes have provided safe and legal routes for tens of thousands of people to start new lives in the UK.

The UK is a global leader in resettlement and resettled more refugees from outside Europe than any EU member state every year between 2016 and 2019.

Overall, since 2015, we have resettled more than 25,000 refugees through safe and legal routes direct from regions of conflict and instability - around half of whom were children.

The UK continues to welcome refugees through the global UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), as well as through the Community Sponsorship and Mandate Resettlement Schemes. This commitment, alongside a fair and firm asylum system, will ensure we continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for vulnerable refugees in need of protection. Our focus will remain on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability.

Refugee resettlement to the UK is based on need, as assessed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who adhere to humanitarian principles including impartiality, rather than any specific ethnicity or religion.

Refugee resettlement statistics are published through official statistics at quarterly intervals. These statistics can be broken down by nationality. We do not publish data on ethnicity or religious affiliation. The next set of statistics will be published in August and will include the number of people resettled up to end of June 2021. These are available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

As set out in the New Plan for Immigration, the UK will continue to work with the UNHCR to ensure our resettlement schemes are accessible and fair, resettling refugees from countries where the need is greatest, and ensuring those in need of resettlement can access it.

The UK has a long history of supporting refugees in need of protection. Our resettlement schemes have provided safe and legal routes for tens of thousands of people to start new lives in the UK.

The UK is a global leader in resettlement and resettled more refugees from outside Europe than any EU member state every year between 2016 and 2019.

Overall, since 2015, we have resettled more than 25,000 refugees through safe and legal routes direct from regions of conflict and instability - around half of whom were children.

The UK continues to welcome refugees through the global UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), as well as through the Community Sponsorship and Mandate Resettlement Schemes. This commitment, alongside a fair and firm asylum system, will ensure we continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for vulnerable refugees in need of protection. Our focus will remain on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability.

This proposed adult registration clause in the Nationality and Borders Bill would allow the Home Secretary discretion to grant citizenship in circumstances where a person could have become British but for historical legislative unfairness, an act or omission by a public authority, or exceptional circumstances of the particular individual.

This is one of a number of measures which need to be approved by Parliament, and so we cannot be specific at this time how the discretion will be used.

Climate change is not recognised under the 1951 Refugee Convention and, therefore, cannot be used as a justification for requesting or granting international protection.

Evidence shows that climate extremes and environmental degradation are often amplifiers of other principal migration drivers (economic, social and political), but decisions to migrate are rarely mono-causal. As climate change increases its impact on migration it is imperative that efforts are redoubled to limit warming and to help vulnerable people to adapt to change. Climate change is a reality that requires greater and more coordinated adaptation and mitigation planning.

It would not be appropriate to provide information or details in relation to a specific case.

It would not be appropriate to provide information or details in relation to a specific case.

There is more information on referrals available at: Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There is also information available on issues (including modern slavery) raised by people in immigration detention available at: Issues raised by people facing return in immigration detention - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

It is vitally important that we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime. The Government understands the importance of tackling this issue from all angles – whether that is providing support to prevent young people from getting involved in crime, or providing the police with the tools they need to bring knife offenders to justice.

Since 2018, we have invested £105.5m into multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in 18 areas most affected by serious violence. The VRUs bring together local partners to deliver an effective, joined up approach to tackling violent crime and its drivers – and they have reached over 100,000 young people in their first year.

We are investing up to £23m this year in new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, and our Creating Opportunities Forum will provide meaningful employment-related opportunities and raise the aspirations of young people at risk of being drawn into serious violence and knife crime.

In addition, our £200m 10 year Youth Endowment Fund is testing what works to divert young people away from serious violence.

This year, we have provided an extra £30m this year for the police forces with the highest rates of serious violence in England and Wales. This funding is supporting the police to deter and disrupt knife crime in areas that need it most.

However, we know there is still more to do. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill includes a duty on public sector bodies to take a joined-up approach to addressing serious violence; the requirement for local agencies to review the circumstances when an adult homicide takes place involving an offensive weapon; and Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which give the police the authority to stop and search known knife and weapons carriers.

The responses to the Protect Duty consultation, which closed on 2nd July, provides a basis for Government to consider the scope and requirements of the Protect Duty, alongside assessing the impacts on those parties potentially within scope. These considerations will also consider the potential for unintended consequences and indirect implications of introducing the Duty.

The Government is mindful places of worship differ significantly in the nature of their function and operation from other locations potentially within the scope of the Protect Duty proposals. This is balanced against the threat posed by terrorism, and a need to ensure there are effective security measures at public places, regardless of their nature.

The Government will be carefully considering the issues raised within the consultation and our engagement events, including those discussed with representatives of different faith communities, before considering next steps.

The freedom to peacefully protest across the country is a fundamental right that this Government is proud to support.

However, this Government will strengthen police powers to tackle non-violent protests that cause significant disruption to essential services. This is why we are introducing powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to establish a fair balance between the rights of protesters and the rights and freedoms of others.

The Government stands resolute in its commitment to tackle Organised Immigration Crime (OIC). We continue to pursue the Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) who facilitate illegal travel to the UK and who exploit vulnerable migrants, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations.

In March 2021, the Government published the New Plan for Immigration containing provisions to establish legislation to deter illegal entry into the UK, thereby breaking the business model of criminal people smuggling networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger. In July 2021, the Government introduced this legislation through the Nationality and Borders Bill.

We continue to take action against the highly dangerous and illegal entry methods facilitated by these gangss. Police patrols on French beaches and enhanced intelligence sharing between our security and law enforcement agencies has helped to prevent around 8,000 people from making the Channel crossing to the UK so far this year

The Government has taken steps to tackle organised crime on social media platforms, reducing the space in which gangss operate. In March 2021, I met with the National Crime Agency and senior representatives from social media companies to discuss how they can more effectively tackle oraganised crime online and a planned approach is being finalised.

Reinforcing this commitment, in June 2021 the Home Secretary wrote to CEOs of key social media companies urging them to do substantially more to proactively identify and remove posts promoting organised crime , particularly illegal Channel crossings.

The UK already provides a safe and legal route to bring families together through its refugee family reunion policy. The current refugee family reunion policy allows a partner and children under 18 of those granted protection in the UK to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country. Over 29,000 visas have been issued under this policy in the last 5 years. Under the family reunion policy, we do not restrict where someone has to be in order to make an application.

As set out in the New Plan for Immigration, the Government committed to review safe and legal routes to the UK and has a statutory duty to conduct a public consultation on family reunion for UASC in the EU. We have now completed the consultation as part of the wider consultation on the New Plan for Immigration. We have carefully considered the responses and a report, laid in Parliament on 22 July 2021, on the outcome of the review of safe and legal routes confirms the UK wants to be bold and ambitious in the safe and legal routes it provides.

New Plan for Immigration - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Government is clear foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.

Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity and since January 2019 we have removed 7,985.

For non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, deportation will be pursued where it is conducive to the public good including where a person receives a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, commits an offence that caused serious harm or is a persistent offender. European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss citizens, and their family members, who are protected by the EU Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020 are considered for deportation on public policy and public security grounds where it concerns conduct (including any criminal convictions relating to it) committed on or before 31 December 2020.

Our New Plan for Immigration and provisions in the Nationality and Borders Bill will make it easier to deport foreign criminals with no right to be in the UK and keep our citizens safe. Further information can be found in New Plan for Immigration: policy statement (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This Government has a strong track record of helping child asylum seekers. In the year ending March 2021, we granted protection or other leave to over 2,333 vulnerable children, and over 46,000 since 2010.

Through the Nationality and Borders Bill, we will strengthen our ability to help those who need our help, while preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it.

UK citizens going to the EU for shorts stays and EU, EEA and Swiss citizens visiting the UK are already visa free. Musicians and performers can already undertake short-term touring without visas and permits in at least 18 Member States.

EU visa waiver agreements are also subject to the provisions of Article 6 (3) of REGULATION (EU) 2018/1806 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL which sets out an individual Member State may still decide to require a visa for short stays for people carrying out a paid activity during their stay.

The EU’s draft text for the Trade and Cooperation Agreement included a visa waiver agreement, which would have prohibited the parties from introducing visa requirement on visitors from the other party unless those visitors were carrying out a paid activity (i.e. service supply or performance) during their stay. In the event they were carrying out a paid activity individual Member States could apply a visa requirement to this category of service suppliers. The ability of the UK to apply visas would have been restricted only to reciprocating by applying a visa requirement to the same category supplier for the individual member state.

The EU’s proposal would also have prevented the UK from introducing or maintaining visit visas on any future EU Member State, not just on existing ones. In effect handing to the European Union the ability to make a country a non-visa national for travel to the UK without the consent or approval of the UK.

The Government is now focusing on bilateral engagement with Member States to encourage them to more closely align with the UK's generous regime.

My department published the key findings of Sir Craig Mackey’s Review on 16 March 2021. The recent Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy set out the Government’s priorities for tackling serious and organised crime in response to Sir Craig’s Review, including strengthening the NCA and increasing regional and local policing capacity. We will assess future funding needed as part of the next spending review.

In terms of the operational response, the Agency has a wide range of capabilities and functions that operate across different threat areas including economic crime. We are unable to provide a figure for the number of full-time equivalent staff who have been employed by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle economic crime for the past three years as many units contribute to the efforts in different and varying amounts.

However, we are able to report on the number of staff within the Economic Crime Command which includes the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU).

The following table contains the approximate number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff for the Economic Crime Command, UK Financial Intelligence Unit and NECC since 2018. This is therefore a partial figure that does not reflect, for example, officers in Intelligence and Investigations Commands who conduct work in this threat area.

An important element of tackling economic crime and illicit finance is by denying criminals the benefit of their crimes. This disrupts organised crime groups and illicit finance flows and on this we have achieved some significant successes. The NCA’s success in denying criminal assets over the same three years totals £646.5m, which could have derived from any serious and organised crime threat. This demonstrates one element of our impact across all illicit finance for which we have readily available data.

The National Crime Agency (NCA)’s overall budget is distributed across the agency according to need and operational priority. As serious and organised crime threats change, the agency retains the ability to flex its resources to react. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of budget allocated to tackling economic crime as there are a number of agency wide capabilities and functions that all commands have access to. We are, however, able to provide the total expenditure by the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) which provides a partial figure of expenditure for our overall response to tackling economic crime.

The NCA Annual Report and Accounts provide the following Gross Expenditure over the past three years:

2018/19 - Gross expenditure for the Prosperity Command - £22.0m (Note the NECC was formally launched on 31 October 2018, before which the NCA’s Prosperity Command fulfilled some of the same functions. In the 2019/20 Annual Report, an apportionment of £6.7m in 2018/19 was made for the NECC.)

2019/20 - Gross expenditure for the NECC - £30.0m

2020/21 – Gross expenditure for the NECC - £35.5m

An important element of tackling economic crime and illicit finance is by denying criminals the benefit of their crimes. This disrupts organised crime groups and illicit finance flows and on this we have achieved some significant successes. The NCA’s success in denying criminal assets over the same three years totals £646.5m, which could have derived from any serious and organised crime threat. This demonstrates one element of our impact across all illicit finance for which we have readily available data.

Home Office Ministers have confirmed they do not use personal accounts to conduct government business.

The Home Office has tasked a sub-group of the Windrush Cross-Government Working Group (WWG) to independently advise the Home Secretary on what the Migrants’ Commissioner role should look like, including who and what it should cover, and the best model for delivering it.

The Sub-group will make their recommendations for the Home Secretary’s consideration prior to Wendy Williams’ return to inspect the Department’s progress in September.

The government remains extremely grateful to those who served in the Hong Kong Military Service Corps.

Under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, introduced in 1990 and run until 1 July 1997, a limited number of Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who were settled in Hong Kong could apply to register as British citizens.

We give careful consideration to representations made on behalf of those former Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel.

Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who hold British National (Overseas) status, or are an immediate family member of someone who holds this status, may be eligible for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route which was launched on 31 January 2021.

The government remains extremely grateful to those who served in the Hong Kong Military Service Corps.

Under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, introduced in 1990 and run until 1 July 1997, a limited number of Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who were settled in Hong Kong could apply to register as British citizens.

We give careful consideration to representations made on behalf of those former Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel.

Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who hold British National (Overseas) status, or are an immediate family member of someone who holds this status, may be eligible for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route which was launched on 31 January 2021.

The government remains extremely grateful to those who served in the Hong Kong Military Service Corps.

Under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, introduced in 1990 and run until 1 July 1997, a limited number of Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who were settled in Hong Kong could apply to register as British citizens.

We give careful consideration to representations made on behalf of those former Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel.

Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who hold British National (Overseas) status, or are an immediate family member of someone who holds this status, may be eligible for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route which was launched on 31 January 2021.

The Home Office publishes information on the number hate crime offences recorded by the police by monitored strand, including racial hate crime, in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level. The latest data, including figures for Lancashire, are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2019-to-2020

The hate crime collection was expanded on April 2021 to include information on the ethnicity of racially motivated offences. These data will be published in due course.

All asylum and human rights applications from Eritrean nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.

Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw. The Eritrean Country Policy and Information Notes (available on gov.uk) outlines our position.

We cannot comment on individual cases however our assessment states the vast majority of Eritreans base their asylum claim on their desertion from, or evasion of, compulsory national service as well as the potential consequences of such (for example: leaving the country illegally).

The Home Office publishes data on the number of applications for asylum in the UK, broken down by nationality, in its quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The number of applications made by Eritreans in each year are available in table Asy_01C (Main Applicants; Asylum, volume 1).

Latest edition available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2021/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement

Over three years, through the Serious Violence Fund (SVF), the Home Office has invested a total of £242 million in the 18 police force areas in England and Wales that are most affected by serious violence.

£105.5 million of this has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in these areas, whilst the remaining £136.5 million of the SVF has been invested to support the police in taking targeted action to respond to serious violence, including knife crime. Northumbria PCC has been allocated £4,800,000 since 2019 to set-up and develop their VRU, whilst Northumbria Police has been allocated £4,750,685 for operational activity.

The 18 areas in receipt of the SVF have been selected for funding based on their volumes of hospital admissions relating to injury with a sharp object, which represents the most consistent and reliable data source for serious violence. Collectively, these areas have accounted for 80% of total relevant admissions, allowing the SVF to focus on a significant majority of the serious violence problem across England and Wales. Total allocations to the selected areas reflect the proportion of relevant admissions in each area.

Future serious violence funding and potential allocation models will be carefully considered in the context of Departmental priorities through the upcoming Spending Review process. Whilst we cannot pre-empt the potential outcome of that process, we do recognise the need for VRUs to function as long-term, sustainable organisations delivering a ‘whole-systems’ approach to tackling serious violence and are working hard to achieve this.