Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the response by Baroness Williams of Trafford to Baroness Kennedy of Cradley's oral question on 22 October, what plans they have to establish, as points of contact for minority women who are at risk of exploitation, specific individuals who are familiar with the cultural practices of minority ethnic groups.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Ministry of Justice provides funding to specialist sexual violence services to support victims to cope and, where possible, recover from the impact of crime. On 18 September, we announced an additional £5m to support victims of sexual violence, which commits £32m over three years.
In addition, local Commissioners (be they Police and Crime Commissioners, Local Authorities or health commissioners) will also seek to provide specialist support to victims in their area. To support this, in December 2016 we published the National Statement of Expectations, which sets out a blueprint for local service provision, including how Commissioners can best respond to the needs of minority or marginalised groups.
In 2016/17 MHCLG also provided £300k to Imkaan to build capacity and strengthen specialist BAME organisations, including through training, quality standard accreditation and access to the tools they need to measure their impact.
On 18th September we appointed Nicole Jacobs as the first Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner, who will raise awareness of domestic abuse, stand up for victims, and drive up consistency in the response to domestic abuse. The Commissioner is required to appoint a specific thematic lead within her office to consider and address the needs of BAME victims.
We are also exploring ways to improve support for BAME victims as part of our work to tackle racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of current police officers are from BAME backgrounds; and what assessment they have made of how familiar police officers are with the cultural practices of the communities they are policing.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the ethnicity of police officers on an annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
The latest data show that, as at 31 March 2019, there were 8,329 BAME police officers in the 43 forces in England and Wales, representing 6.9% of all officers who stated their ethnicity.
Police professional training standards are set and maintained by the College of Policing which the Government established as the first professional body for the police in 2012.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurance, if any, they have received that medication brought from new sources other than the EU will meet the same standards as present.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
All human medicines marketed in the United Kingdom must meet stringent requirements for quality, safety and efficacy set out in UK medicines legislation and supporting guidelines. These apply regardless of the source of the medicine.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government body responsible for the safety and licensing of medicines in the UK, regularly inspect pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in the UK and in third countries.
Regardless of the location of the site of manufacture, the manufacturer must demonstrate to the MHRA that the product is manufactured according to the registered UK licence (marketing authorisation) and to at least the minimum standard detailed in the European Union Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice.
In addition, each batch of medicine manufactured in a third country is tested within the UK on import and the manufacturing document reviewed by the license holders Qualified Person before being certified for release to the market.
All these measures will remain in place if the UK leaves the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs in each of the last three years of repatriating to the UK British nationals who are convicted of criminal offences overseas; and whether they intend to pay the same costs for British nationals forced into marriage overseas; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Costs associated with the deportation/return of British citizens to the UK at the end of a criminal sentence abroad are borne by the country seeking to deport/return them.
Victims of forced marriage who are helped to return to the UK by the Forced Marriage Unit will no longer be asked to take out a loan for their repatriation costs. From now on, no one who is assisted by the Forced Marriage Unit - and would previously have been offered a loan - will have to cover the costs of their repatriation. Where possible, the Government will continue to seek to ensure the costs fall on the perpetrators by means of Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPOs). The Government has also agreed to ensure that those victims who have outstanding loans will have no further costs fall to them.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their planned domestic abuse legislation will consider and provide for domestic abuse in communities where men assume that abuse is sanctioned by their faith.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is clear that domestic abuse is a crime irrespective of whether that abuse is claimed to be sanctioned by faith.
We will be publishing a response to our public consultation on domestic abuse, together with a draft Domestic Abuse Bill, later this Parliamentary session.
The draft Bill will clearly define the types of behaviours that comprise domestic abuse be they controlling, coercive, threatening or violent and recognise that abuse can encompass psychological, physical, sexual, economic and emotional harms.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the Prevent Strategy within the NHS as a safeguarding measure to protect those with care and support needs.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service fully embeds the Prevent Statutory Duty of 2015 within its safeguarding responsibilities.
Great strides have been taken to embed Prevent within the health sector to date. For example, since the Prevent Duty made training mandatory over 830,000 NHS staff have received Basic Prevent Awareness training and over 470,000 have attended advanced training.
The Department is committed to engaging with relevant professional bodies and ensure that further opportunities to develop bespoke training for health professionals are undertaken.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they have put in place to protect Muslim citizens from verbal and physical attack and abuse on religious grounds.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government deplores all hate crime including Islamophobia and is committed to tackling it. Nobody should be a target for hate because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability.
We have a strong legal framework in place with criminal penalties for offences such as incitement to religious hatred, racially or religiously aggravated offences such as intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress, as well as increased sentences for offences motivated by prejudice hostility or prejudice based on a person’s real or perceived religion.
We support Tell MAMA in their work to encourage greater reporting of anti-Muslim hatred and to support victims of hate crime. We also fund projects such as Streetwise and the Anne Frank Trust to work with young people to tackle prejudice and discrimination which may lay the foundations for hate crime in the future.
If anyone feels they have been a victim of hate crime, they should report this directly to their local police force, through the online True Vision portal or to Tell MAMA, who will be able to provide assistance and proceed appropriately.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 18 June, whether they will take steps to improve the treatment by immigration officers of British citizens accompanying non-British born spouses entering the UK; and what those measures will be.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Border Force expects high standards of professionalism of its officers in their dealings with all members of the public, regardless of their nationality or status.
Border Force follows strict guidelines with regards to discrimination, and officers undergo intensive training prior to taking up their positions. Border Force does not tolerate any breach of these principles.
Complaints about Border Force and the services it provides are treated seriously and are used as an opportunity to improve services.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safe and timely return of passports submitted to the Home Office by spouses of British citizens wishing to come to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Passports submitted by the spouses of British Citizens who are applying to come to the UK are usually held at an UKVI Decision Making Centre pending a decision being made.
The passports are stored securely and returned to customers directly by courier or via a Visa Application Centre at various locations overseas once the consideration process is completed. The transfer and transit of passports between Decision Making Centres and the Visa Applications Centres is closely monitored and records of each shipment move are kept.
There is also the opportunity where UKVI can assess applications from digital images of passports. However, the physical passport is required for UKVI to affix a vignette when a decision is made.
In most locations there is an option for customers to keep their passport until a decision has been made on their application with payment of an additional fee.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued to government departments, local authorities and other public bodies and agencies to avoid referring to British citizens by their creed, race or colour other than in contexts in which it is strictly necessary to do so.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has issued no such guidance and has no plans to do so.