Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Shaws (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the letter by Lord Bates to Lord Rosser on 8 January (DEP2016–0028) and the remarks by Lords Bates on 18 January (HL Deb, col 624), how they arrived at their assessment that in-country seizure could double with the use of the extended powers enabled by the new illegal working offence.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government arrived at this assessment based on the impact of the court’s judgement in the case of Nuro on the ability of Home Office Immigration Enforcement to use Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) cash seizure powers which were conferred on immigration officers by section 24 of the UK Border Act 2007. The courts have held (Nuro v Home Office [2014]) that as it is not a criminal offence for an illegal immigrant who is not subject to immigration conditions to be self employed in the UK, there is insufficient causation between the offence of illegal entry to the UK and obtaining the earnings to apply POCA powers. The creation of the offence of illegal working will address this judgment and provide a broader basis for cash seizure.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Shaws (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people aged (1) 21 and over, and (2) under 21, are known to have returned to the United Kingdom from a conflict zone since January 2014; and of those, how many were (a) charged with an offence and convicted, and (b) not charged but were put under supervision and entered into programmes of deradicalisation.
Answered by Lord Bates
Figures on the number of people who have returned to the UK from all conflict zones are not available. However, the Police have estimated that around 700 people from the UK who are of concern are thought to have travelled to the Syria/Iraq region since the start of the conflict, and that around half of those have returned. All decisions on handling returnees from Syria or Iraq are taken on a case-by-case basis. For some, prosecution for terrorist offences is the right course of action, and this will be a decision for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. For others, it may be that support from mental health or social services might be more appropriate.