Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what monitoring arrangements are in place to ensure that the law relating to entry to, and departure from, the UK of non-UK citizens is enforced in the Common Travel Area.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from within the CTA, with no immigration checks whatsoever on the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. However, everyone entering the UK, regardless of where they enter from, is required to meet UK immigration framework. The UK does conduct intelligence-led controls on CTA routes, including away from the land border in Northern Ireland. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Anyone identified attempting to circumvent UK border controls is liable to be removed, if they are not lawfully present within the UK.
We also work closely with Ireland to secure the external CTA border, including data sharing and operational co-operation.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they have taken to ensure that people who are not permitted to enter the UK are prevented entry when they seek to enter through the Common Travel Area via the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from within the CTA, with no immigration checks whatsoever on the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. However, everyone entering the UK, regardless of where they enter from, is required to meet UK immigration framework. The UK does conduct intelligence-led controls on CTA routes, including away from the land border in Northern Ireland. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Anyone identified attempting to circumvent UK border controls is liable to be removed, if they are not lawfully present within the UK.
We also work closely with Ireland to secure the external CTA border, including data sharing and operational co-operation.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to tackle the threat of online personal scams to vulnerable people.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government’s Joint Fraud Taskforce (a coalition between government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector) continues to lead an ambitious programme of work to design out and prevent fraud that occurs both online and offline. This includes theTake Five fraud awareness campaign, designed to urge the public and businesses to take time to consider whether a situation they find themselves in is genuine.
Online personal scams are increasingly perpetrated via cyber-enabled methods. To protect victims, the Government set up the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in October 2016. The NCSC is the UK’s technical authority on cyber security and provides a single, central body for cyber security at a national level. The NCSC works very closely with law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community to help prevent, disrupt and investigate cyber-crime and other online cyber related threats. In 2018 the NCSC took down 22,133 phishing campaigns, including 14,124 UK government-related phishing sites, and the total number of takedowns of fraudulent websites was 192,256, across 2018, with 64% of them down in 24 hours.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many human rights advisors are employed by police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on ensuring that UK citizens who were ISIS fighters and are imprisoned in Iraq and Syria cannot evade justice.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The UK Government is clear that those individuals who have fought for, or supported Daesh, whatever their nationality, should face justice and accountability through prosecution in the most appropriate jurisdiction, which will often be within the region where their offences have been committed.
We welcome international efforts and continue to work closely with international partners to find a sustainable, long-term solution to the complex issue of suspected Daesh terrorists, and in the pursuit of justice of those who have participated in terrorism overseas.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the (a) hospitality and (b) tourism sectors on training people to detect warning signs of potential victims of human trafficking.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The hospitality and tourism sectors have an important role in identifying and preventing modern slavery. Home Office officials regularly engage with businesses and industry bodies and have supported several initiatives to train staff and raise awareness of modern slavery.
The National Crime Agency supported the Shiva foundation to produce a Stop Slavery Blueprint to help hoteliers to identify and prevent modern slavery. http://www.shivafoundation.org.uk/blueprint/#1534166149795-46b5e29a-c1e9
The Home Office has published factsheets and posters on how to protect workers and spot the signs of slavery in the hospitality industry. Factsheets can be found here. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/638774/FACTSHEET_Modern_Slavery_Hospitality_v2_WEB.PDF
Border Force works with airlines, port operators and travel agents to help their staff to spot the signs of modern slavery including developing e-learning which is being used to train thousands of staff and a referral process for airlines to report concerns through the Modern Slavery Helpline.
In May 2018, Border Force led an operation at airports across the UK specifically targeting flights to the Balearic Islands to warn young travellers about the risks of labour exploitation.