Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Home Office has spent on the Issues in Countering Terrorism course by the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London in the last 12 months, and on what dates the training has taken place.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Issues in Countering Terrorism course, delivered by King's College London, was held four times in 2023: 28th February to 2nd March; 28th to 30th March; 18th, 19th and 21st September; and 18th to 20th December. The FCDO has spent £109,583.68 on those courses in total, with 32 people attending each course. The course is administered through a Cabinet Office contract.
Civil servants attend a variety of training courses in order to learn. As required by the Civil Service Code, and as the public rightly expects, all civil servants must act impartially.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide further advice to the Metropolitan Police and other territorial police forces as to the selection of, and relationships with, strategic partners, with a view to ensuring diversity in approach but excluding partnerships with those who have expressed extremist views, following recent reports concerning two members of the London Muslim Communities Forum.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Police operate independently from the Home Office. The Prevent Duty Guidance (2023) provides recommendations to police on what to consider when conducting due diligence and ensuring they have an understanding of associated risks.
The Government does not tolerate those who spread divisive and harmful narratives and efforts to counter extremism span a broad range of Government and law enforcement activity and we must persist in our efforts to challenge extremist narratives, disrupt the activity of radicalising groups, and directly tackle the causes of radicalisation.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 20 July (HL8823), what steps, if any, they will take to inform parliamentarians of the conclusion of the review into UK visas being granted to such high risk individuals; and whether they will facilitate broader parliamentary scrutiny of this matter.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
As stated in my previous response, for national security reasons it would not be appropriate to disclose the criteria by which high risk individuals are identified or the basis of any review of these criteria.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 11 July (HL8821) and Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 4 July (HL8822), what assessment has been made by (1) the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, and (2) the Home Office, of the suitability of the Islamic Human Rights Commission and IHRC Legal in light of the official warning of the Charity Commission in relation to the Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Islamic Human Rights Commission Ltd is currently registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). The OISC keeps in close contact with the organisation and audits it regularly.
Organisations seeking regulation by the Commissioner are required to abide by the OISC's Guidance on Fitness (Owners). The criteria for assessing fitness include the likelihood of compliance with the OISC's Regulatory Scheme, a history of honesty and legal compliance, as well as a history of financial probity.
The OISC is a non-departmental arms’ length body of the Home Office. The Home Office is satisfied that the OISC is undertaking appropriate assessments in relation to the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 6 March (HL6140), whether they intend to conduct a review into UK visas given to Religious Workers or Ministers of Religion from Iran; and if so, what is the timetable for doing so.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office is fully aware of the risks associated with this route.
The Home Office regularly reviews the criteria used to identify persons who may pose a higher risk to the UK, with scrutiny given to each application the Home Office receives and additional interventions taken where required. For national security reasons, it would not be appropriate to disclose these criteria, nor the timing of when these reviews take place.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Islamic Human Rights Commission, through IHRC Legal, continues to be listed by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner as a fit organisation to provide immigration advice.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Islamic Human Rights Commission Ltd is currently registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). The OISC keeps in close contact with the organisation, and audits it regularly.
Organisations seeking regulation by the Commissioner are required to abide by the OISC’s Guidance on Fitness (Owners). The criteria for assessing fitness includes the likelihood of compliance with the OISC's Regulatory Scheme, a history of honesty and legal compliance, as well as a history of financial probity.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to prevent Salah Hamouri, who was convicted in Israel in 2005 of plotting to murder a rabbi, from speaking at events in the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.
The Home Secretary has a range of powers and tools that can be used to prevent someone from entering to the UK on a case-by-case basis if it is assessed that they pose a threat to UK society.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new blasphemy guidance being developed by the Home Office will be legally binding upon schools; how they are planning to make schools aware of their new responsibilities under this guidance; and how it will be enforced.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In response to recent incidents, the Government has been repeatedly clear that there is no blasphemy law in Great Britain.
There are currently no plans to develop new blasphemy guidance for schools.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) religious workers visas, and (2) Minister of Religion visas, have been issued to Iranian subjects since July 2015; who were those visas issued to; and what plans they have, if any, to review this system.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release. Data on ‘Religious Worker (previously Tier 5)’ visas issued to Iranian nationals are published in table Vis_D02 of the ‘Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes’ detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q4 (October to December) 2022.
We are unable to discuss individual cases for GDPR reasons.
There are no plans to review the Immigration Rules governing Religious Workers or Ministers of Religion.