Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government values the role of Europol in helping law enforcement agencies coordinate investigations in cross border serious and organised crime. That is why the UK opted-in to the new Europol Regulation, which came into force on 1 May 2017, enabling us to maintain our current access to the agency and to continue to benefit from its cooperation and operational advantages.
Europol has a budget of £82mn (€95mn) and is centrally funded from the EU budget. The UK contributes to the budget as a whole, not to individual projects. The UK financing share (net of the rebate) of the 2016 EU budget was 13.45%.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European body for the enhancement of judicial cooperation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government values the role of Eurojust and that is why Eurojust was one of the measures we rejoined in December 2014 as part of the decision under Protocol (No. 36) to the EU Treaties to opt out of all pre-Lisbon JHA legislation and opt back into 35 key measures.
Eurojust can lead to improved criminal justice outcomes by ensuring that investigators and prosecutors share information and evidence, agree strategies and co-ordinate activity in order to tackle cross-border criminality in a more efficient and effective manner.
Eurojust has a budget of £29.285m (€34m) and is centrally funded from the EU budget. The UK contributes to the budget as a whole, not to individual projects. The UK financing share (net of the rebate) of the 2016 EU budget was 13.45%.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Agency for the operational management of large IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The European Agency for the operational management of large IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (also known as eu-LISA) manages the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), the EURODAC system for storing the fingerprints of asylum seekers and certain illegal migrants and the Schengen Visa Information System (VIS). Of these, the UK takes part in EURODAC and the police and judicial cooperation aspects of SIS II. The Government considers that eu-LISA manages these systems effectively.
The UK contributes to eu-LISA for the management of the systems we take part in. Our contribution is made through our payment to the EU budget as a whole, and not through a direct payment to eu-LISA.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Asylum Support Office.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) plays an important role in supporting asylum cooperation between Member States and in helping those Member States whose asylum and reception systems are under pressure. EASO is funded directly by the EU budget.
The Government continues to support the principle of EU hotspots and has deployed resources through EASO to the hotspots in Italy and Greece.
Last year, the Government took a decision not to opt in to the proposed EU Agency for Asylum, which will replace EASO. The Government’s key consideration was the significant amount of oversight of the UK asylum system, which would be given to the Agency should the UK choose to participate. Written Ministerial Statement HCWS373 of 16 December refers.
Until the UK leaves the EU, there will be no immediate changes to how the UK engages with EASO. Until then, we remain a full member of EASO, maintaining voting rights at the management board and playing a strong role in influencing EU asylum policy.
The Government will consider the UK’s future relationship with the EU in terms of asylum cooperation as part of the broader EU exit negotiations.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their action plan to tackle female genital mutilation; and what assessment they have made of the success of that plan to date.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. That is why our work to end this practice is an integral part of the cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, which is backed by increased funding of £100M.
We have significantly strengthened the law, including introducing a new offence of failing to protect a girl from FGM, lifelong anonymity for victims, and a mandatory reporting duty requiring specified professionals to report known cases in under 18s to the police. We have also introduced FGM Protection Orders to protect women and girls at the earliest opportunity. These are already being used to good effect - since their introduction in July 2015, over 100 orders have been made.
Raising awareness amongst frontline professionals is essential. That is why in April 2016 we published multi-agency guidance on FGM, which is statutory for the first time, and have developed free e-learning which has been completed by over 100,000 individuals to date. The Home Office’s FGM Unit is carrying out awareness raising outreach across the UK. These tools are helping increase awareness, encourage good practice, and support training.
Significant work is under way to improve the response from health and social care professionals. The Department of Health, in partnership with the NHS, is leading a £4m national FGM Prevention Programme, and as part of the Department for Education’s £200m Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme a range of projects have been funded. DfE have also invested £375,000 to raise awareness amongst school staff and pupils.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many EU nationals in the United Kingdom have obtained the right to permanent residency; and how many applications for permanent residency are pending.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
EU nationals who have lived continuously and lawfully in the UK for at least 5 years automatically acquire a permanent right to reside under EU law. They can if they wish apply for documentation to confirm this right but there is no obligation nor requirement to do so. Statistics on grants of Documents Certifying Permanent Residence issued to EEA nationals are published quarterly in table ee_02_q of Immigration Statistics, which has been attached to this response.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to counter xenophobia towards European Union nationals.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We have been working with the police at national and regional levels to monitor hate crime since the EU Referendum and to ensure that local forces have the necessary assistance and guidance to respond.
Police forces are responding robustly to recent incidents, and victims can be reassured that their concerns about hate crime will be taken seriously by the police and courts.
On 26 July we published the cross-Government Hate Crime Action plan which includes actions to drive down hate crime across all communities, including £2.4million for security at places of worship and £300,000 funding for community groups who wish to start innovative projects. We have allocated some of that funding to a project which will support Polish and Romanian nationals dealing with hate crime incidents in London.
Ministers and officials have also met Ambassadors and High Commissioners from all EU states and offered reassurance and a single point of contact for them to raise concerns over hate crime on behalf of their citizens. We have also given advice to embassies on practical steps they can take to help their citizens and we continue to work closely with them on this issue.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 June (HL311), whether one of the ideologies they are directly challenging is Wahhabism.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Counter-Extremism Strategy set outs our approach to tackling extremist ideologies. We will challenge all those groups or individuals who vocally or actively oppose our fundamental values, who seek to promote, encourage and spread intolerance of individuals of different faith and beliefs. We are clear that this approach tackles all forms of extremism: violent and non violent, Islamist and neo-Nazi.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many detainees have reportedly been sexually assaulted or raped inside Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre since Serco took over its operation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Serco, the private supplier at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre (IRC), took over the centre’s operation in February 2007. Since 2008, the date from which local records have been collated centrally, there have been twenty three allegations of sexual assault or rape made by detainees against staff. This includes two allegations of rape, of which one was unsubstantiated and one is subject to continuing criminal proceedings. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
All complaints made by detainees at an IRC are investigated by the IRC supplier in accordance with Detention Services Order 03/2015. Any allegations of serious misconduct made by a detainee against staff at an IRC are also referred to the Home Office Professional Standards Unit for investigation. Where a detainee, or someone on behalf of a detainee, alleges that a member of staff has committed a sexual offence against them the police will automatically be notified, even if the detainee does not wish the matter to be reported or to make a formal complaint.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect British girls in the Dawoodi Bohra community from female genital mutilation, in the light of the sermon by Supreme Leader Mufaddal Saifuddin on 25 April urging that all girls must undergo that procedure.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.
We will not stop FGM until we have changed attitudes within communities. The Government works closely with a range of community and faith groups, including Muslim women's groups, to tackle FGM. Over 350 faith leaders from all the major faiths have signed a declaration condemning FGM. They have declared that it is not required by their religions and is a form of child abuse. The declaration makes clear that all religions will work together to end FGM for good. We continue to work with community organisations and survivors through the Governments FGM Unit's stakeholder group and outreach programme to drive this work forward.
In 2014 the Government ran a national communications campaign to raise awareness. We also funded 29 community engagement projects, including a network of community champions, who are reaching thousands of women and girls affected by FGM, and, importantly, their families. The work of these projects has included training for teachers, awareness sessions in local mosques, and the establishment of a new national website for, and by, young people giving information about how to prevent FGM. The Department for Communities and Local Government has established a network of community champions which is operating in London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. Champions are working with local people to address the myths that sustain FGM and to help keep girls safe.