Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 31 May (HL15807), in what circumstances they withhold from Parliament the names of civil servants who have been convicted in open court, and sentenced to prison, for offences in connection with their official duties.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
When a member of staff has been sentenced in court following an arrest by the Home Office Anti-Corruption team, the name of the civil servant is not disclosed. Although the names of staff members are known in court, this is not necessarily the same as being in the public domain.
The disclosure of names would have to satisfy a high threshold under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and s.9 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 makes it an offence to disclose the fact of an offence in respect of a rehabilitated person.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their personnel policies and procedures would allow ex-offenders to be employed in the Home Office for duties involving immigration or border control.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Home Office staff are held to the highest standards of honesty and integrity and all candidates who are considered for appointment undergo stringent pre-employment and security checks before taking up post.
We recognise the contribution that former offenders can make to our workforce, however, in deciding whether to make an appointment we would consider a range of factors, including the nature of the position and the circumstances of the offence.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 14 May (HL15405), whether they will name the three Home Office officials who were convicted in open court of criminal offences in connection with their official duties.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office withheld the names of staff members to ensure that it did not breach statutory and data protection obligations.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any Home Office staff have been convicted of criminal offences since 9 April 2018; and if so, in each case, what was the (1) nature of the offence, (2) date of conviction, and (3) sentence received.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Since 9 April 2018 three Home Office staff have been convicted of criminal offences. All were subject to appropriate disciplinary procedures and were dismissed by the point of conviction. The following table shows the breakdown of convictions and dates:
Nature of offence | Date of conviction | Sentence received |
Assisting unlawful immigration | 09/04/2018 | 11 years |
Smuggling of drugs/firearms | 16/11/2018 | 23 years |
Bribery | 11/04/2019 | 3 years and 9 months |
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the revenue from the immigration health surcharge for each year since it was introduced; and what is the estimated revenue for the current year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Immigration Health Surcharge was introduced in April 2015. Information on income collected from Immigration Health Surcharge payments since then is reported annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Information on income collected for the 2015/16 financial year can be found on pages 134 & 135 of the following report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539638/HO_AR_16_gov.pdf
Information on income collected for the 2016/17 financial year can be found on page 117 of the following report:
Information on income collected for the 2017/18 financial year will be made available in the 2017/18 Home Office Statement of Accounts which is due to be laid in the House on 12 July 2018.
In relation to the estimated revenue for the current year, by precedent, the Home Office does not release current year data until the accounts are closed and the figures audited by the National Audit Office. The NAO’s role is to inspect and agree the accounts: were we to release any estimates/figures now, we may later find that the auditors will ask us to amend/change the figures, rendering any early releases of data incorrect. Consequently, we may need to re-issue the answer to the PQ, because parliament would have been misled. Information on income collected for the current financial year will be made available in the 2018/19 Home office Statement of Accounts.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a special unit in the Home Office responsible for the scrutiny of applications for visas to enter the UK for the purpose of any form of scientific research; and if not, whether they will set up such a unit.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Applications for visas to enter the UK for the purpose of scientific research are made under the Points Based System, Study, or Academic Visit categories and follow the standard process for assessing applications in these categories. All staff assessing visa applications are fully trained in the relevant field.
As applications to come to the UK to conduct scientific research are already covered by current processes, there are no plans at present to set up a unit solely to assess these applications.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 1 June (HL7992), for what reason they decided to withhold the names of the 22 Home Office staff convicted and sentenced in court for criminal offences in connection with their official activities.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office withheld the names of staff members to ensure that it did not breach statutory and data protection obligations.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Henley on 10 January 2012 and 13 March 2012 (HL14312 and HL16133), how many members of Home Office staff have been convicted of criminal offences in connection with their official activities since 21 December 2011; and in each case, what was the (1) name of the offender, (2) date, (3) nature of the offence, and (4) sentence received.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Since 21 December 2011 there have been 22 convictions of Home Office staff in connection with their official activities. All the officers were subject to appropriate disciplinary procedures and were ultimately dismissed as a result of their conviction.
After careful consideration our decision is to continue to withhold the names of those convicted as per our previous reply on the matter. We will continue to provide the number and nature of the offences, dates of conviction and sentences received.
The following table below shows the breakdown of convictions and dates:
Charges | Conviction date | Sentence |
Misconduct in public office | 9th March 2012 | Four years and three months |
Misconduct in public office | 29th June 2012 | Four years |
Misconduct in public office | 13th July 2012 | Nine years |
Assisting unlawful immigration | 16th October 2012 | Nine months suspended, 240 hours community service and electronically tagged for three months. |
Misconduct in public office | 15th May 2013 | Four years |
Two cases of Data Protection Act offences – obtain/disclose personal data | 8th October 2013 | One year conditional discharge and £100 costs |
Misconduct in public office, assisting unlawful immigration | 31st January 2014 | Two years for misconduct Six months assisting concurrent |
Misconduct in public office and two counts of computer misuse | 11th September 2014 | Two years for misconduct One year for computer misuse (all suspended for two years as wife was ill and children to look after) concurrent 300 hours of community service during suspended sentence |
20 counts of computer misuse | 2nd February 2015 | Five months, each charge concurrent (suspended for one year as wife was ill) |
Perjury, assisting unlawful immigration | 9th April 2015 | Police caution |
Conspiracy to defraud, money laundering | 17th April 2015 | Three years and six months |
Two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and two counts of unlawful provision of immigration advice | 5th June 2015 | Two years and three months |
Two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office | 5th June 2015 | Six months suspended for two years and 180 hours unpaid work |
Three counts of theft, two counts of fraud and one count of misconduct in public office | 10th June 2015 | One year suspended for two years, 250 hours community service and £1000 towards court costs |
Fraud by abuse of position | 4th August 2015 | 28 weeks |
Computer misuse | 15th September 2015 | Caution for offences contrary to section 1(1) and (3) of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 |
Two counts of misconduct in public office | 10th December 2015 | Nine months, suspended for two years and 200 hours community service |
Fraud by false representation | 12th July 2016 | Sentence of one year, suspended for 18 months and 300 hours community service. Electronically tagged for four months
|
Conspiracy to defraud | 27th October 2016 | One year custodial sentence |
Theft | 12th April 2017 | Sentenced to six months, suspended for two years and 150 hours of community service |
12 counts of computer misuse | 11th September 2017 | One year, suspended for two years and 200 hours unpaid work and court costs. |
Assisting unlawful immigration | 9th April 2018 | 11 years |
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons have been drawn from the conviction and sentence to 15 years imprisonment in April of Shamsu Iqbal an official in the immigration department of the Home Office for falsifying the immigration records; and what steps have been taken to improve the recruitment procedures of the Home Office.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
New measures were put in place following the arrest of Mr Iqbal to prevent further abuse. This included improvements to the change of address and subject access request processes. Further improvements will be made as part of the implementation of a new immigration computer system.
The Home Office conducts pre-appointment checks for all externally recruited staff in line with the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard which is available on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many employees of the Home Office are (1) not British citizens, or (2) British citizens by naturalisation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office undertakes checks to confirm that potential candidates meet the eligibility requirements to work in the UK. However, the Home Office does not record the nationality of employees on our IT systems and is unable to provide this information.