Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the cost to the public purse was of Operation Conifer; and what lessons have been learnt as a result of that operation.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on the total cost of Operation Conifer, as this is an operational matter for Wiltshire Police. However, in December 2017 the department provided £1.1 million of Special Grant funding towards the overall cost of the operation.
Lessons were learnt from the various forms of scrutiny the operation was subject to, including an Independent Scrutiny Panel, two reviews by Operation Hydrant and a review by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (as it was then). The findings of the operation were then published in the Summary Closure Report, which can be found at: https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/media/582/Op-Conifer-Summary-Closure-Report/pdf/Op_Conifer_Summary_Closure_Report.pdf
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will commission a review of Operation Conifer.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government has given careful consideration to a review of Operation Conifer but has concluded that there are no grounds to justify review or intervention by Government.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals for the establishment of a national identity card scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In 2010 the then Government decided to scrap the identity card scheme and the associated National Identity Register because it was expensive and represented a substantial erosion of civil liberties.
This Government has no plans to revisit that decision.
We have not seen any evidence that countries with physical identity cards, including most of Europe, offer greater protection against terrorism, greater control at the border or greater protection from fraud.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review the number of Tier 2 visas issued; and what representations she has received on increasing the number of Tier 2 visas issued.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We continue to monitor the operation of Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers, to ensure that it strikes the right balance between supporting businesses access the talent from overseas with our commitment to reducing net migration and protecting the domestic labour market.
The Home Office receives a high volume of representations on a variety of subjects relating to immigration on a daily basis. It is not possible to provide a running count of the number of representations on a particular topic.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals to encourage the police to recruit ex-servicemen and women to provide armed protection at fixed sites.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Chief officers are responsible for recruitment and for determining the number of armed officers required in their areas. This is based on a thorough assessment of threat and risk, and capability is kept under constant review by the National Armed Policing Lead and the National Police Coordination Centre.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition of British Values is used for the purposes of the Prevent Programme.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Prevent Strategy defines our fundamental values as including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. It is important to articulate British Values as being core and fundamental to life in Britain. They are not uniquely British, but they are the things we value in Britain.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many firefighting-rescue platforms that can ascend to 90 metres in height are in service with fire services (a) in London and (b) elsewhere.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not collect information to this level of detail.
The latest published information on numbers of firefighting rescue platforms can be found in Table 1403 of the “Fire and rescue authorities: operational statistics bulletin for England 2015 to 2016” available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables, but the category ‘Aerials (inc. pump/aerial combined)’ does not give a breakdown of the working height of the appliance.
Data for 2017 will be published later in the year.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-EU students were unaccounted for at the end of their courses in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Over time the data obtained through exit checks will contribute to the statistical picture.
The Home Office is continuing to assess and analyse elements of the exit check data collected in relation to specific cohorts to understand the extent to which estimates provided are statistically robust. This level of detail is not yet available.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether international arrest warrants exist for the former Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and members of his family for (a) war crimes, (b) crimes against humanity and (c) other related offences.
Answered by Ben Wallace
As a matter of long standing policy and practice, the UK will neither confirm nor deny that an extradition request has been received until the person concerned is arrested in relation to the request. Further, the UK will neither confirm nor deny whether any requests have made been via Interpol for the arrest of an individual.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role she has in discussions with the EU on the UK leaving the EU in the areas of justice, home affairs and co-operation on counter-terrorism, drugs and human trafficking.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Prime Minister will lead our negotiations for leaving the EU and will be supported on a day-to-day basis by the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU). The Home Office remains the lead Department on counter-terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and many areas of justice and home affairs policy. I, along with my Department, will continue to work closely with colleagues across Government to support the UK’s wider exit negotiation strategy.