Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the UK Government's policy is on the (a) appointment of officials and (b) election of officials to Interpol from countries that do not comply with the Red Notice and diffusion system.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Matters in relation to Interpol are the responsibility of the Home Office.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and works closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.
All Red Notices are subject to review by a multidisciplinary Notices and Diffusions Task Force in Interpol prior to publication to ensure legal compliance and prevent abuse of Interpol systems. The Home Office supports Interpol’s commitment to ensuring the legitimacy of the Red Notice system and in November 2019 seconded a senior lawyer to Interpol to support the work of the Taskforce.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary General of Interpol on the abuse of Red Notices and diffusions.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Minister in her Department has responsibility for issues relating to Interpol.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recommending to Interpol that they include in their strategic framework for 2021-24 further reform of Red Notices and diffusions.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Minister for Security I have overall responsibility for the UK’s engagement and relationship with Interpol.
The Government strongly supports Interpol in its efforts to improve the safeguards it has in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Government views any allegation of misuse of Interpol’s systems very seriously and will continue to work closely with Interpol to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and will not hesitate to recommend further reforms to Interpol as necessary.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations of the report entitled Beyond Belief, published by Freedom from Torture on 16 June 2020, that caseworkers receive appropriate and relevant training when conducting interviews with victims of torture to encourage full disclosure and identify important aspects of claims, avoiding costly appeals; and what plans she has to report to the recommendations in that report.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office remains committed to delivering a fair and humane asylum system that is sensitive to the needs of the claimants, so that sufficient information can be obtained to facilitate fair and sustainable decisions on asylum claims. We ensure that asylum seekers are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken, even where that information may be sensitive or difficult to disclose.
The report published by Freedom from Torture acknowledges that there have been signs of progress within the Home Office. Improvements have been made to policy instructions to emphasise the importance of caseworker conduct during asylum interviews, in line with an earlier recommendation made by Freedom from Torture. The report also acknowledges the increase in asylum grant rates at initial decision stage, which is indicative of our efforts to improve asylum decision making and get decisions first time.
Following the publication of the Freedom from Torture report entitled ‘Proving Torture’, a collaborative response to improving training for asylum caseworkers was initiated to develop a training package which directly addressed concerns raised in the report. This resulted in the training course ‘Assessing Evidence: Medical Legal Reports’, which has been rolled out to asylum caseworkers, senior caseworkers and technical specialists since December 2018. The training is now mandatory for any caseworker dealing with asylum claims where Medico-legal reports have been submitted.
We will continue to look at the themes raised in the report as part of our on-going commitment to improve decision quality and the customer experience.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of UK Visas and Immigration’s country policy and information notes on Zimbabwe.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Our country policy and information notes are published on the gov.uk website. They are kept under constant review and updated periodically. They are based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The Zimbabwe country policy and information notes on “sexual orientation and gender identity and expression” and “opposition to the government” were updated in January and February 2019 respectively, incorporating recommendations from a review commissioned by the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information in December 2018.
Asylum and human rights applications from Zimbabwean nationals are subject to review in every appeal and cases are decided on their individual facts and merits.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the treatment of refused asylum seekers after their return to Zimbabwe.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of people once they are removed from the UK. Returns are only undertaken when the Home Office and courts deem it is safe to do so.
The UK is under no obligation to monitor the treatment of unsuccessful asylum seekers who have returned to their country of origin. They are, by definition, foreign nationals who have been found as a matter of law not to need the UK’s protection, and who have no legal basis of stay in the UK. It would be inappropriate for the UK to assume any ongoing responsibility for them when they return to their own country.
Should the Home Office receive any specific allegations that a returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return to their country of origin, these would be investigated in partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been returned to Zimbabwe in each of the last four calendar years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office publishes data on returns from the UK in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Data on the number of returns, by year, type of return and asylum and non-asylum are published in table Ret_05 of the returns summary dataset. In addition, the top 10 nationalities being returned by whether an asylum or non-asylum related case, for the most recent period available are published in table Ret_04 .
Asylum-related returns relate to cases where there has been an asylum claim at some stage prior to the return. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been refused, and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those returned under third country provisions, as well as those granted asylum/protection, but removed for other reasons (such as criminality).
The latest data relates to the year ending March 2020.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’. https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=home-office&order=release-date-oldest
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much of the £2 million in funding allocated to domestic abuse helplines and online support has been directly accessed by those support services to date.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Just under £1.2m of the funding has so far been allocated to thirteen organisations to help support helplines, web-based services and the production of additional guidance for victims. The organisations concerned have be notified of the awards and the Home Office is liaising with them on the necessary processes for transferring the funds.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that all people in immigration removal centres have access to soap and sanitiser during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The safety and health of people in the detention estate is of the utmost importance. The Home Office is following all Public Health England guidance on coronavirus and have robust contingency plans in place, including measures such as protective isolation and use of personal protective equipment.
Handwashing facilities are available in all immigration removal centres and we are working closely with suppliers to ensure we have a continuous supply of soap and cleaning materials. In addition, each centre has posters and leaflets to inform detainees about the importance of handwashing and social distancing to minimise the risk from Covid-19. Detainees are also able to speak to staff directly for advice on the measures in place.
The Home Office is working closely with NHS England health and justice teams and regional commissioning teams to support their planning and delivery of healthcare services in immigration removal centres during the COVID-19 outbreak, which includes testing.
On 26 March, the High Court ruled that our approach to detention and Coronavirus was sensible, with the appropriate precautionary measures in place.
There are currently no cases of Covid-19 in the immigration detention estate.