Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the safety of people in Pakistan who (a) have previously had an application to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme rejected and (b) are waiting for their application to be reconsidered.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK Government has had constructive and ongoing conversations with the Government of Pakistan to take steps to prevent the deportation Afghans eligible for UK resettlement schemes from Pakistan.
I have instructed MOD officials to raise awareness of this issue with the Pakistani authorities so that protection from deportation can be extended to those individuals within scope of the forthcoming reassessment of decisions taken on ineligible applications from former members of Afghan specialist units.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the safety of people in Pakistan previously rejected by the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy who are having applications reconsidered.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK Government has had constructive and ongoing conversations with the Government of Pakistan to take steps to prevent the deportation Afghans eligible for UK resettlement schemes from Pakistan.
I have instructed MOD officials to raise awareness of this issue with the Pakistani authorities so that protection from deportation can be extended to those individuals within scope of the forthcoming reassessment of decisions taken on ineligible applications from former members of Afghan specialist units.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support he plans to provide to international partners to tackle (a) disinformation and (b) misinformation in the next 12 months.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, the FCDO has established a new directorate to increase its capability to assess and respond to the full range of information threats by hostile actors and build international partnerships to work together in tackling these threats.
The FCDO has established programmes to challenge Russian disinformation activity in Europe. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we have enhanced these long-standing capabilities to support partner Governments, independent media and civil societies across Europe to challenge and resist Russia's information manipulation and attempts to fracture unity. We have enhanced our partnership with the Government of Ukraine to help them challenge Russian disinformation domestically and internationally. In the coming 12 months we will continue our partnerships with Ukraine and countries across Europe to tackle Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Defending Democracy Taskforce is taking to help reduce disinformation at the next general election.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.
DSIT is the lead department on artificial intelligence and is part of the Defending Democracy Taskforce which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats. The Taskforce ensures we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods.
Furthermore, the Online Safety Act places new requirements on social media platforms to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation - including artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes - as soon as they become aware of it. The Act also updates Ofcom’s statutory media literacy duty to require it to take tangible steps to prioritise the public's awareness of and resilience to misinformation and disinformation online. This includes enabling users to establish the reliability, accuracy, and authenticity of content.
Finally, the threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2024 to Question 8979 on Home Office: Public Appointments, what his Department's timescale is for the publication of the outcome of the recruitment process for the role of the Independent Advisor for the Defending Democracy Taskforce and Open-Source Intelligence Hub.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
In line with similar appointments, the Home Office will publish the outcome of the recruitment process for the role of the Independent Advisor for the Defending Democracy Taskforce and Open-Source Intelligence Hub.
The Government will publish the outcome at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps officials in his Department are taking with their counterparts in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to tackle money laundering in British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Illicit finance is an active and growing threat to the UK family and can undermine our national security, prosperity, and democracy. As set out in the 2023 Economic Crime Plan 2 (ECP2), tackling economic crime is a high priority for the UK Government, including in the Overseas Territories (OTs).
ECP2 commits the UK Government to using our diplomatic and technical influence to further strengthen partnerships with other financial centres, particularly in the OTs. The Home Office, alongside other government departments such as HM Treasury and law enforcement partners, has supported the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to strengthen our strategic dialogue and technical cooperation with the OTs on a range of economic crime threats such as countering sanctions evasion and money laundering.
The Home Office and FCDO also work together on supporting beneficial ownership transparency in the OTs. The Home Office will continue to support the FCDO on this important agenda.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress (a) his Department and (b) the Security Minister have made on preparations for the global fraud summit.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Global Fraud Summit will be held in London on 11-12 March. It will bring together international ministers, industry leaders, law enforcement, and multilateral organisations to signal our commitment to work together to tackle fraud.
The Home Secretary will host the Summit.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 23 January 2024 to Question 8437 on Organised Crime, what his Department's timescale is for the publication of the cost of Serious and Organised Crime.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office will update the figure this year once data for financial year 2022/23 is available across all the SOC crime areas. We estimate that a research report on the cost of serious and organised crime will be completed and ready for publication in 2025.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the status is of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As you know, the Northern Transport Acceleration Council (NTAC) was set up in 2020 as an advisory forum.
In 2022, the decision was taken to dissolve NTAC, in response to feedback from Northern leaders, who provided feedback that their own body was a more suitable channel than NTAC.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he and the Minister for the Cabinet Office plan to increase the number of staff who work in the Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It is, and always will be, an absolute priority for this Government to protect our democratic and electoral processes. The Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit (JESP) works between DLUHC and GSG in Cabinet Office to coordinate election security and preparedness activity within government and externally. JESP carries out the majority of its work to track and mitigate risks through officials in other government departments and the UK intelligence community. The JESP also works with the devolved administrations, local authorities and the Electoral Commission.
Details of staffing are published in departmental organograms, which are updated periodically.