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Written Question
Slavery
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to tackle modern slavery.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery to ensure that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.

The Home Office continues to fund specialist support for adult victims of modern slavery in England and Wales through the £379 million Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract and for children, who receive support through local authority safeguarding structures, we are also continuing to work with Barnardo’s to provide additional and tailored support through the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian service.

Since 2016, in addition to core police funding, we have invested £17.8 million in the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, a specialist police unit which supports all police forces in England and Wales to improve their response to modern slavery.

In addition, between 2016 and March 2023, the Home Office spent over £40.4 million through the Modern Slavery Fund to combat modern slavery overseas and reduce the threat of human trafficking to the UK. We continue to work across operational partners and the sector to deliver on modern slavery.


Written Question
Asylum: Housing
Wednesday 22nd March 2023

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total cost of housing failed asylum seekers, broken down by the cost of (1) the border force, (2) hotels and other accommodation, and (3) any other costs.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information.

However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts.


Written Question
UK Border Force: Operating Costs
Wednesday 22nd March 2023

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost of running the UK's border policy for each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

Border Force does not hold the cost of running the UK’s border policy for each of the last 10 years in an easily accessible format.

However, I enclose the Home Office annual reports and accounts link below:

Home Office annual report and accounts, 2012 to 2013 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2014 to 2015 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2017 to 2018 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2018 to 2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office annual report and accounts: 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Asylum: Afghanistan
Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Afghan asylum seekers who have been admitted as refugees since August 2021 have not yet received their biometric residence permits.

Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford

Over 15,000 people were supported to come to the UK directly following the evacuation of Afghanistan, and in the nine months since Op Pitting, we have helped a further 4,000 people to safety in the UK, via neighbouring countries. Those who arrived in the UK were granted limited leave to enter which allows access to public funds and employment.

We are continuing the process of granting Indefinite Leave to Remain to everyone who arrived during the evacuation, and who is eligible. Biometric Residence Permits are produced automatically, usually within a few weeks of people being granted Indefinite Leave to Remain.

We have made arrangements to ensure prospective employers and landlords can contact the Home Office to confirm individuals’ right to take employment and rented accommodation prior to them receiving a Biometric Residence Permit.

The data on those who have received their Biometrics Residency Permits is internal management data and therefore not suitable for publication at this stage.


Written Question
Biometric Residence Permits: Afghanistan
Monday 13th June 2022

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average delay time in issuing Biometric Residence Permit cards to refugees from Afghanistan.

Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford

Over 15,000 people were supported to come to the UK directly following the evacuation of Afghanistan, with a further 3,000 having arrived since.

As we continue to grant people indefinite leave to remain in the UK, their BRPs are automatically issued, usually within a few weeks.


Written Question
Slavery
Tuesday 15th December 2020

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which police forces, if any, do not have a modern slavery unit.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The police have taken significant steps to improve the response to modern slavery over the last few years and all police forces in England and Wales now have specialist resources to tackle modern slavery. These can include specialist-led triage processes to oversee investigations, specialist investigative units and specialist research and analytical capabilities.

The Home Office supported this activity by providing £13.6m funding from the Police Transformation Programme between 2016/17 and 2019/20 and a further £2m in 2020/21 to the new Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Programme. The latest annual report for 2019/20 for the programme can be found at: https://policingslavery.co.uk/media/2563/ms-annual-report-2020.pdf


Written Question
Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody Independent Review
Monday 14th December 2020

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing each of the recommendations of the report by the Rt Hon. Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC Report of the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody, published in January 2017.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we are committed to delivering meaningful and lasting change to prevent deaths in custody. Good progress has been made in addressing Dame Elish’s recommendations, with the majority of recommendations now delivered, although there is more to be done.

To prevent deaths in police custody in England and Wales, we have significantly restricted the use of police stations as places of safety, for those experiencing a mental health crisis. The National Police Chiefs' Council are driving progress on national training, including how officers identify health risks of detainees, and the Government is making significant investment in mental health. The Home Office have created an annual statistical publication showing data on police use of force, broken down by ethnicity.

In February 2020, the Government implemented reforms to provide the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) with a power to investigate matters on its own initiative, without the need for a referral from the police. Legislative reforms to the IOPC’s corporate structure and governance, implemented in January 2018, have helped to improve the timeliness of IOPC investigations.

To support families, we have made inquests more sympathetic to their needs, undertaken a review of the provision of legal aid for inquests, and improved the information available immediately after a death in custody.

The Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody continues to oversee and drive progress on this work. An official government update will be published in early 2021.


Written Question
Prostitution
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

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 University of Bristol’s October 2019 report entitled The nature and prevalence of prostitution and sex work in England and Wales.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The research contained in the report highlights the enormous complexity of sex work and prostitution today, and we will carefully consider the implications from this new evidence for policy in the Home Office and across Government.

Our priority remains tackling the harm that can be associated with prostitution and sex work, and to target those who exploit vulnerable people. These priorities will be our starting point for considering the research.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Birkenhead in relation to Mr Khalil Ahmad Husseyni, Case ID, 023703324.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

A response was sent to the Hon. Member on 1 November.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 4th November 2019

Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will investigate what happened to the personal documents of Shahnaz Saeed (B17209/19), which were mailed to her legal representatives on 16 August 2017 Royal Mail Reference Number: BY018153568GB.

Answered by Seema Kennedy

Officials have provided an explanation to the hon. Member on this individual case.