Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Ukrainian government has requested that boats used for illegal channel crossings be offered to that country.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office is not aware of any formal request from the Ukrainian government for these lethally dangerous and unseaworthy craft, though it has repeatedly made clear the unsuitability of these boats to those who have advocated that they be sent to Ukraine.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a knife amnesty.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Many police forces provide amnesty bins all year round to provide the public with a facility to safely dispose of unwanted knives and other offensive weapons. It is for Chief Constables, directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions including how to allocate resources based on their local knowledge and experience.
The Government continues to encourage police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The operation includes targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps of hotspot areas, surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins, test purchases of knives from retailers, and educational events. The latest phase of the operation took place between 13 to 19 November 2023 and saw 12,149 knives surrendered or recovered.
On 25 January we laid the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) Order 2024 in Parliament. Subject to parliamentary approval, this will prohibit the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes in England and Wales from 24 September 2024. From 26 August 2024 to 23 September 2024 we will be running a surrender and compensation scheme so that those who own zombie-style knives and machetes which will be banned, can surrender them and receive compensation.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels were used to temporarily accommodate asylum seekers on 31 December (a) 2023 and (b) expected to be used by 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has been clear that the use of hotels is a temporary and necessary measure to ensure we meet our statutory obligation to accommodate destitute asylum seekers.
We have made rapid progress since autumn 2023, having handed back over 100 hotels to their local communities. Over 20,000 fewer asylum seekers are accommodated in hotels now than in September 2023. In total, we will have closed 150 hotels by the beginning of May 2024.
Our statutory accommodation needs are kept under continuous review, and we will write to MPs and local authorities as further decisions on hotels are made.
For the safety and security of individual premises, the Home Office does not publish statistics showing the number or location of hotels used to house asylum seekers. However, provisional internal management information indicates a total of 342 hotels were accommodating asylum seekers as of 31 December 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many major cyber crime incidents have been reported since the National Cyber Strategy was introduced.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Since the announcement of the National Cyber Strategy on 15 December 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has received 71 reports associated with cyber crime activity, considered to be significant.
The NCSC categorise incidents based on numerous contemporaneous factors, including but not limited to, the technical impact of the incident, the nature of the affected organisation, and contextual considerations at the time of the incident report being received.
NCSC and law enforcement take action against cyber criminals by taking down their malicious URLs used to defraud people.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were charged with criminal offences as a result of Operation Gull in Northern Ireland in 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
In 2023, Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigation teams (CFI) charged 39 individuals with criminal offences as part of Operation Gull.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the Irish Government on tackling the supply of illegal drugs entering the UK via the sea.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In December 2021, the Government launched its ten-year drugs strategy, From Harm to Hope, to cut crime and save lives. As part of this, £300 million has been allocated to fund activity to break drug supply chains from end-to-end, this includes targeting upstream flow and securing the UK border to restrict drugs entering the UK via sea, land, and air.
The UK Government and its law enforcement partners are leveraging our extensive international networks to maximise cooperation with other governments to tackle drug trafficking upstream.
Border Force works with law enforcement organisations, including the Police Service Northern Ireland, other UK Police services, An Garda Síochána in the Republic of Ireland and the National Crime Agency, to target those who might attempt to smuggle illicit drugs between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, including via the sea.
Our continued work with partners, including the NCA and other law enforcement agencies, is effective in preventing drugs from reaching local communities where they fuel violence and exploitation, causing significant harm to our society.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many companies had registered with his Department as having multiple domestic properties available to be used as temporary residences for (a) refugees and (b) people seeking asylum in the UK as of 31 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested.
Accommodation is provided by commercial partners; Serco, Clearsprings Ready Homes and Mears under the Asylum Accommodation Support Contracts. Further details can be found at: AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf (parliament.uk). Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with how many countries his Department is having bilateral discussions on Youth Mobility Scheme agreements.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We remain open to negotiating Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories, including EU Member States. However, as each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal agreement which also provides benefits to UK nationals, with the detail negotiated and agreed between the relevant parties, we are unable to disclose the detail of negotiations as they occur. Further details of additional YMS arrangements will be announced once they are concluded.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of live births that occurred to women who arrived in the UK while pregnant and seeking asylum in the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This information is not recorded in a reportable format.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2023 to Question 1309 on Northern Ireland Strategic Migration Partnership, whether his Department is taking steps with the Northern Ireland Executive to agree a replacement for the Northern Ireland Strategic Migration Partnership.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office continues to engage with Northern Ireland government departments to progress agreements to ensure continued delivery for service users in Northern Ireland. We have multiple agreements with varying Northern Ireland government departments in place to achieve this.