Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the application of all the provisions of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill to Northern Ireland in light of the judgment of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland that the conditional immunity provisions in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 are incompatible with Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has consistently applied immigration policy across the United Kingdom as a whole. That remains our absolute intention with the Rwanda Bill, which provides for it to apply UK-wide. We have considered the judgment and have lodged an appeal.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the effect of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will be to disapply the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way it does in the rest of the UK. This is set out on the face of the Bill, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights does not form part of domestic law anywhere in the UK, including Northern Ireland.
The published factsheet on this Bill has been updated to reflect the government position on the Bill in Northern Ireland: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for asylum applications in Northern Ireland of the decision in the application for judicial review by Aman Angesom [2023] NIKB 102 of 18 October 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This judgment found in favour of the SSHD in respect of our policy to disperse asylum seekers on section 95 support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Where individuals in asylum accommodation are relocated, their asylum claims will continue to be processed in line with legislation and policies in place, irrespective of place of residence in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Unexplained Wealth Orders have been issued in each jurisdiction of the UK since their introduction.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Unexplained Wealth Orders have been granted in four cases to date; all of those have been in England and Wales. No Unexplained Wealth Orders have been granted in Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Criminal Finances Act 2017 will be brought into force in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
It is my intention that the outstanding provisions in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 will be commenced on 28 June 2021. This is subject to Parliamentary approval.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of proceeds of crimes which have not been seized in Northern Ireland as a result of the delay in the operation of the Criminal Finances Act 2017.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Law Enforcement in Northern Ireland have a range of appropriate and effective powers available to them to recover criminals’ ill-gotten gains.
No formal assessment has been made as to the value of proceeds of crime which have not been seized as a result of the delay in operation of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what monitoring arrangements are in place to ensure that the law relating to entry to, and departure from, the UK of non-UK citizens is enforced in the Common Travel Area.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from within the CTA, with no immigration checks whatsoever on the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. However, everyone entering the UK, regardless of where they enter from, is required to meet UK immigration framework. The UK does conduct intelligence-led controls on CTA routes, including away from the land border in Northern Ireland. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Anyone identified attempting to circumvent UK border controls is liable to be removed, if they are not lawfully present within the UK.
We also work closely with Ireland to secure the external CTA border, including data sharing and operational co-operation.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they have taken to ensure that people who are not permitted to enter the UK are prevented entry when they seek to enter through the Common Travel Area via the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from within the CTA, with no immigration checks whatsoever on the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. However, everyone entering the UK, regardless of where they enter from, is required to meet UK immigration framework. The UK does conduct intelligence-led controls on CTA routes, including away from the land border in Northern Ireland. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Anyone identified attempting to circumvent UK border controls is liable to be removed, if they are not lawfully present within the UK.
We also work closely with Ireland to secure the external CTA border, including data sharing and operational co-operation.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to tackle the threat of online personal scams to vulnerable people.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government’s Joint Fraud Taskforce (a coalition between government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector) continues to lead an ambitious programme of work to design out and prevent fraud that occurs both online and offline. This includes theTake Five fraud awareness campaign, designed to urge the public and businesses to take time to consider whether a situation they find themselves in is genuine.
Online personal scams are increasingly perpetrated via cyber-enabled methods. To protect victims, the Government set up the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in October 2016. The NCSC is the UK’s technical authority on cyber security and provides a single, central body for cyber security at a national level. The NCSC works very closely with law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community to help prevent, disrupt and investigate cyber-crime and other online cyber related threats. In 2018 the NCSC took down 22,133 phishing campaigns, including 14,124 UK government-related phishing sites, and the total number of takedowns of fraudulent websites was 192,256, across 2018, with 64% of them down in 24 hours.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many human rights advisors are employed by police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold this information.