Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to CPS guidance, Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution, revised on 4 January 2019, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that a victim of a sex for rent offence is not defined as a prostitute by prosecuting authorities.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is clear that exploitation through ‘sex for rent’ has no place in our society. There are two offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which can, and have, been used to successfully prosecute this practice the section 52 offence of causing or inciting prostitution for gain and the section 53 offence of controlling prostitution for gain). In January 2021, the CPS authorised the first charge for ‘sex for rent’ allegations under section 52. The individual against whom these allegations were made pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting prostitution for gain earlier this year.
Anyone making a report to the police would benefit from the anonymity provisions within the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992.
We recognise the need to stamp out this abhorrent practice and support those at risk of exploitation. We have already taken action around this to ensure prosecutors are clear on the law. In 2019 the CPS amended their guidance on ‘Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution’ to include specific reference to the potential availability of charges for offences under sections 52 and 53 for ‘sex for rent’ arrangements.
In addition, we recognise the importance of preventing individuals being exploited through this practice. To better protect tenants from rogue landlords who have been convicted of certain criminal offences, we introduced banning orders through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 – these orders prohibits named individuals from engaging in letting and property management work.
We are committed to ensuring we have the right measures in place to tackle this practice. As we made clear during the debate at Commons Consideration of Lords amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, we will be launching a consultation before summer recess on the issue of sex for rent, including the effectiveness of existing legislation. This would provide a useful opportunity to work with the police, CPS and others (including victims) to better understand this issue and the effectiveness of the current law, the case for a bespoke offence and whether further measures may be beneficial. It will also be important to ensure that any bespoke offence worked with both the Online Safety Bill provisions and the existing prostitution offences.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to respond to the case raised in HC debate 25 January, vol 707, col 832, on Iranian refugees, and the correspondence of 25 January and 9 February from the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall constituency.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office responded to the Hon. Member’s correspondence on 28 February 2022.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of allowing people in the process of regularising their immigration status to be able to (a) register for a National Insurance number, (b) apply for a UK-issued driving licence and (c) apply for a unique taxpayer reference number if self-employed.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In common with other comparable countries, the UK has in place a framework of laws, policies and administrative arrangements to ensure access to work, benefits and services is only permitted for those who are lawfully present in the UK who have the right to access them. This includes restrictions on the ability to obtain a UK driving licence for those without lawful status. The aim of these policies is to deter and prevent immigration offences, including clandestine entry and overstaying.
DWP is responsible for the Adult National Insurance number (NINO) allocation process, which allocates NINOs predominantly for work purposes. Consistent with immigration policy, proof of a right to work in the UK is a condition in the allocation of a work-related NINO.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of simplifying the process for undocumented migrants to regularise their immigration status.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to an immigration policy which welcomes people to the UK through safe and legal routes but deters illegal immigration.
There are several options available for those in the UK without lawful leave to regularise their immigration status. The Immigration Rules set out the requirements to be met to qualify for a right to remain which provides clarity for applicants and decision makers alike. There are also discretionary policies for leave to be granted outside the Immigration Rules in exceptional circumstances.
The Home Office has accepted the Law Commission’s report on the simplification of the Immigration Rules and is in the process of revising and simplifying the immigration rules. We are currently in the process of simplifying routes such as private and family life which are open to undocumented migrants.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with Ministerial colleagues on opening the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme; and what estimate she has made of the date on which that scheme will open to applicants.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Secretary continues to meet regularly with Ministers to discuss the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the wider response to events in Afghanistan.
The scheme is not yet open and remains under development, given the complex and challenging situation in Afghanistan. However, the first to be resettled through this scheme will be some of those who arrived in the UK as a result of the evacuation (Operation Pitting), which included individuals who were considered to be at particular risk – including women’s rights activists, prosecutors and journalists.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to support BN(O) holders’ children who cannot renew their passports through the Chinese embassy due to safety concerns.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To apply for the Hong Kong BN(O) route, applicants must have a valid passport or other travel document which shows their identity and nationality.
Where applicants do not have a valid passport, they will need to submit an alternative, valid travel document which can be used to prove their identity and nationality. This means a document, other than a passport, which has been issued by the government of the UK or another state and which enables travel from one country to another, for example, a valid national identity card.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a separate lifeboat scheme, mirroring Canadian-Australian arrangements, for 18-23 year old non-BN(O)s if they cannot apply for the BN(O) visa with their families.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Hong Kong BN(O) route is for those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members including adult children who were born after 1 July 1997 and who live with their parents. We do not currently have any plans to change these requirements.
Those not eligible for the BN(O) route can consider other UK immigration routes. For instance, individuals from Hong Kong can apply under the terms of the UK’s new Points Based System, which will enable them to come to the UK in a wider range of professions and at a lower general salary threshold than in the past. There is also the existing youth mobility scheme which is open to those aged between 18 and 30 and offers a two-year grant of leave in the UK. There are 1,000 places currently available each year.
Those applying for the route do not need to travel to the UK on their BN(O) passport but will need another valid travel document in order to travel. This is set out on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/british-national-overseas-bno-visa
The UK will continue to recognise valid BN(O) passports as valid travel and identity documents.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to (a) expand and (b) clarify the BN(O) scheme to ensure that people relying on their BN(O) passports as their travel documents are able to use those documents when travelling (i) internationally and (ii) to the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Hong Kong BN(O) route is for those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members including adult children who were born after 1 July 1997 and who live with their parents. We do not currently have any plans to change these requirements.
Those not eligible for the BN(O) route can consider other UK immigration routes. For instance, individuals from Hong Kong can apply under the terms of the UK’s new Points Based System, which will enable them to come to the UK in a wider range of professions and at a lower general salary threshold than in the past. There is also the existing youth mobility scheme which is open to those aged between 18 and 30 and offers a two-year grant of leave in the UK. There are 1,000 places currently available each year.
Those applying for the route do not need to travel to the UK on their BN(O) passport but will need another valid travel document in order to travel. This is set out on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/british-national-overseas-bno-visa
The UK will continue to recognise valid BN(O) passports as valid travel and identity documents.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 collecting ethnicity as part of child sexual abuse data.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime and we will leave no stone unturned to prevent and pursue offenders, protect children and young people, and support victims and survivors from all backgrounds.
All police forces routinely collect data on recorded child sexual abuse offences, including offences related to indecent images of children. These figures are published quarterly by the Office for National statistics, and are broken down by offence types and police force areas. In the most recent data, published 13 May 2021, there were nearly 90,000 CSA offences recorded, an increase of nearly 300% since 2013. Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
The Government is clear that understanding possible drivers of crime is key to developing ways to prevent offending and better support victims. That is why the Home Secretary introduced a new requirement for police forces to collect ethnicity data for those arrested and held in custody as a result of their suspected involvement in group-based child sexual exploitation in March 2021. Complying with the requirement will be voluntary for one year to allow forces to update their systems, after which it will become mandatory. This follows the Government’s commitment in the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy (January 2021) to improve the quality of data collected on the characteristics of offenders.
Police forces have a duty to collect this data through the Annual Data Requirement (ADR) as set out in the Police Act 1996. The ADR is reviewed on an annual basis, and the Home Office will continue to consider data requirements in relation to child sexual abuse, ensuring that all proposals for new data collections are consulted on with the police to ensure that such requests are proportionate, and do not place unnecessary burdens on police forces.
Additionally the Government is constantly striving to better understand the nature of child sexual abuse through the work of the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which it established in 2017, and the insight of other experts including the ONS and the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse, who have produced research on ethnic minority victims of CSEA.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the collection of adequate data on child sexual abuse that is comparable across police forces.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime and we will leave no stone unturned to prevent and pursue offenders, protect children and young people, and support victims and survivors from all backgrounds.
All police forces routinely collect data on recorded child sexual abuse offences, including offences related to indecent images of children. These figures are published quarterly by the Office for National statistics, and are broken down by offence types and police force areas. In the most recent data, published 13 May 2021, there were nearly 90,000 CSA offences recorded, an increase of nearly 300% since 2013. Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
The Government is clear that understanding possible drivers of crime is key to developing ways to prevent offending and better support victims. That is why the Home Secretary introduced a new requirement for police forces to collect ethnicity data for those arrested and held in custody as a result of their suspected involvement in group-based child sexual exploitation in March 2021. Complying with the requirement will be voluntary for one year to allow forces to update their systems, after which it will become mandatory. This follows the Government’s commitment in the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy (January 2021) to improve the quality of data collected on the characteristics of offenders.
Police forces have a duty to collect this data through the Annual Data Requirement (ADR) as set out in the Police Act 1996. The ADR is reviewed on an annual basis, and the Home Office will continue to consider data requirements in relation to child sexual abuse, ensuring that all proposals for new data collections are consulted on with the police to ensure that such requests are proportionate, and do not place unnecessary burdens on police forces.
Additionally the Government is constantly striving to better understand the nature of child sexual abuse through the work of the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which it established in 2017, and the insight of other experts including the ONS and the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse, who have produced research on ethnic minority victims of CSEA.