Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were resettled in Northern Ireland under the Dubs amendment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children are supported by the relevant authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and in accordance with their respective children’s legislation. In July last year the Government introduced the National Transfer Scheme to ensure there is a more even distribution of caring responsibilities for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children across the country.
We are working to extend the transfer provisions in the Immigration Act 2016 to the devolved administrations by the draft affirmative procedure. Building upon Northern Ireland's positive contribution to the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme the Home Office continues to be in contact with the Northern Ireland Executive at ministerial and official level including discussions regarding unaccompanied asylum seeking children. We remain open to any offers of NTS places from the relevant authorities in the devolved administrations however no unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been resettled in Northern Ireland under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 yet.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to resettle child refugees in (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children are supported by the relevant authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and in accordance with their respective children’s legislation. In July last year the Government introduced the National Transfer Scheme to ensure there is a more even distribution of caring responsibilities for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children across the country.
We are working to extend the transfer provisions in the Immigration Act 2016 to the devolved administrations by the draft affirmative procedure. Building upon Northern Ireland's positive contribution to the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme the Home Office continues to be in contact with the Northern Ireland Executive at ministerial and official level including discussions regarding unaccompanied asylum seeking children. We remain open to any offers of NTS places from the relevant authorities in the devolved administrations however no unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been resettled in Northern Ireland under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 yet.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Government plans to implement provisions in the Finance Act 2016 to require (a) multinational enterprises and (b) UK subgroups of multinational enterprises to provide annual country-by-country tax reports to HM Revenue and Customs.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government has been a supporter of greater tax transparency and the provision in the Finance Act 2016 mirrors this position.
It remains important that the provision is used to deliver a model of public country-by-country reporting that has been agreed on a multilateral basis. This will ensure public country-by-country reporting applies to both UK headquartered and foreign headquartered multinationals, requiring them to report on their profits and taxes for the full range of countries in which they operate.
We will continue to work with international partners on greater public disclosure of the tax affairs of multinational enterprises, including our continued participation in the discussions on the European Commission’s proposal.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will respond to the report from Freedom From Torture, Proving Torture, on its findings on the level of certainty required by her Department for asylum seekers to prove that they have experienced torture.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Officials have reviewed the cases that are referred to in the report and have engaged with, and will continue to work closely with, Freedom from Torture to review and develop further our policy and training.
The underlying policy objective when processing claims involving allegations of torture or serious harm and when considering medical evidence in the context of an asylum claim is to ensure that all relevant medico-legal (and any other) evidence provided in support of the claim is properly considered and given appropriate weight. We consider all asylum claims in a sensitive manner on an individual, objective and impartial basis ensuring that all cases are managed effectively throughout the asylum process to avoid unnecessary delay.
The policy guidance sets out how to properly consider, and afford appropriate weight to, medico-legal evidence as part of a claim for protection. It states explicitly that it is not the role of decision makers to dispute clinical findings in the medico-legal reports or make clinical judgments of their own about medical evidence or medical matters generally and all decision makers are trained in the application of this policy.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the training module developed for asylum caseworkers has been fully implemented.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Asylum Operations recently received funding from the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund to review and redevelop its training prospectus.
The current training for asylum decision making staff involves a dedicated five week course (or ‘Foundation Training Programme’) which covers Asylum legislation, the Refugee Convention, Human Rights law, UK Immigration Rules and legislation, as well as training on conducting asylum interviews and decisions.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement of 21 July 2016, HCWS125, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of whether the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has committed any breaches of international humanitarian law.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 21 July 2016, HCWS125, the MOD monitors incidents of alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations using available information which in turn is used to form an overall view on the approach and attitude of Saudi Arabia to IHL. This in turn informs the risk assessment made under the consolidated criteria, i.e. whether there is a clear risk that it might be used in the commission of a serious IHL violation, for the purposes of the arms exports licensing risk assessment. We are not acting to determine whether a sovereign state has or has not acted in breach of IHL, but instead - as Criterion 2(c) requires – we are acting to make an overall judgement.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Home Office torture evidence assessments were judicially appealed by asylum seekers in 2016; and how many such appeals overturned a Home Office assessment on whether an asylum seeker had experienced torture.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I am sorry but the data requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost by examination of individual records.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the time taken to ratify the Istanbul Convention on women who have experienced domestic, sexual, emotional and financial violence in the last four years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Coalition Government signed the Istanbul Convention in 2012 to show its strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), and this Government remains absolutely committed to ratifying it. Given that in most respects measures already in place to protect women and girls from violence comply with, or go further, than the Convention requires, time taken to ratify the Convention has not impacted on women who experience violence and abuse. Our cross-Government VAWG strategy sets out our ongoing commitment to tackling these crimes, and is underpinned by increased funding of £80 million. The Government has already taken extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) for female genital mutilation and forced marriage, but before the Convention is ratified we need to take ETJ over a range of other offences. We will seek to legislate when the approach to implementing ETJ is agreed and Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her Department's policy to implement the recommendation in the report by the UN High Panel of Access to Medicines, Promoting innovation and access to health technologies, published in September 2016, that all publicly funded medical research should (a) prioritise public health over financial gain and (b) be open to the public to allow for further collaboration.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID supports the aims of the recommendation of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines. DFID is a long-term supporter of medical and health research, including research to develop new health technologies (including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines). The research funding is provided to organisations that (a) prioritise public health needs over profit and (b) comply with the Department’s open access policy, to enable wide access to findings and allow for further collaboration.
Asked by: Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her Department's policy to implement the recommendation in the report by the UN High Panel of Access to Medicines, Promoting innovation and access to health technologies, published in September 2016, on improving standards of transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
While we support the aims of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, we note that this panel of experts could not reach consensus. DFID supports improving transparency in the pharmaceutical industry and funds the Access to Medicine Index to increase the transparency of pharmaceutical companies.