Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number migrants working in the UK on Tier 2 skilled worker visas who have had their indefinite leave to remain removed due to exceeding the 20-day annual limit on unpaid leave from work in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Tier 2 migrants who have indefinite leave to remain are not subject to any leave conditions, so cannot have it removed due to undertaking more than four weeks of unpaid leave.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number migrants working in the UK on Tier 2 skilled worker visas who have had their indefinite leave to remain removed due to exceeding the 20-day annual limit on unpaid leave from work where strike absence was taken in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Tier 2 migrants who have indefinite leave to remain are not subject to any leave conditions, so cannot have it removed due to undertaking more than four weeks of unpaid leave.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the family visitor visa application process is clear and comprehensible to people using that process.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office website contains detailed guidance for customers on the process of applying for a visa.
Customer service is a key priority for UK Visas and Immigration, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the visa application process is kept under regular review, including by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. Feedback from customers and partners assists us in continuously improving the services we offer. For example, during 2016 we rolled out a new and more intuitive online visa application process, Access UK.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the decision-making process for asylum claims takes full account of the extent of abuse and torture which applicants may have endured.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
All members of staff who make decisions in asylum receive training on international and domestic law and safeguarding issues supplemented by a mentoring programme with an experienced caseworker that can last up to 6 months. Within the training there are specific sections that detail torture and Medico Legal Reports and how they should be used and analysed in asylum claims.
The Home Office are working closely with Freedom from Torture and other key partners to review and make further improvements to the decision making process and training relating to asylum claims involving survivors of abuse and torture.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require operators of social media platforms to report communications sent via their service which could reasonably be interpreted as containing content which would constitute an offence under section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 or section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 to a relevant police force.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We expect social media companies, and internet platforms, to have robust processes in place and to act promptly when abuse is reported. The Government continues to work closely with social media companies and other relevant actors and experts to make sure they are committed to protecting those who use their platforms.
The Government is absolutely clear that harassment and abuse in whatever form and whoever the target is totally unacceptable, and that this should be reported to the police. This includes harassment committed in person, or using phones or the internet. The Crown Prosecution Service published guidance to prosecutors in October on crimes involving social media.
The Criminal Justice Act 2015 strengthened two existing communications offences: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 which can now be used to prosecute misuse of social media. The police now have longer to investigate either offence, and the maximum penalty for the former has been increased to two years imprisonment.
In addition, the Home Office has allocated £4.6m of the Police Transformation Fund specifically to begin the critical work of setting up a comprehensive and joined up programme of digital transformation across policing. This money will help provide a step-change in digital capability, funding police led programmes that will work to equip forces with the tools to effectively police a digital age and protect victims of digital crime.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require operators of social media platforms to report communications sent via their service which are either indecent images or videos of children or messages which would lead to the sexual grooming of a child to a relevant police force.
Answered by Sarah Newton
It is right that all social media platforms put appropriate mechanisms in place to prevent the abuse of their legitimate platforms and services by those who would do children harm. In the UK, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety brings together parents, charities, industry and government to respond to issues of online safety, including child sexual abuse. In 2015, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) published a practical guide for providers of social media and interactive services.
The guide has examples of good practice from leading technology companies (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), and advice from NGOs and other online child safety experts. Its purpose is to encourage businesses to think about “safety by design” to help make their platforms safer for children and young people under 18. That guidance covers the steps to identify and deal with child sexual abuse content or illegal sexual contact. A number of social media companies are also members of the EU ICT Coalition. This is a European industry initiative to make members’ platforms safer for users. Members self-declare how they meet the guiding principles, and are subject to a review by an external auditor. These principles include child abuse and/or illegal contact.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on social media platforms which operate in the UK but are based in the US reporting communications sent via their service which might pertain to an imminent threat to national security of the UK to the FBI rather than to a UK security agency.
Answered by Ben Wallace
We believe that companies such as social media platforms should proactively prevent their services from being abused by terrorists and other individuals who pose a threat to our national security by detecting and removing terrorist material. Where such material indicates there is an imminent threat to UK national security, they should report that content to our law enforcement or security and intelligence agencies. Ministers and officials continually raise these issues with social media platforms who are based abroad.
The UK Government is already doing what it can to identify and disrupt terrorist and extremist abuse of the internet. Since 2010, the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has worked with industry to secure the removal of over 250,000 pieces of terrorist content. Industry cooperation with CTIRU has significantly improved leading to faster and more consistent removal of referred content. CTIRU have established relationships with over 300 Communication Service Providers of differing sizes and removals at the request of CTIRU have increased from around 60 items a month in 2010, when CTIRU was first established, to on average of over 8000 a month in 2016. These arrangements mean that where companies take action this removes access to terrorist and extremist content from the whole platform, not just for users accessing it from within a particular jurisdiction, and therefore has a world-wide benefit.
However, although industry have taken some positive steps to address this issue, the internet is still being used to recruit, radicalise, incite and inspire and Governments cannot tackle this alone. Industry has both a social responsibility to tackle this threat and the technical expertise necessary to do so.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require operators of social media platforms to report communications sent via their service which could reasonably be interpreted as containing content which pertains to an imminent threat to the national security of the UK to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command.
Answered by Ben Wallace
We believe that companies such as social media platforms should proactively prevent their services from being abused by terrorists and other individuals who pose a threat to our national security by detecting and removing terrorist material. Where such material indicates there is an imminent threat to UK national security, they should report that content to our law enforcement or security and intelligence agencies. Ministers and officials continually raise these issues with social media platforms who are based abroad.
The UK Government is already doing what it can to identify and disrupt terrorist and extremist abuse of the internet. Since 2010, the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has worked with industry to secure the removal of over 250,000 pieces of terrorist content. Industry cooperation with CTIRU has significantly improved leading to faster and more consistent removal of referred content. CTIRU have established relationships with over 300 Communication Service Providers of differing sizes and removals at the request of CTIRU have increased from around 60 items a month in 2010, when CTIRU was first established, to on average of over 8000 a month in 2016. These arrangements mean that where companies take action this removes access to terrorist and extremist content from the whole platform, not just for users accessing it from within a particular jurisdiction, and therefore has a world-wide benefit.
However, although industry have taken some positive steps to address this issue, the internet is still being used to recruit, radicalise, incite and inspire and Governments cannot tackle this alone. Industry has both a social responsibility to tackle this threat and the technical expertise necessary to do so.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures were in place to ensure that members of the Cleveland Police Authority were required to declare any relevant business interests arising from procurement or outsourcing partnership arrangements instigated by Cleveland Police prior to Operation Sacristy.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The responsibilities in respect of financial management of police authorities and, since their creation by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2012, local policing bodies are set out in legislation and financial Codes of Practice.
Prior to the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners, Police Authorities were required to adhere to the Code of Practice on Financial Management for policing, which was issued in October 2000 under Section 39 of the Police Act 1996. This Code set out the requirements and obligations of police authorities and has since been withdrawn.
The Financial Management Code of Practice (FMCP), published in October 2013, provides clarity around the financial governance arrangements within the police in England and Wales. It sets out the responsibilities of the Chief Finance Officer of the PCC and of the Chief Constable who each have a personal fiduciary duty by virtue of their appointment as the person responsible for proper financial administration under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. This includes requirements and formal powers to safeguard lawfulness and propriety in expenditure.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures were in place to ensure that members of the Cleveland Police Authority did not benefit financially from any procurement or outsourcing partnership arrangements instigated by Cleveland Police prior to Operation Sacristy.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The responsibilities in respect of financial management of police authorities and, since their creation by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2012, local policing bodies are set out in legislation and financial Codes of Practice.
Prior to the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners, Police Authorities were required to adhere to the Code of Practice on Financial Management for policing, which was issued in October 2000 under Section 39 of the Police Act 1996. This Code set out the requirements and obligations of police authorities and has since been withdrawn.
The Financial Management Code of Practice (FMCP), published in October 2013, provides clarity around the financial governance arrangements within the police in England and Wales. It sets out the responsibilities of the Chief Finance Officer of the PCC and of the Chief Constable who each have a personal fiduciary duty by virtue of their appointment as the person responsible for proper financial administration under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. This includes requirements and formal powers to safeguard lawfulness and propriety in expenditure.