Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the enforcement of safe access zones is proportionate to other (a) protests and (b) gatherings.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has recently published and consulted on draft guidance on the enforcement of abortion safe access zones.
The Home Office is now considering the responses before we publish a final version.
The Home Secretary is committed to ensuring that women in England and Wales feel safe and protected whilst exercising their legal right to access abortion services and I am confident that this guidance will support the effective introduction of Safe Access Zones.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress he has made on reducing the backlog of asylum cases.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Provisional data indicates that between the end of November 2022 and October 2023 the legacy backlog reduced by 64% and we remain on track to clear the legacy backlog by the end of the year as per the Prime Minister’s commitment last year.
We will continue the steps we are already taking to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system. This includes better performance management, overtime, and shorer, focussed interviews.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the difference in fees in visa applications applying to some EEA and EU member state nationals; and what steps the Government is taking to improve equal treatment of all EEA/EU nationals under the current visa regime.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK has long standing arrangements in its legislation for the nationals of countries which have ratified the 1961 Council of Europe’s Social Charter (CESC) to qualify for a fee reduction for visa applications to come to work in the UK.
Nationals of the 26 countries which have signed and ratified the CESC are eligible for a reduction of £55 to their application fee if they are applying for a visa under a work route. Where the applicant is required to have a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from their employer, the CoS can be issued free of charge.
Details of the routes which qualify for a reduced fee are published on at:
The fee reduction of £55 only applies to the main applicant, it does not apply to dependants.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2020 to Question 57185 on Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, how the criteria for applying restrictions on international organisations involved in terrorism used by her Department differs to the criteria used by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
Answered by James Brokenshire
HM Treasury (OFSI) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are responsible on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government for domestic and international counter-terrorism (CT) sanctions respectively. The Home Office does not administer any CT sanctions regimes.
The Home Office is responsible for a number of tools that can be used to support the Government’s efforts to tackle the threat from terrorism. The tests that must be satisfied before these tools can be used varies between the different tools.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to coordinate with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office and OFSI are part of cross-Whitehall initiatives working to develop the UK’s autonomous sanctions regimes. The Joint Anti-Corruption Unit, based in the Home Office, also liaises with OFSI in its monitoring and reporting of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-22.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
What steps she has taken through her immigration policies to enable religious workers from India to staff places of worship in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the importance of faith across our communities in the UK, welcoming the value added by members of religious institutions from across the world.
This is reflected by dedicated immigration routes for Ministers of Religion and Religious Workers. These enable religious ministers and workers, including those from India, to live and practice their faith in the UK.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of legal protections for police emergency drivers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government fully recognises the difficult job that police drivers do every day to keep road users and the wider public safe.
In September 2017, the Home Office announced a review into the law, guidance and practice surrounding both police pursuits and response driving to ensure that officers have the right legal protections. That included working closely with the police representatives, including the Federation, other government departments and groups representing road users and those advocating road safety.
Following the outcome of the review, a consultation was published in May 2018 inviting comments on reforms to certain aspects of road traffic law, the tests set out in the Road Traffic Act 1988 for the offences of careless and dangerous driving, police guidance and training for both pursuit and response driving.
The consultation closed in August 2018 and we will shortly announce the next steps.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support convenience retailers in Harrow East to prevent shop theft.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which brings together partners including the police, trade bodies and retailers and is overseeing a range of work to tackle retail crime. This includes the collation and dissemination of good practice and developing guidance on the use of Impact Statements for Business, which give victims of business crime the opportunity to set out the impact the crime has had on the business, including, for example, financial loss. The NRCSG also continues to work with retailers to improve the management and response to shop theft using a partnership approach.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on extending the special China visitor visa pilot scheme to include other nations; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Since January 2016 the UK has offered a two-year validity visit visa to Chinese nationals for the same price as a six-month visa. This is a pilot scheme which we are running to assess the benefits and impacts of such an approach more broadly. There are currently no plans to extend this pilot to any other countries.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has put in place to ensure that groups run by people supporting extremist views are excluded from working with public sector institutions covered by the Prevent strategy, including the police.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The statutory Prevent duty places responsibility on certain public sector bodies to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’ in the exercise of their functions.
Supporting statutory guidance sets out expectations for relevant public sectors including that organisations they work with are not engaged in extremist activity or espouse extremist views; public resources are not utilised by extremists; extremist views are appropriately challenged; and where appropriate, extremists are lawfully prosecuted, disrupted and deterred. Sector specific advice, training and support continues to be provided by the Home Office and other departments to support proportionate Prevent delivery.