Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help police to support people with Parkinson's disease who are held in custody.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The arrest and detention of all individuals suspected of committing an offence is an operational matter for the chief officer of each force area. However, all detainees must be treated appropriately and in accordance with Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Codes of Practice C&H (detention and detention in terrorism cases, respectively).
In particular, section 9 of PACE Code C sets out detailed requirements concerning health care of all detainees. Amongst other things, the Code requires the custody officer to ensure that detainees receive appropriate clinical attention as soon as reasonably practicable if, for example, the person appears to be suffering from physical illness, or appears to need clinical attention. This applies even if the detainee makes no request for clinical attention and whether or not they have already received clinical attention elsewhere. If the need for attention appears urgent, the nearest available healthcare professional or an ambulance must be called immediately.
The Government does not hold information on the number of individuals with a Parkinson’s diagnosis that have been detained in police custody.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 extending police pensions to life-long payments in the event of an officer's death.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Since 6 April 2006, all new police officers have had lifelong survivor benefits as part of their occupational pension scheme benefits.
On 18 January 2016, the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 and the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 were amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers in England and Wales who have died on duty and who qualified for a survivor pension after 1 April 2015 to continue to receive their survivors’ benefits for life.
There are no plans to make any further changes to survivor benefits for police pension schemes.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to refund visa applicants who have paid for the online Premier Service and have not had their application processed within the quoted time-frame.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UK Visas and Immigration consider all requests for refunds on a case by case basis. Whether a refund is issued will depend on the specific circumstances of each case
Requests should be made via the complaints process:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration/about/complaints-procedure#how-to-complain
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's current target is for the length of time for it to complete an application for citizenship; and what the current average waiting time is for an application for citizenship.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The target is to decide straightforward cases within six months. Performance against that target is recorded in published data here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-november-2017 on the tab InC_02.
The latest data published shows that 100% of straightforward cases were decided within target. There is no published data on actual processing times.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what relationship the Government has with (a) Cifas and (b) other fraud prevention organisations; and what steps the Government has taken to regulate the operation of such organisations.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Joint Fraud Taskforce is a collaboration between Government, the financial sector, law enforcement, and civil society, which is working collectively to tackle fraud. CIFAS, alongside other fraud prevention bodies, such as Financial Fraud Action UK, are key members of the Taskforce, sitting on both the Management Board and Home Secretary Chaired Oversight Board.
Membership of the Taskforce is non-compulsory, although at its launch, the most senior members committed to work in partnership to help protect the public from becoming victims of fraud and fraud scams, maximising opportunities to stop fraudsters from operating, and to catch and prosecute those who commit fraud
CIFAS is also listed as a Specified Anti Fraud Organisation (SAFO) under the Serious Crime Act 2007, and as such CIFAS’s policies and processes are audited by the Information Commissioners Office every two years.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to review the rules on Disclosure and Barring Service checks that cover the criminal convictions of children being carried over into adulthood.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government keeps the framework governing the disclosure of criminal records under constant consideration in order to ensure the disclosure and barring arrangements continue to strike the right balance between safeguarding vulnerable groups and enabling offenders, including those who have received a conviction or caution aged under 18, to put their offending behind them.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on pre-adult criminal offences being carried over into adulthood when a Disclosure and Barring Service check is requested by a legal adult.
Answered by Sarah Newton
For standard criminal record checks and enhanced criminal record checks a conviction incurred by a person under the age of 18 is disclosable for five and a half years from the date of conviction. A caution, reprimand or warning incurred before the age of 18 is disclosable for two years from the date it was issued.
However, certain specified offences or a conviction receiving a custodial sentence will always be disclosed, and if someone has more than one conviction, then all their convictions will be disclosed. This is the case regardless of whether the convictions were incurred under the age of 18 or as an adult. The arrangements are set out in the Police Act 1997 as amended by the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2013.
A basic certificate will disclose any unspent convictions and conditional cautions as provided for by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current waiting time is for processing a Disclosure and Barring Service check for a British citizen.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The average process time for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) application is 11.37 days (September 2017).
The application form for a DBS check includes a field for nationality, but it is not mandatory to complete, therefore information on nationality is not routinely captured.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how long a conviction or criminal offence is required to be shown a Disclosure and Barring Service check; and whether children and young people under the age of 18 are required to carry forward convictions into adulthood on such a check.
Answered by Sarah Newton
For standard criminal record checks and enhanced criminal record checks, a conviction incurred as an adult is disclosable for 11 years from the date of conviction, and a caution incurred as an adult is disclosable for six years from the date it was issued. A conviction incurred by a person under the age of 18 is disclosable for five and a half years from the date of conviction. A caution, reprimand or warning incurred before the age of 18 is disclosable for two years from the date it was issued.
However, certain specified offences or a conviction receiving a custodial sentence will always be disclosed. If someone has more than one conviction, then all their convictions will be disclosed. The arrangements are set out in the Police Act 1997 as amended by the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2013.
A basic certificate will disclose any unspent convictions and conditional cautions as provided for by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons her Department has blacklisted citizenship applications from applicants who took the TOEIC test through companies accused of fraudulent activities; when those applicants were defrauded by those companies; and what steps she is taking to ensure that those applicants can still apply with an alternative proof of their level of English being of the required standard to process their application fairly.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
It is open to any person to apply for citizenship if they meet the statutory requirements.
Those applying for naturalisation as a British citizen are required to demonstrate a knowledge of English at B1 level or above, and that they are of good character.
As a TOEIC test is no longer a recognised English test qualification, an alternative qualification must be presented to satisfy the knowledge of English requirement.
Where evidence is available which identifies individuals as having obtained an invalid test certificate, additional scrutiny is applied by caseworkers as part of the assessment of good character, as would be applied to any other potential indication of adverse character or deception. The decision reached is based on the facts of the case and the overall assessment of the applicant’s suitability for naturalisation in accordance with nationality law and published policy.
Further guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nationality-policy-guidance