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Written Question
Forced Marriage
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are living in forced marriages in the UK.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad

The Government has significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage. We have introduced a new forced marriage offence, criminalised the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and introduced anonymity for victims

In November 2018, the Home Secretary launched the Forced Marriage Awareness Campaign, which highlights that forced marriage is a crime and directs victims and concerned parties to contact the Forced Marriage Helpline for support.

The joint Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. In 2018, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,764 cases. Since 2012, the FMU has provided support to between approximately 1,200 and 1,400 cases per year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people currently living in forced marriages in the UK. Further information on the FMU’s 2018 statistics can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804044/Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf

We recognise that forced marriage can constitute modern slavery, as we examined in the Home Office Typology report, but not in all cases, so we must assess each on a case by case basis. Potential victims can be deceived about the nature of their relationship with the trafficker, not understanding that they would be exploited in the marriage. The exploitation can take place through domestic servitude which occurs alongside domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.

The Home Office Typology Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652652/typology-modern-slavery-offences-horr93.pdf


Written Question
Forced Marriage
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of recognising forced marriage as a form of modern day slavery.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad

The Government has significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage. We have introduced a new forced marriage offence, criminalised the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and introduced anonymity for victims

In November 2018, the Home Secretary launched the Forced Marriage Awareness Campaign, which highlights that forced marriage is a crime and directs victims and concerned parties to contact the Forced Marriage Helpline for support.

The joint Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. In 2018, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,764 cases. Since 2012, the FMU has provided support to between approximately 1,200 and 1,400 cases per year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people currently living in forced marriages in the UK. Further information on the FMU’s 2018 statistics can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804044/Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf

We recognise that forced marriage can constitute modern slavery, as we examined in the Home Office Typology report, but not in all cases, so we must assess each on a case by case basis. Potential victims can be deceived about the nature of their relationship with the trafficker, not understanding that they would be exploited in the marriage. The exploitation can take place through domestic servitude which occurs alongside domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.

The Home Office Typology Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652652/typology-modern-slavery-offences-horr93.pdf


Written Question
Sleeping Rough
Monday 24th June 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of time dispersal orders used by the police to clear homeless camps in the last year.

Answered by Nick Hurd

We introduced the dispersal power through the Anti-social, Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to enable the police to disperse anti-social individuals for up to 48 hours. The legislation requires the officer authorising use of the power to be satisfied on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to remove or reduce the likelihood of people being harassed, alarmed or distressed or the occurrence of crime or disorder.

Data on how many times the dispersal power has been used is not collated centrally.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 20 Jun 2019
Refugee Family Reunion

"Like my hon. Friend and many other Members, we have a high number of refugees in Coventry. We have experienced problems with people waiting a long time to find out their status. Very often they find out that a family member back home, in the country they are running away …..."
Jim Cunningham - View Speech

View all Jim Cunningham (Lab - Coventry South) contributions to the debate on: Refugee Family Reunion

Written Question
Extradition: USA
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 261104 on Extradition: USA, how many UK citizens that have been arrested following extradition requests from the US were extradited to that country in each year since 2014.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The following table provides the information requested:

Year

Arrests

Offences for which those arrests took place

Extraditions to the US (please note these may relate to arrests that took place in a different year)

2014

-

-

-

2015

2

Distribution of child pornography Large-scale financial fraud

-

2016

4

Parental child abduction 14 counts of grand larceny (property theft) and conspiracy to defraud Causing death by dangerous driving Fraud

4

2017

2

Murder Fraud

2

2018

1

Conspiracy to participate in an organised crime group

2

2019

-

-

1

All figures are from local management information, and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change. The figures do not include Scotland, which deals with its own extradition cases.


Written Question
Extradition: USA
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 261104 on Extradition: USA, if he will publish the year in which those UK citizens were arrested in connection with a US arrest warrant in each year since 2014.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The following table provides the information requested:

Year

Arrests

Offences for which those arrests took place

Extraditions to the US (please note these may relate to arrests that took place in a different year)

2014

-

-

-

2015

2

Distribution of child pornography Large-scale financial fraud

-

2016

4

Parental child abduction 14 counts of grand larceny (property theft) and conspiracy to defraud Causing death by dangerous driving Fraud

4

2017

2

Murder Fraud

2

2018

1

Conspiracy to participate in an organised crime group

2

2019

-

-

1

All figures are from local management information, and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change. The figures do not include Scotland, which deals with its own extradition cases.


Written Question
Extradition: USA
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 261104 on Extradition: USA, if he will publish the offence for which those people were arrested following an extradition from the US.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The following table provides the information requested:

Year

Arrests

Offences for which those arrests took place

Extraditions to the US (please note these may relate to arrests that took place in a different year)

2014

-

-

-

2015

2

Distribution of child pornography Large-scale financial fraud

-

2016

4

Parental child abduction 14 counts of grand larceny (property theft) and conspiracy to defraud Causing death by dangerous driving Fraud

4

2017

2

Murder Fraud

2

2018

1

Conspiracy to participate in an organised crime group

2

2019

-

-

1

All figures are from local management information, and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change. The figures do not include Scotland, which deals with its own extradition cases.


Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 19 Jun 2019
Modern Slavery Act: Independent Review

"I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this debate. We can never have such debates too often, and we certainly welcome any initiatives that deal with modern-day slavery. I am sure he will remember the gangmaster issue in Morecambe, probably 10 or 15 years ago, when Chinese people were …..."
Jim Cunningham - View Speech

View all Jim Cunningham (Lab - Coventry South) contributions to the debate on: Modern Slavery Act: Independent Review

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 19 Jun 2019
Visa Processing Algorithms

"I have seen similar cases, particularly when somebody wants to bring a member of their family over here. I will not go into great detail, but I had a case where an individual was dying of cancer, which meant that her husband would have to give up his job to …..."
Jim Cunningham - View Speech

View all Jim Cunningham (Lab - Coventry South) contributions to the debate on: Visa Processing Algorithms

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Jun 2019
Violent Crime

"The west midlands is just as important as London, and over the last 10 years we have lost about 3,000 policemen. Logically, we cannot expect the same level of service; crime will go up. Over the last weeks in Coventry specifically, there have been stabbings—one fatal and one very serious. …..."
Jim Cunningham - View Speech

View all Jim Cunningham (Lab - Coventry South) contributions to the debate on: Violent Crime