Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she (a) has recently taken and (b) plans to take to engage the music industry on ensuring that the visa and immigration system supports the needs of that sector.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Free Movement will end on 31 December 2020 with the end of the Transition Period. Following the end of the Transition Period EEA and Swiss nationals will be able to continue to travel to the UK for holidays or short-term trips, without needing a visa. The current Immigration Rules, including those for visitors, contain a wide range of provisions to cater for artists, entertainers and musicians.
The Home Office continues to engage with DCMS and the creative sector to ensure the future immigration system contributes to the thriving cultural sector in the UK.
More detailed analysis on the points-based system and individual routes will be published shortly.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's policy paper, The UK’s Points-Based Immigration System: Policy Statement, published on 19 February 2020, whether her Department has made an estimate of the proportion of EEA citizens working in the creative industries who would have been denied a visa under those proposals since 2004.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Musicians and performers are a valued and important part of UK culture. The UK attracts world class artists, entertainers and musicians and that is not going to change under the new system.
The Home Office continues to engage with the creative sector to ensure the future system will enable the UK’s cultural life to thrive.
In delivering on its manifesto commitments for a new points-based system, the Government has considered relevant views, evidence, and analysis.
More detailed analysis will be provided on the points-based system and individual routes will be published shortly.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful prosecutions the National Wildlife Crime Unit has contributed to since its creation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure the continued effective prosecution of wildlife criminals after the funding arrangement for the National Wildlife Crime Unit expires at the end of March 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office will be providing specific funding of £136,000 to support the work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit in 2020/21. This will be in addition to the funding central Government will be providing to police forces in England and Wales to tackle all types of crime, including wildlife crime.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people claimed asylum in the UK on the basis of sexual orientation in 2018; and what proportion of those applications were refused.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum applications on the basis of sexual orientation and the initial decisions on such applications are published in the LGBT asylum data table under SOC_00 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 2018, with the next planned update scheduled for August 2020.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Links:
Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
LGBT asylum data table:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/848102/asylum-sexual-orientation-dec-2018-tables.ods
Asylum and Resettlement Detailed Datasets
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Research and statistics calendar:
https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?keywords=immigration&content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=home-office&order=relevance
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hours of LGBT+ sensitive training were delivered to officers who interview people claiming asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation in 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not record the number of hours of LGBT+ sensitive training delivered to officers who interview individuals who claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation. LGBT+ training is a central theme throughout the Foundation Training Programme (FTP) that all asylum Decision Makers receive.
We are committed to an asylum system which is supportive and responsive to those claiming asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to minimise the risk of victimisation to LGBT+ asylum seekers living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
We take the welfare of all our service users in asylum accommodation very seriously.
The new accommodation contracts contain several uplifts in order to safeguard the vulnerable, including LGBT+, service users. This includes specific training for all frontline provider staff and improved data sharing protocols which include the characteristics and needs of Service users at risk of with specific needs.
Further, we liaise with Micro Rainbow, a charity who organises safe housing and support for LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the risks to LGBT+ detainees in immigration removal centres.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for asylum seekers fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation. Each case is considered on its individual merits, with all available evidence carefully and sensitively considered in light of published country information.
Decisions on claims based on sexual orientation are reviewed by a second experienced caseworker as an additional safeguard.
Migrants, including asylum claimants, may be detained for immigration purposes only in accordance with Home Office detention policy, as set out in Detention general guidance and adults at risk in immigration detention. The detention decision must always be made on the basis of the individual’s particular circumstances and eligibility for detention.
All immigration removal centres take a strategic approach to equality and diversity, with identification, monitoring and support for all detainees with protected characteristics. Every detainee receives an individual risk assessment at the point of initial detention which is repeated when the detainee enters the immigration removal centre. The risk assessment is kept under review.
Guidance is available for Home Office and supplier staff on providing consistent standards of treatment for LGB detainees. This is provided in Detention Services Order 2/2016 ‘Lesbian, gay and bisexual detainees in the detention estate’ which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-detainees
Where transsexual individuals are detained, Detention Services Order 11/2012 on the ‘Care and Management of Transsexual Detainees’ sets out how individuals with these particular protected characteristics should be safeguarded and treated in detention. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/caring-for-and-managing-transsexual-detainees
The UK only ever returns those who both the Home Office and the Courts are satisfied do not need our protection and have no legal basis to remain in the UK.
We do not currently hold the data in the format you have requested, however published data is available on the number of individuals held in immigration detention and those that are returned, including the sexuality of the number of applicants and decisions made. Details of the number of Asylum claims made is also published, the data can be found at:
Under section 8 (detentions and returns) and section 10 (Asylum on the basis of sexual orientation):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many failed LGBT+ asylum seekers were deported from the UK in each year since 2015.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for asylum seekers fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation. Each case is considered on its individual merits, with all available evidence carefully and sensitively considered in light of published country information.
Decisions on claims based on sexual orientation are reviewed by a second experienced caseworker as an additional safeguard.
Migrants, including asylum claimants, may be detained for immigration purposes only in accordance with Home Office detention policy, as set out in Detention general guidance and adults at risk in immigration detention. The detention decision must always be made on the basis of the individual’s particular circumstances and eligibility for detention.
All immigration removal centres take a strategic approach to equality and diversity, with identification, monitoring and support for all detainees with protected characteristics. Every detainee receives an individual risk assessment at the point of initial detention which is repeated when the detainee enters the immigration removal centre. The risk assessment is kept under review.
Guidance is available for Home Office and supplier staff on providing consistent standards of treatment for LGB detainees. This is provided in Detention Services Order 2/2016 ‘Lesbian, gay and bisexual detainees in the detention estate’ which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-detainees
Where transsexual individuals are detained, Detention Services Order 11/2012 on the ‘Care and Management of Transsexual Detainees’ sets out how individuals with these particular protected characteristics should be safeguarded and treated in detention. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/caring-for-and-managing-transsexual-detainees
The UK only ever returns those who both the Home Office and the Courts are satisfied do not need our protection and have no legal basis to remain in the UK.
We do not currently hold the data in the format you have requested, however published data is available on the number of individuals held in immigration detention and those that are returned, including the sexuality of the number of applicants and decisions made. Details of the number of Asylum claims made is also published, the data can be found at:
Under section 8 (detentions and returns) and section 10 (Asylum on the basis of sexual orientation):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many LGBT+ asylum seekers have been the victim of a reported hate crime in (a) asylum accommodation and (b) immigration removal centres in each year since 2015.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government takes the welfare and safety of those in asylum accommodation very seriously and no form of ill-treatment or discrimination is tolerated.
We do not tolerate any kind of criminal activity in our accommodation or immigration removal centres, and any allegation of crime is immediately reported to the police for investigation. Reported incidents which are considered crimes are recorded by the police.
Information on the number of reported hate crimes is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.