Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including time spent awaiting an asylum decision within the five year period applicants must be in the UK before they may apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Whilst we do not have any plans to review the process by which refugees may apply for settlement protection, we have taken action to accelerate decision-making and rapidly speed up processing times to eliminate the backlog of people waiting for initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023. This will ensure asylum seekers are not left months or even years waiting for a decision.
We have done this by streamlining and modernising the end-to-end process, with improved guidance and more focussed interviews; and continued enhancement of digital technology.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the impact of fraud on businesses.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Discussions with Cabinet peers are held in confidence. However, the Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public and businesses from this devastating crime.
The 2020 Economic Crime Survey showed that around 1 in 5 businesses in surveyed sectors had been a victim of fraud over a three-year period. The mean annual cost per business of all fraud incidents was around £16,000, and the median cost was £1,000. 37% of businesses that experienced fraud also reported other impacts, including on the wellbeing of their staff.
The Fraud Strategy, published earlier this year, sets out the Government’s three pillar approach to tackling this crime. We will work with industry, intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and with all partners to ensure that people and businesses have the advice and support they need.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional UK border force staff are planned to be recruited in 2021 following the UK-EU Trade and cooperation agreement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Border Force has recruited over 1000 permanent staff for 1 Jan. In addition to the 900 FTE recruited in 19/20 we will have brought in a further 1,100 by July 2021, in advance of full customs controls.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to agree bilateral treaties with EU Member States for cross border policing.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes a deal on law enforcement and criminal justice cooperation which delivers a comprehensive package of capabilities that will ensure we can work with counterparts across Europe to tackle serious crime and terrorism. Hence the UK Parliament’s support for the agreement was a vital part of ensuring we can use these capabilities to protect the public and bring criminals to justice across our Union.
We also have excellent bilateral cooperation with Member States across the EU on a wide range of law enforcement and criminal justice issues. We will continue to consider ways we can strengthen this.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of transitioning to the replacement systems for (a) Europol, (b) Eurojust and (c) Schengen Information System II.
Answered by Kevin Foster
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to PQ 133894 on 15 January 2021.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the UK-EU Trade and cooperation agreement on refugee resettlement programs and when those programs will be restarted in full.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK’s refugee resettlement schemes operate outside of the EU and we don't envisage any impact on them from the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Following the temporarily pause to the resettlement of refugees, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, arrivals recommenced in December 2020. The final arrivals under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme will take place during early 2021, delivering on our commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees who have fled the conflict in Syria to rebuild their lives safely in the UK.
We will continue to honour our commitment to those who have been invited to the UK and we will roll out a new global resettlement scheme in the future, along with a new firm and fair asylum system which will welcome people through safe and legal routes.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU Member States have refused a request from the UK to extradite a suspect under the surrender arrangements of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement to date.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
The National Crime Agency handles requests made through the European Arrest Warrant as well as those made under the new surrender arrangements.
Statistics on the European Arrest Warrant have been published by the National Crime Agency for each year of its operation. These figures are published at: https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from the EU to the UK accessible under the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement include (a) the criminal records of and (b) intelligence on passengers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
PNR data is generated by airlines in their normal course of business as a record of each passenger's details needed to process their booking. It may include information such as the passenger’s name, passport and contact details, how the reservation was made and paid for, travel itinerary and any travel companions. PNR data does not include criminal record information or intelligence on passengers.
Airlines operating flights to and from the UK are under a legal requirement to transfer PNR data which is used to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute terrorist offences and serious crime. Processing of PNR data is undertaken in intelligence-led operations and post-incident investigations to detect known individuals; to identify otherwise unknown individuals whose PNR data or pattern of travel is linked to or associated with terrorism-related or serious criminal activity, and to identify and protect vulnerable individuals.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what real-time systems are available to UK Border Force to enforce a ban on foreign criminals sentenced to more than one year in prison entering the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
While it is not possible to reveal the details of how security checks at the border operate, Border Force undertakes to perform 100 per cent checks on scheduled passengers arriving in the UK. The majority of passengers are also checked against our systems before they travel, through the collection of Advanced Passenger Information (API). Where we are aware of individuals that pose a threat to the UK we can and do refuse entry and, where legislation applies, refuse Authority to Carry prior to departure.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests the UK has made to EU member states for information on the criminal background of EU citizens in 2021; and how many responses it has received.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
However, statistics on the Criminal Records Exchange are published by the national Criminal Records Office (ACRO) quarterly.
These figures are published at: https://www.acro.police.uk/Publications