Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an exemption from council tax for unoccupied listed buildings to reflect the application of business rates to listed buildings.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is committed to the protection of the historic environment and has put in place a strong legislative and planning policy framework to achieve this. The Government also supports the maintenance of listed properties through “Our Heritage” funding, further information about which is available at: https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/our-grant-programmes/our-heritage. Although there are no plans to introduce a council tax exemption for unoccupied listed buildings, local authorities do have powers to provide discretionary council tax discounts where they consider such action appropriate.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many potential victims of modern slavery were identified and referred to the National Referral Mechanism at (a) seaports, (b) airports and (c) rail ports in each year from 2016 to 2019 inclusive.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The location from which a First Responder identified and referred a potential victim of modern slavery to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is not captured in a reportable format.
The Home Office publishes statistics on referrals into the National Referral Mechanism on a quarterly basis. These reports detail the number of referrals submitted into the NRM by Border Force, however they are not broken down by port. These reports can be located via the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) identified potential victims of human trafficking or modern slavery and (b) persons prosecuted for human trafficking or modern slavery offences were stopped from entering the UK having tried to enter with forged, illegal or fraudulent documents or were otherwise undocumented in each calendar year from 2016 to 2019 inclusive.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The specific information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because a manual search through individual records would be required to identify individuals who have been refused entry to the UK from 2016 to 2019 as well as searching such records to identify victims of modern slavery who were identified and referred to the National Referral Mechanism
Tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, both in the UK and overseas, is a priority for the government. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery and provides protection for victims. The Modern Slavery Act also includes powers which enable law enforcement officers, including Border Force, to pursue modern slavery perpetrators at sea.
Border Force has a duty of care to all crossing the border and adults with vulnerability for any reason will be dealt with respect and care.
The Home Office publishes statistics on referrals into the National Referral Mechanism on a quarterly basis. These reports detail the number of referrals submitted into the NRM by Border Force, however they are not broken down by port. These reports can be located via the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the rule of six applies to holiday cottages; and whether exemptions are available to allow more than six people from different support bubbles to visit self catering holiday cottages.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since 14 September, people must not meet with people from other households socially in groups of more than 6. This applies indoors and outdoors, including in private homes and self-catered holiday accommodation.
If people are planning to go on holiday to a holiday home, self catered cottage or any other guest accommodation with more than 6 people who are not in one family group or bubble, they will need to make arrangements to reduce the size to 6.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what financial provision he is making available to ensure that there is adequate (a) infrastructure and (b) staffing in place to enable exit checks to be carried out at all UK ports from 1 January 2021.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
On 12 July, the Government announced a £705 million funding package for border infrastructure, staffing and IT to ensure GB border systems are fully operational when the UK takes back control of its border after the end of the transition period.
The £705 million will be split between £470 million for port and inland infrastructure and £235 million for new staff and IT systems. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have been refused entry to the UK at all ports of entry as a result of convictions for human trafficking and modern slavery or similar offences (a) in the UK, (b) in the EU and (c) in the rest of the world, in each calendar year from 2016 to 2019 inclusive.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The specific information you have requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because a manual search through individual records would be required to identify individuals have been refused entry to the UK from 2016 to 2019 inclusive
We do not hold data on those refused in EU countries and the rest of the world
Tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, both in the UK and overseas, is a priority for the government. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery and provides protection for victims. The Modern Slavery Act also includes powers which enable law enforcement officers, including Border Force, to pursue modern slavery perpetrators at sea.
Border Force has a duty of care to all crossing the border and adults with vulnerability for any reason will be dealt with respect and care.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many exit checks (a) in person and (b) using automated processes were carried out for EEA and Swiss nationals departing from all UK ports and airports in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what information those checks recorded.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We re-introduced exit checks in April 2015 to further complement our work on border security, plus support the Home Office’s wider work to deal with illegal immigration.
The vast majority of passengers leaving the country on scheduled commercial international air, sea and rail routes now go through exit checks. The data collected is already providing the police and security services with information to help track the movements of known criminals and terrorists.
Border Force hold data for outbound alerts issued by Border Force at the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC). However, we do not hold a breakdown of the data in the format requested.
A variety of agencies, including Border Force, undertake in person outbound interventions, as a result of this activity there is no single record held on their respective outcomes.
Government is working to ensure all parties including other government departments, traders, industry and passengers are prepared for the changes which will come into effect at the UK border on 1 January 2021.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on introducing automated exit checks for people departing the UK; and whether exit checks will be carried out on (a) all travellers and (b) at all ports from 1 January 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We re-introduced exit checks in April 2015 to further complement our work on border security, plus support the Home Office’s wider work to deal with illegal immigration.
The vast majority of passengers leaving the country on scheduled commercial international air, sea and rail routes now go through exit checks. The data collected is already providing the police and security services with information to help track the movements of known criminals and terrorists.
Border Force hold data for outbound alerts issued by Border Force at the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC). However, we do not hold a breakdown of the data in the format requested.
A variety of agencies, including Border Force, undertake in person outbound interventions, as a result of this activity there is no single record held on their respective outcomes.
Government is working to ensure all parties including other government departments, traders, industry and passengers are prepared for the changes which will come into effect at the UK border on 1 January 2021.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential for visa-free entry for EEA national visitors after the end of free movement to be abused by human traffickers to exploit EEA nationals in the UK; and what plans she has to prevent such exploitation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
At the end of the Transition Period EEA nationals will become subject to immigration control.
The UK does not intend to subject EEA visitors to a visa requirement at the end of the transition period. Visitors to the UK are assessed against the same suitability and eligibility requirements regardless of nationality. The only difference between visa nationals and non-visa nationals is where the assessment of their suitability and eligibility for entry to the UK is carried out, therefore the absence of a visa requirement does not materially change the risk of being exploited.
We continue to fulfil our public sector equality duties under s149 of the Equality Act 2010. ?We have prepared an overarching equality impactassessment (EIA) for the future points-based system. This will continue to be considered as policies are developed.
We are carefully considering the conclusions made by the Windrush Lessons Learned Review?and?will ensure further evaluation is taken forward in line with these recommendations.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Justice, how many (i) Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders and (ii) Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders were made by courts in each calendar year from 2016 to 2019 inclusive; and how many of those were made in respect of (a) EEA or Swiss nationals, excluding UK nationals and (b) UK nationals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of i) Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders and ii) Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders in each calendar year from 2016- 2019 can be found in the accompanying tables. Robust data in relation to nationality is not held in the HMCTS courts Management Information Database.