Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that online sales representatives, working for illicit Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical companies, are producing and smuggling illegal drugs into the UK, what action they are taking to combat the sale and advertisement of such drugs on the internet, and what response they have received from any representations they have made to the government of China in this regard.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Illicit production of synthetic drugs is a growing global concern, and we assess that criminal groups involved in illicit production are present in numerous countries around the world, including China. UK law enforcement agencies regularly engage with counterparts in countries where websites supplying and advertising illicit drugs are hosted. We have provided additional resources to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Home Office international networks in key source and transit countries to work with other governments to identify and disrupt criminal groups who seek to exploit the UK. We are also working closely with partners to monitor developments in source countries, to assess how changes are likely to affect the drugs threat to the UK.
With regards to action being taken to combat the sale of illicit drugs on the internet, our Online Safety Act will introduce measures requiring platforms to remove content relating to the sale of illegal drugs online and prevent users from being exposed to it. If they fail to comply, they risk stiff financial penalties or in the most serious cases, having their sites blocked by the independent regulator, Ofcom.
Additionally, the NCA, along with policing colleagues across the UK target key offenders operating online and work to ensure they have the resources and powers they need to keep our country safe. For example, proposals are being taken forward in the Criminal Justice Bill to create a new power enabling law enforcement to suspend IP addresses and/or domain names being used for criminal purpose, including the sale of illicit drugs. This new power will allow agencies to obtain a court order to formally request action by organisations both domestically and outside of the UK.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the production and distribution of illicit drugs from China, especially synthetic opioids such as nitazenes; and what estimate they have made of scale on which such drugs are smuggled into the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Tackling Class A drugs, including synthetic opioids, is a priority for the Government due to the harm caused to users, society and the economy.
We assess that the scale of trafficking of synthetic opioids into the UK remains small, relative to countries like the USA where they have caused devastation. However, nitazenes, which the National Crime Agency (NCA) assess as often being produced in illicit labs in China, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK during the last year, and we are taking action.
The cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce is working with partner agencies, such as the NCA, the Department for Health and Social Care and the National Police Chiefs Council to deliver an evidence-based response to the risk posed by synthetic opioids, and to implement effective action to stem the demand and supply of these dangerous substances.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of redefining criminality rules for British National (Overseas) visa applications.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, in relation to criminality and other adverse behaviour, apply to applications to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route. All applications are carefully assessed against the latest country information. Guidance for caseworkers provides flexibility to ensure that overseas convictions and offences not recognised in the UK do not result in the automatic refusal of an application.
Following representations from stakeholders, we are considering whether the current approach to criminality remains appropriate given the situation in Hong Kong.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers from Nicaragua have arrived in the UK in each year since 2018; and how many of those have been granted asylum so far.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ which is published on gov.uk. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions by nationality are published in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions 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 the year ending December 2023.
Please note, the applications data in Asy_D01 relates to applications for asylum – not arrivals. Individuals must be in the country to apply for asylum; some will apply immediately upon arrival, but some may be in the country for a period of time before applying. Arrival information for refugees is not collected as part of the asylum application.
Please note that initial decisions in Asy_D02 are based on date of decision and do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period. For example, a decision in 2023 may relate to an application made in 2022.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to Interpol regarding (1) arrest warrants being issued by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities for Hong Kong dissidents and (2) their targeting through Interpol, including through its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government strongly supports INTERPOL’s efforts to ensure systems are in place that protect individuals’ human rights in line with Article 3 of INTERPOL's Constitution which strictly forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Home Office continues to work with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards. We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
We are continuing to strengthen our collective efforts to deter the misuse of INTERPOL systems and support organisational reform and governance at INTERPOL.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports of the Turkish government's misuse of the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database, what assessment they have made of the Chinese government's ability to use the SLTD database to target Chinese and Hong Kong dissidents abroad.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government strongly supports INTERPOL’s efforts to ensure systems are in place that protect individuals’ human rights in line with Article 3 of INTERPOL's Constitution which strictly forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Home Office continues to work with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards. We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
We are continuing to strengthen our collective efforts to deter the misuse of INTERPOL systems and support organisational reform and governance at INTERPOL.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports of the Turkish government's use of the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database to target dissidents abroad, what representations they have made to Interpol regarding misuse of the SLTD database.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government strongly supports INTERPOL’s efforts to ensure systems are in place that protect individuals’ human rights in line with Article 3 of INTERPOL's Constitution which strictly forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
The Home Office continues to work with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards. We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
We are continuing to strengthen our collective efforts to deter the misuse of INTERPOL systems and support organisational reform and governance at INTERPOL.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks made by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 18 December 2023 (HL Deb cols 2046-2049) how many members of the Hazara community targeted by the Taliban and IS-K in Afghanistan have been resettled to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Resettlement of eligible Afghans remains a top priority for this Government.
The latest published Immigration system statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab) show that at the end of September 2023, around 24,600 vulnerable people affected by the events in Afghanistan have been brought to safety so far.
Statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes is available in the immigration system statistics release. For detailed data, see table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.
The Home Office does not publish data on resettlement by ethnicity, as ethnicity is not routinely collected in a way that is reportable.
The capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and difficult decisions have to be made on who will be prioritised for resettlement.
We continue to work with likeminded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the number of asylum seekers from Hong Kong who have switched to British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visa routes, and the way in which such applications have been handled, since they decided to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders to apply independently of their parent.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Those who apply to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route from overseas should not travel to the UK until they have received a decision on their application. Most individuals who hold a BN(O) or Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport will be able to apply to the BN(O) route without needing to attend a visa application centre by using the UK Chip Checker smartphone application.
In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route, but all applications will need to meet the relevant requirements to be granted, including the suitability requirements. The Home Office is aware of the issues some individuals have faced when switching into the BN(O) route since it was amended to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders who were born after the handover of Hong Kong to apply independently of their parent, and we are looking into these cases.
Recent published data shows that in Quarter 2 of 2023, 98.58% of leave to enter cases and 98.35% of leave to remain cases classed as straightforward were decided within the service standard of 12 weeks.
This can be found at the following link: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office does not currently hold any publishable data on the longest outstanding case.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the position of British National (Overseas) visa applicants who remain in Hong Kong while their application is considered.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Those who apply to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route from overseas should not travel to the UK until they have received a decision on their application. Most individuals who hold a BN(O) or Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport will be able to apply to the BN(O) route without needing to attend a visa application centre by using the UK Chip Checker smartphone application.
In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route, but all applications will need to meet the relevant requirements to be granted, including the suitability requirements. The Home Office is aware of the issues some individuals have faced when switching into the BN(O) route since it was amended to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders who were born after the handover of Hong Kong to apply independently of their parent, and we are looking into these cases.
Recent published data shows that in Quarter 2 of 2023, 98.58% of leave to enter cases and 98.35% of leave to remain cases classed as straightforward were decided within the service standard of 12 weeks.
This can be found at the following link: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office does not currently hold any publishable data on the longest outstanding case.