Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were apprehended when illegally entering the UK via Northern Ireland's land border with the Republic of Ireland in each of the last two years.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have received on the amount of time spent by police officers on paperwork each year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office has received no recent representations on this subject.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people suspected of committing offences relating to terrorism have been held in pre-charge detention and subsequently convicted of the offence for which they were initially detained.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office collects and publishes figures on the number of people arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, by the period of detention and subsequent outcome (e.g. charge, release). This data can be found in table A.01 and A.02 of the Home Office Quarterly Statistics Bulletin on the operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation. The most recent bulletin, published on 15 December 2016, covers the period to the end of September 2016: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-terrorism-arrests
The document is also attached to the response.
The Home Office does not, however, hold this information for other terrorism-related arrests, made under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Port and Border Controls). Nor does the Home Office hold information on individuals detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, for offences that are known to be terrorism-related.
In none of the cases does the Home Office hold information on whether those arrested were subsequently convicted for the same offence that they were initially arrested for.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many arrests have been made as a result of the exercise of powers to stop and search under the Terrorism Act 2006 in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Police stop and search powers are provided for within the following Sections of the Terrorism Act (2000): 43 (search of persons), 43a (search of vehicles) and 47a (authorisations to search persons and vehicles without suspicion within a specified area).
Searching of persons and vehicles without suspicion has not been used by police forces in Great Britain since March 2011 and the Home Office does not collate or collect data on vehicle searches. The Home Office collects data on searches of persons from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The number of people arrested by the MPS following stop and search was:
• 23 in the year 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014;
• 33 in the year 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015; and
• 64 in the year to 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.
Further information can be found in the Home Office Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, including data relating to stop and search powers. The most recent was published on 22 September 2016. It can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/collection/counter-terrorism-statistics.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many entry clearance visas have been granted in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The information requested for the latest 12 months available is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April - June 2016’, available from the GOV.UK website.
In the year ending June 2016, there were 2,866,872 entry clearance visa applications (including visitors and those on transit visas). Over the same period there were 2,457,977 grants. These figures include main applicants and dependants.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many entry clearance visa applications have been received in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The information requested for the latest 12 months available is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April - June 2016’, available from the GOV.UK website.
In the year ending June 2016, there were 2,866,872 entry clearance visa applications (including visitors and those on transit visas). Over the same period there were 2,457,977 grants. These figures include main applicants and dependants.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK Border Agency regularly screens vehicles entering the UK for the purpose of detecting illegal immigrants.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Border Force operates a multi-layered search regime using a range of interventions to screen vehicles entering the UK, including for the purposes of detecting illegal immigrants.
This includes Passive Millimetre Wave Imaging devices, heartbeat monitors and carbon dioxide detectors as well as physical searches by sniffer dogs, Border Force staff and specialist search contractors.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of the extent of human trafficking in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
An in depth assessment of the scale and nature of modern slavery and human trafficking across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, can be found in the recently published Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) report on modern slavery, available via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-of-the-inter-departmental-ministerial-group-on-modern-slavery-2016.
The latest published figures from the National Crime Agency reveal that in 2015, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the framework which identifies and supports potential human trafficking victims – received 53 referrals of potential victims first encountered in Northern Ireland. This represents a 17% increase on 2014 referrals and 1.6% of UK referrals to the NRM.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of UK nationals who have travelled to participate in terrorist-related activity in (1) Syria, (2) Iraq, (3) Libya, and (4) another country, from 2013 to date.
Answered by Lord Bates
We believe approximately 800 UK linked individuals have travelled to take part in the conflict in Syria and Iraq since it began. Many have joined Daesh and other terrorist groups. We cannot provide specific data on how many nationals have travelled to Libya or other countries on national security grounds.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many business establishments in Northern Ireland have been fined for employing illegal national workers in each of the last four years.
Answered by Lord Bates
The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures are based on the number of civil penalties issued to individual employers during each of the last four complete financial years and the current financial year to 31st January 2016. This includes public and private limited companies, sole traders, partnerships and franchises.
Financial year | Civil penalties issued |
2011-12 | 14 |
2012-13 | 19 |
2013-14 | 42 |
2014-15 | 85 |
2015-16 (to 31st January 2016) | 57 |