Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Defending Democracy Taskforce has taken evidence from BBC Persian journalists as part of its review into the UK's approach to transnational repression; and whether it has had recent discussions with the BBC World Service on that review.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
This Government is committed to tackling the issue of transnational repression. Any threats made by a foreign state against individuals in the UK, including journalists, will be thoroughly investigated.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce's review into the UK's approach to transnational repression is intended to ensure the UK has a robust and joined up response across government and law enforcement to this threat to our democracy.
The Taskforce has engaged a range of partners during the review, including other government departments, relevant agencies and law enforcement, and external stakeholders.
I intend to update the House on the review in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203790 on Visas: Africa, whether the (a) passports and (b) other documents of visa applicants applying at Visa Application Centres in (i) South Africa, (ii) Kenya, (iii) Nigeria and (iv) Ghana are (A) digitally copied and (B) checked at that Visa Application Centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Commercial partners take tri-scans of customers passports and scan all other supporting documents onto a digital portal for Decision Making Centres to view via a secure cloud solution.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings on pages 64 to 66 and 103 to 106 of the report “Join Us or Die”: Rwanda’s Extraterritorial Repression, published by Human Rights Watch in October 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
All attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable. Any threats made by a foreign state against individuals in the UK will be thoroughly investigated.
This Government is committed to tackling the issue of transnational repression. The National Security Act will strengthen our legal powers to counter foreign interference and the Defending Democracy Taskforce, established last year to help protect the democratic integrity of the UK, is conducting a review into the UK’s approach to transnational repression.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Visa Application Centres in (a) Kenya, (b) Nigeria, (c) Ghana and (d) South Africa contain scanners and other equipment required for (i) checking the authenticity of passports and other documents and (ii) making electronic copies of those documents.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Visa Application Centres (VACs) in Africa are operated by the commercial partner, TLS Contact, on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration. TLS Contact do not send physical passports or documents from these locations to the UK. Passports are stored either at the VAC or, for some locations, at a remote print location. A Keep My Passport service is available for purchase at the majority of the VACs in these countries which allows a customer to keep their passport while their application is processed.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Visa Application Centres in (a) Kenya, (b) Nigeria, (c) Ghana and (d) South Africa courier passports and other documents of visa applicants to Decision Making Centres in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Visa Application Centres (VACs) in Africa are operated by the commercial partner, TLS Contact, on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration. TLS Contact do not send physical passports or documents from these locations to the UK. Passports are stored either at the VAC or, for some locations, at a remote print location. A Keep My Passport service is available for purchase at the majority of the VACs in these countries which allows a customer to keep their passport while their application is processed.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 195882 on Visas: Tourism, how much his Department spent on contracts with Teleperformance Ltd for (a) visa processing and (b) contact centre services in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not categorise the information in a way that groups together Visa Processing spend with Teleperformance Ltd from 2021 to 2023, therefore we are unable to answer part of this question.
Contractual information in Contracts Finder is available for the second part of the question.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to work with local (a) businesses and (b) authorities to provide safe spaces for child victims of sexual street harassment in Newham.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Public sexual harassment is an appalling crime which the Government is committed to tackling. Our children have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.
We are providing just over £1.2 million in funding, for the next two years, to the Children's Society for a programme to drive targeted action to respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The programme works with national and local partners, including businesses, to identify exploitation trends and work collaboratively to prevent harm.
In addition, we have: