Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) accuracy of live facial recognition technology, (b) potential for biased outputs and decision-making from facial recognition technology system operators and (c) the adequacy of criteria for deployment of facial recognition technology.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government supports the police using new technologies like facial recognition to protect the public. Whether and how they use it is an operational matter for the police in accordance with the legal framework, and they have published the results.
The College of Policing has published an Authorised Professional Practice, which provides national guidance and addresses the Court of Appeal judgment on Bridges vs South Wales Police. This includes details on how to measure accuracy, the requirement to comply with the public sector equality duty in relation to possible bias, the need for a human decision on whether and how to intervene following an alert for a possible match, and the deployment criteria.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of spousal visa applications that are awaiting determination; what plans she has to reduce any backlog; and what timescale she expects any backlog to be eliminated.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is currently prioritising Ukraine Visa Schemes applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Data is not published on the number of applications which are outstanding. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Staff from other government departments, including DWP and HMRC, are being surged into the Home Office to help with Ukraine work and enable other normal visa routes to return to normal service levels.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 22 April 2022 to Question 150126 on Economic Crime, how many cases involving money linked to corruption flowing from African states into the UK were prosecuted following National Crime Agency investigations in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022 to date.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The NCA has had no prosecutions in respect of money linked to corruption flowing from African states during 2021 and 2022.
The NCA does however have a number of long standing investigations with the Crown Prosecution Service, as these are live investigations it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the proportion of asylum applications that will result in a grant of refugee status or humanitarian protection in Rwanda.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, once an individual is relocated to Rwanda, they will accept physical and legal responsibility for processing their claims and supporting them. The granting of refugee status or humanitarian protection will be for Rwanda to decide on each case.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to include assessments of the cross-border money laundering risks faced and posed by the UK to countries in Africa in the next National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The UK National Risk Assessment (NRA) of money laundering and terrorist financing sets out how criminals try to move illicit funds through the UK and the risks this poses.
The NRA is primarily a domestic assessment of businesses and sectors that are vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing risks. It does not include information on the risks posed by the UK to other jurisdictions. However, it does include an assessment of cross-border risks. In the most recent NRA (2020), Africa is referenced in relation to organised immigration crime, international terrorism and the portability of luxury and wholesale goods across borders.
Africa may feature in the next NRA if countries are identified as a risk, based on the NRA methodology and the intelligence picture at that time.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2022 to Question 143639, if she will publish data relating to the proportions of (a) money laundering cases under investigation, (b) value of assets subject to restraint, (c) value of assets confiscated, (d) value of assets enforced, (e) value of assets returned from confiscation work and (f) other performance measures in relation to (i) geographic regions of the countries affected, and (ii) income levels of the countries affected.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Statistics on the proceeds of crime restrained and confiscated are published every year by the Home Office in the Asset Recovery Statistical Bulletin. The link to the latest release can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.
Annex B of the Statistical bulletin sets out the total value of proceeds of crime returned to foreign governments under the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and where the UK exercises its discretion to return funds in appropriate cases when it is not otherwise mandated under UNCAC.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of offshore immigration processing schemes used by other countries, including the impact of these schemes on asylum seekers and migrants’ (a) safety, (b) access to legal recourse and (c) freedom from persecution.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Migration and Economic Development Partnership between the UK and Rwanda is a completely new and innovative approach. Individuals deemed inadmissible to the UK’s asylum system may have their asylum claim considered in Rwanda rather than in the UK, with a view to receiving the protection they need in Rwanda if their claim is granted. Rwanda will accept physical and legal responsibility for the relocated individuals. Anyone granted protection will be supported in Rwanda to build a safe and prosperous new life, supported for 5 years with integration support, accommodation and healthcare.
Everyone considered for relocations will be screened, interviewed, and have access to legal advice in the UK prior to relocation. Decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis and nobody will be removed if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them.
Rwanda has a strong history of welcoming refugees, gaining international recognition for improving their lives, employability and integration in local communities.
Rwanda will process claims in accordance with the UN Refugee Convention, national and international human rights laws, and will ensure their protection from inhuman and degrading treatment or being returned to the place they originally fled.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the (a) cost and (b) carbon impact per migrant of her proposals to transport and detain asylum seekers in Rwanda.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, people who are relocated to Rwanda will not be detained there. The UK will provide funding for the processing costs for each person relocated there. Every person’s needs are different, and funding will only be provided while a person remains in Rwanda.
The UK remains committed to honouring its obligations on climate change, including those contained in the Glasgow Climate Pact. This is unaffected by bilateral agreements signed by the UK, such as the one recently agreed with the Government of Rwanda. The UK continues to work closely with the Government of Rwanda on climate issues, including ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in June.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to expand access to independent child trafficking guardians to all local authorities in England and Wales.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to delivering the national rollout of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTG) service. To date, a staggered approach to rollout has been adopted with robust built-in evaluations to ensure the ICTG service meets the needs of the vulnerable children it supports.
In May 2021, the ICTG service was further expanded to cover in total two thirds of all local authorities across England and Wales, focussing on the areas of highest need.
As part of this phase of the rollout, we are undertaking the targeted testing of recommendations made by the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. An independent evaluation will be carried out to look at the added value of these changes and consider appropriate next steps.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 on (a) treatment of detainees including migrants, (b) democracy and (c) other human rights issues in Rwanda of the Government’s plans to establish a migrant deportation policy with that country; and if she will make an assessment of the impact of that policy on the credibility of statements by the Government on human rights violations in other countries.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are confident that the Migration and Economic Development Partnership is fully compliant with domestic and international law, including human rights law. We do not see this Partnership as incompatible with UK positions on human rights, and therefore do not foresee any impact on the credibility of our statements on human rights violations in other countries – as evidenced by recent statements on Ukraine.
Rwanda is a State Party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the seven core UN Human Rights Conventions. It is recognised globally for its record on welcoming and integrating migrants, including over 500 people evacuated from Libya under the EU’s Emergency Transit Mechanism working in partnership with the UNHCR. Under this agreement, they will process claims in accordance with the UN Refugee Convention, national and international human rights laws.