Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what account she took of the recommendations of (a) the Report of the Modern Slavery Bill Evidence Review presented to her on 16 December 2013 and (b) the report from the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill published on 3 April 2014, HC 1019, when establishing the review of migrant domestic worker arrangements.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Both reports were considered carefully when establishing the review of the
Overseas Domestic Worker visa. That is why the review will focus on all aspects
of this visa regime, including the support available to those who are subject
to modern slavery offences whilst holding these visas. The Government is
determined to ensure that our visa regime does not encourage or facilitate
abuse. James Ewins was asked to conduct the review in light of his significant
background in tackling modern slavery, including as specialist adviser to the
pre-legislative scrutiny Committee and as a member of the steering committee
for the Modern Slavery Bill Evidence Review Panel. The Review will report by
the end of July 2015.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of removing the reasonable person test in defence for children from the Modern Slavery Bill.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The statutory defence is an important additional protection for victims of
modern slavery who have been compelled to commit certain offences as a direct
consequence of their slavery or trafficking situation. In addition, the Crown
Prosecution Service will continue to use its discretion to not charge an
offence or discontinue a prosecution which is not required, in the public
interest.
It is imperative that the defence protects child victims of modern slavery from
being inappropriately criminalised whilst also avoiding providing complete
immunity for the most serious categories of offending. The reasonable person
test is an important safeguard in ensuring that the defence cannot be abused.
The defence for child victims has been amended in the House of Lords to remove
the requirement for compulsion and we have also tabled an amendment at Lord’s
Report of the Modern Slavery Bill to the reasonable person test for child
victims to make it easier for child victims to gain protection from the
statutory defence. This amendment will remove the reference to the child having
no realistic alternative to committing the offence and will mean that once the
defence is raised, the prosecution would have to show beyond reasonable doubt
that the child acted unreasonably in committing the offence.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for first-time UK child passport applications submitted via the British High Commission in New Delhi, India.
Answered by James Brokenshire
All passport applications from persons resident in India are submitted via one of the visa application centres in India. The .gov.uk website sets out the expected turnaround times for applications from individual countries. These are provided as a guide so that the applicant is aware of the minimum period they may expect their application to take once it has been received by HM Passport Office in the UK. Applications from India are expected to take a minimum of 16 weeks. The time taken to process an individual case varies depending on the circumstances of the case, whether HM Passport Office needs to ask for further information or documents, or whether the photographs which accompany the application are rejected.