Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the role of the National Crime Agency in (a) West Africa and (b) the Sahel region.
Answered by Mike Penning
The National Crime Agency (NCA) engages with a range of overseas partners in the both West Africa and the Sahel Region to tackle serious and organised crime threats to the UK, including drugs trafficking, money laundering, organised immigration crime and child sexual exploitation and abuse. This engagement is subject to continuous review by the NCA and is being expanded to enable the UK to respond to changing or emerging threats such as organised immigration crime. The Prime Minister announced the creation of a new multi-agency Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) Taskforce in June to tackle people smuggling in June and as part of this Taskforce the NCA has expanded its coverage in West Africa from where it also covers the Sahel.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the wearing of masks at demonstrations in public spaces.
Answered by Mike Penning
Face coverings can be worn in public places for a variety of legitimate reasons and there are no plans to introduce a blanket ban at demonstrations or other public events. The police already have powers in relation to the wearing of face masks in public order situations under existing legislation.
Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 allows a police officer in uniform, following an authorisation relating to a specified area for a specified time (up to 24 hours initially), to remove or seize anything that he or she considers is being, or could be, worn wholly or mainly for the purposes of concealing identity. This would include all types of face coverings.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide information and data about the housing, health, and social needs of Syrian refugees to enable local authorities to plan for their arrival.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We are working with local authorities to ensure that they are only asked to welcome Syrian refugees that their local structures are able to support. We are talking to them and other partners to ensure that capacity can be identified and the impact on those taking new cases can be managed in a fair and controlled way.
The Home Office alongside other departments and the Local Government Association will work with individual local authorities who are volunteering to take Syrian refugees. Currently when a referral is made to a Local Authority who has asked to participate in the scheme all relevant information on family make up, age and specific or medical needs is included in that referral so that the Local Authority can make an informed decision to accept or reject the individuals based on the specific needs.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to extend the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Pursuant to the Minister for Modern Slavery and Organised Crime's answer of 14 July 2014: Column 494W, there are no plans at present to extend the scheme andwe will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the region to identify the exceptional cases whose needsare so profound that they need to be resettled to a country like the UK. Groups of Syrians are being brought to the UK on a regular basis under the scheme. We envisage relocating several hundred people under the scheme over the next three years and we are on course to do so. Given the scale of the crisis, we believe that humanitarian aid and ending the crisis are the most effective way to help the majority of refugees, and ease the burden on their host countries. The UK has donated £700 million to the relief effort in Syria. UK funding is helping hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on a global response to the sale of stolen antiquities to fund terrorism.
Answered by Norman Baker
The UK takes the funding of terrorist organisations through any means very seriously. This Government endorsed guidelines on countering trafficking in cultural property and related offences at the UN Office on Drugs and CrimeCommission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session in May 2014.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what system is in place to regularly review the number of Syrian resettlement places in the UK as part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme in order to ensure the scheme is responsive to need.
Answered by Karen Bradley
We launched the Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme to help particularly
vulnerable displaced Syrians, for whom resettlement to the UK is the only
option. In particular, the programme prioritises survivors of torture and
violence, women and children at risk and those in need of medical care. We are
working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in the region to identify the exceptional cases whose needs are so profound
that they need to be resettled to a country like the UK. The scheme is
therefore based on need, rather than designed to meet set arrival projections.
However, we will continue to bring groups here on a regular basis, and envisage
that several hundred people will be helped over the next three years.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees have been recognised under each eligibility criterion in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Home Office is unable to provide information with regards to eligibility
criterion; this information is not readily accessible.
The data below refers to asylum claims lodged in the UK. These figures refer to
main applicants and therefore do not include dependents.
Total grants | Grants of asylum | Grants of HP | Grants of DL | Other grants | Appeals allowed | Total | |
2009 | 6,742 | 4,188 | 94 | 2,460 | : | 3,712 | 10,454 |
2010 | 5,195 | 3,488 | 91 | 1,616 | : | 4,029 | 9,224 |
2011 | 5,649 | 4,312 | 81 | 1,256 | : | 2,779 | 8,428 |
2012 | 6,059 | 5,135 | 88 | 751 | 85 | 2,208 | 8,267 |
2013 | 6,542 | 5,734 | 53 | 540 | 215 | 2,079 | 8,621 |