Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people (a) applied, (b) were shortlisted and (c) were interviewed for the position of the Independent Reviewer of Prevent.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We welcome the views of any civil society organisation which wants to contribute to the development of the new Terms of Reference for the Independent Review of Prevent. They can contribute by contacting the team which will support the new Independent Reviewer at indpreventreview@homeoffice.gov.uk.
The Review team has approached some of the organisations with which they had been in contact during earlier stages of the Review to invite their comments and which represent a broad range of views on Prevent, including those critical of the current approach. But the views of all organisations are welcome.
Any views provided to the Review Team will be shared with the Independent Reviewer once appointed and before the Terms of Reference are agreed.
Interviews for the role of Independent Reviewer are taking place later this month, following which there will be an announcement in due course. There were 35 applicants for the role; we cannot comment further on an ongoing recruitment process.
The aim is for the Independent Review to be completed by August 2021.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will revoke the deportation order of Osime Brown in light of Mr Brown's learning disabilities, mental ill health and lack of family network in Jamaica.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Foreign national offenders should be in no doubt of our determination to remove them. Since 2010 we have removed more than 53,000 FNOs.
It would be inappropriate to comment on this case while legal proceedings are ongoing
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department reported their religion as Islam in the latest period for which figures are available; what the reported ethnicity of those staff was; and how many of those staff were employed at each grade.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Answer:
Home Office staff have the option to identify as “Muslim” on our HR system rather than identifying their religion as “Islam”.
Our records show at 30 September that 2070 Home Office staff identify as Muslim. They identified according to the following ethnicities:
Ethnicity | Headcount |
Asian or Asian British | 1,756 |
Black or Black British | 101 |
Chinese or Other Ethnic Group | 67 |
Mixed | 44 |
Prefer not to say | 43 |
White | 59 |
Total | 2,070 |
Additionally, the 2070 Muslim staff are broken down into the following Civil Service grades:
Grade | Headcount |
AA | 57 |
AO | 614 |
EO | 891 |
HEO | 280 |
SEO | 146 |
G7 | 68 |
G6 | 9 |
SCS | 5 |
Total | 2,070 |
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the budget was for Prevent in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ben Wallace
This Government is committed to the Prevent programme. Prevent’s budget for the last five years was:
2014/15 - £26.7m
2015/16 - £42.8m
2016/17 - £37.7m
2017/18 - £45.5m
2018/19 - £47.3m
Prevent is working and is successful. Prevent has made a significant impact in safeguarding people being drawn into terrorism.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of visa applicants who have not received an Immigration Surcharge Number as a result of that number being provided to those applicants' legal representatives and not those applicants directly; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not routinely record the information requested. The Immigration Health Surcharge number is sent to the email address that is provided during the payment process. Customers should ensure that they are receiving information about their application from anybody acting on their behalf, but any customer who requires details of their IHS number can request it via UKVI contact channels.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of printing IHS numbers on biometric cards for visa applicants.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) number is not used by the NHS for administrative purposes and there is no advantage in printing it on the biometric residence permit (BRP).
Surcharge payers can use their BRP to evidence their status as part of the eligibility checks carried out by the NHS. The Home Office shares data with the NHS in England on those who have paid the surcharge, or who are exempt from doing so and are entitled to free NHS care. It also provides checking services for the NHS in other parts of the UK. These services help the NHS establish whether a patient is chargeable.