Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the threat of monitoring and surveillance to pro-democracy Hong Kong activists living in the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Government regularly assesses potential threats to the UK, and takes the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.
As you would expect, Home Office officials work closely with the FCDO and DLUHC as well as other government departments to ensure that the UK is a safe and welcoming place for people from Hong Kong.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the context of recent terrorist attacks in the UAE, whether she has plans to proscribe the Houthi’s as a terrorist organisation.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Government condemns the recent attack in Abu Dhabi.
The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters, including whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. The Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals are currently (a) in temporary accommodation of any form, or (b) resettled in permanent accommodation, (i) by local authority; and (ii) Strategic Migration Partnership area have entered the UK since 15 August under the ARAP scheme or associated schemes for the sage passage of individuals from Afghanistan.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Between 15th and 29th August, the UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan. Under ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, we are taking a cross-government approach to supporting Afghans to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate with their local communities. We are working at pace with local authorities to source appropriate accommodation for Afghan families who were evacuated to the UK.
Data on relocation will be published as part of our quarterly release which can be found at this link: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The length of time that a family will remain in bridging hotels is dependent on a number of factors including the availability of appropriate housing. Over 300 Local Authorities have pledged housing, helping to provide the long term support required by these families.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have (a) arrived in the UK, (b) are currently in temporary accommodation; (c) are currently in holiday camp accommodation, and (d) been resettled in permanent housing since the fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021; and what estimate she has made of the average number of days individuals wait on the UK before they are resettled.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Between 15th and 29th August, the UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan. Under ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, we are taking a cross-government approach to supporting Afghans to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate with their local communities. We are working at pace with local authorities to source appropriate accommodation for Afghan families who were evacuated to the UK.
Data on relocation will be published as part of our quarterly release which can be found at this link: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The length of time that a family will remain in bridging hotels is dependent on a number of factors including the availability of appropriate housing. Over 300 Local Authorities have pledged housing, helping to provide the long term support required by these families.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Afghan Refugee Scheme will open for applications, and when the first refugees under this scheme is expected to arrive in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme is not yet open and remains under development. Officials are working urgently to stand up the remaining elements of the scheme. However, the first to be resettled through this scheme will be some of those who arrived in the UK under the evacuation programme, which included individuals who were considered to be at particular risk.
There will not be a formal Home Office owned application process for the ACRS. Instead, eligible people will be prioritised and referred for resettlement to the UK.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what weight she has given to the list of people allegedly implicated in the murder of Mr Alexander Litvinenko provided to her by Mrs Marina Litvenenko; and whether her Department has taken any action against those people.
Answered by John Hayes
The Home Secretary has responded in writing to Mrs Litvinenko on 8 March 2016. Whilst this was private correspondence, it reflected the Home Secretary’s oral statement to Parliament on 21 January 2016 setting out the Government’s response to Mr Litvinenko’s death.
For security reasons the Government does not routinely comment on action taken in relation to specific individuals. A number of those listed are subject to some form of overt action, for example, the EU sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, on which the UK has led the way.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of racially motivated attacks in England and Wales targeted Jews in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not hold the requested information. The Home Office receive data on hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales for the five centrally monitored strands (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity) but these data cannot be broken down by race or religion of the victim and cover all offences, not just “attacks”. The most recently available data relate to the financial year 2014/15 and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2014-to-2015
The Association of Chief Police Officers also publishes data on hate crimes for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These figures separate out the number of crimes that were anti-Semitic. Data for 2014/15 can be found at:
http://www.report-it.org.uk/files/hate_crime_data_npcc_2014-15.pdf
From April 2016, the Home Office will collect a breakdown of religion-based hate crime data from the police to help forces build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to better hold them to account. This information will be provided voluntarily in 2016/17, but we intend to make it mandatory from the following year.