Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on the review of the treatment of overseas students alleged to have cheated in English language tests between 2011 and 2014.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s response to the freedom of information request submitted to the Home Office by Liberty, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding that the personal details of individuals submitted to the Prevent programme have been added to the National Police Prevent Case Management database.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what use is made of the £1,012 fee when an application to register a child as British is rejected.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Refunds are not provided when applications are refused. It is made clear that the fee paid is for the consideration of an application and is payable regardless of the decision made.
Fee income is retained by the Home Office and funds the direct and indirect costs associated with the provision of chargeable visa and immigration services, and also contributes towards the cost of the wider immigration system, as permitted under Section 68(9) of the 2014 Immigration Act.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent programme.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We regularly evaluate the effectiveness of Prevent interventions to build the evidence base for what works. This year we are evaluating the impact of a number of Prevent community projects, on tackling the causes of radicalisation, and are also conducting an evaluation of the Desistance and Disengagement Programme, to understand what is working to disengage and rehabilitate those already engaged in terrorism.
In addition, on 12 August 2019, the Home Secretary appointed Lord Carlile to review the Government Strategy for supporting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Lord Carlile will examine Prevent work in action and will be hearing views from supporters, critics and everyone in between, to see evidence of what is and isn’t working and build an evidenced set of recommendations. The terms of reference published on www.gov.uk confirm Lord Carlile will consider, among other things, the effectiveness of Prevent and its delivery. It is a statutory requirement that the Review report be published, and its recommendations formally responded to, by 12 August 2020.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in Bethnal Green and Bow have received compensation to date from the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
A breakdown of claims awarded by constituency could potentially identify individual claimants, so we are not publishing such information. We will shortly be publishing operational information on the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which will include the number of claims received, the number of claims paid and the overall amount of money that has been paid out.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will hold discussions with Members on the terms of reference for the review of the Prevent strategy.
Answered by Ben Wallace
On 22 January 2019, the Government announced that there would be an Independent Review of the Prevent programme. The purpose of the Independent Review, as set out in legislation, is to review the Government Strategy for supporting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Work is underway to appoint the independent Reviewer, define the Terms of Reference, and to recruit a secretariat to support this work.
To ensure this Review is open, transparent and objective, it will be conducted by a Reviewer who is independent from Government. The team which will support the work of the Review will sit outside the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, which has lead responsibility for Prevent.
Prevent covers a broad remit and this will be reflected in the Terms of Reference. The House will be informed of the arrangements for the Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy, including the Terms of Reference, by 12 August 2019, as required by the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 (six months from Royal Assent).
This review is an opportunity to further increase the transparency of the Prevent programme and engage with stakeholders. As I said in the House on 22 January 2019, I am happy to take suggestions on the Independent Review from Members of the House.
Once the Reviewer has been appointed, that person will have the discretion to decide how to engage stakeholders in the Review and how to draw on expert opinion on the wide range of issues involved in the delivery of Prevent.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the process of appointment will be for the panel conducting the independent review of the Prevent strategy.
Answered by Ben Wallace
On 22 January 2019, the Government announced that there would be an Independent Review of the Prevent programme. The purpose of the Independent Review, as set out in legislation, is to review the Government Strategy for supporting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Work is underway to appoint the independent Reviewer, define the Terms of Reference, and to recruit a secretariat to support this work.
To ensure this Review is open, transparent and objective, it will be conducted by a Reviewer who is independent from Government. The team which will support the work of the Review will sit outside the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, which has lead responsibility for Prevent.
Prevent covers a broad remit and this will be reflected in the Terms of Reference. The House will be informed of the arrangements for the Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy, including the Terms of Reference, by 12 August 2019, as required by the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 (six months from Royal Assent).
This review is an opportunity to further increase the transparency of the Prevent programme and engage with stakeholders. As I said in the House on 22 January 2019, I am happy to take suggestions on the Independent Review from Members of the House.
Once the Reviewer has been appointed, that person will have the discretion to decide how to engage stakeholders in the Review and how to draw on expert opinion on the wide range of issues involved in the delivery of Prevent.