Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
While the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.
We have long been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK maintains sanctions on over 300 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The Government has also imposed sanctions on the IRGC in its entirety and on several senior security and political figures in Iran, including senior commanders within the IRGC and its Basij force.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Metropolitan Police on preventing hit-and-run offences.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Enforcement of road traffic law is an operational matter for the Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis. The Secretary of State has had no recent discussions specifically on this issue with the Commissioner.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May to Question 88 on Whetstone Synagogue: Security, if she will take steps to ensure that funding for the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant is increased in line with inflation.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Annual funding for the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant is allocated from Departmental budget allocations.
The Home Secretary has announced the extension of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant for 2022/23, at £14 million, the same amount as in 2021/22.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department's funding for the security of synagogues has risen in line with inflation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Funding for the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant was £14 million in each of the last three years, and £13.4 million in the two years prior to that.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will include a grant for Whetstone Synagogue in Friern Barnet Lane in her funding for security for places of worship.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Protective security measures for synagogues are available through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, which is managed on behalf of the Home Office by the Community Security Trust.
We cannot comment on whether specific places of worship receive grant funding.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that social media companies do not allow people traffickers to use their platforms to advertise criminal activities such as sale of stolen passports.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We have identified social media as a key enabler for Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) and we know that social media platforms are used to advertise people smuggling services and facilitate communication throughout a migrant’s journey. It is used to publicise people smuggling services and facilitate encrypted communication throughout a migrant’s journey. Advertisements on platforms target vulnerable migrants at or near point of origin selling false or stolen documents, and facilitation packages to enter the UK, including across the Channel.
The Home Office and NCA are working with social media companies to remove OIC related content from their platforms. Many of the major social media companies (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tik Tok) have taken welcome action to identify and remove illegal online content. However, there is clearly more that can be done. That is why the UK Government supports the work that NCA is doing with social media companies to ensure their policies are consistently enforced, and to establish a good shared understanding of how the problem is being addressed.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning President Ebrahim Raisi from entry to the UK in response to his involvement in serious human rights violations, as documented by Amnesty International.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
The Home Secretary can exclude a foreign national where it is conducive to the public good.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle delays in responding to passport renewal applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April, Her Majesty’s Passport Office has been advising its customers to allow up to 10 weeks to receive their passport, which will help to ensure British travellers continue to receive their passport in good time for when they are able to travel, including in the periods of the very highest demand.
Information about the typical processing times for applications completed in the previous week can be found at:
HM Passport Office have a range of tried and tested contingency arrangements available, including the flexing of resources from across the Home Office and other government departments, while continuing to explore new options to maximise its ability to cope with an unprecedented demand as international travel opens up.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will add the political wing of Hamas to the list of proscribed terrorist groups.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government does not routinely comment on whether groups are, or are not, being considered for proscription. The Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department is making on agreeing a youth mobility scheme with the EU.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We remain open to expanding our Youth Mobility Scheme to more nations, based on agreeing suitable reciprocal arrangements.
We have not commenced formal discussions with any EU member states or with the EU collectively but remain open to doing so.