Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 25 June (HL8588), whether references to family members include non-EU citizens who are the (1) spouses, (2) civil partners, and (3) durable partners of UK citizens (a) before, and (b) after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
In line with the Surinder Singh caselaw, except where the family members are EU citizens exercising Treaty rights, the spouses and civil partners of UK nationals have EU law residence rights in the UK only in limited circumstances. This is where they have resided together as family members in another EU Member State where the UK national was genuinely exercising their Treaty rights, before returning to the UK. This provision does not extend to durable partners.
Although not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, it is our intention that spouses and civil partners of UK nationals who have genuinely exercised their free movement rights in another EU Member State before returning to the UK before the end of the implementation period, on 31 December 2020, will also be eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. As per Surinder Singh, we do not intend for the relevant provisions of the scheme to extend to durable partners of British citizens.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 14 May (HL7540), whether spouses of EU citizens from countries outside the EU will be included in the right to free movement in the UK; and if not, how they reconcile the statement that "family members will be able to join EU citizens on current EU law terms" with EU law determining that those spouses may have access to the applicable EU state.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The references to “family members” and “close family members” in the Written Answer of 14 May (HL7540) include those from countries outside the EU.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) customs officials, or (2) border officials, have the authority to request or oblige an incoming passenger to hand over any password to unlock their smart phone; and if so, on how many occasions in the past 12 months this has occurred at each principal gateway into the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Border Force Officers can exercise either immigration or customs powers depending on their appointment as an Immigration Officer or a Designated Customs Official.
When exercising immigration powers, a Border Force Officer may only search a person until it is satisfactorily established that the person is a British Citizen, may enter the United Kingdom without leave or has leave to enter the United Kingdom. The Immigration Officer may search for any documents relevant to their examination of the individual. It is possible that such documents could be contained on a mobile phone. Failure to submit to a search may result in the person being refused leave to enter, or could constitute an offence under section 26(1)(b) of the Immigration Act 1971, and / or could lead to the mobile phone being seized under paragraph 15A(7) of Schedule 2 to that Act.
The Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 permits Border Force customs officers to question passengers regarding their baggage and anything carried with them, and to produce baggage for examination to ensure the payment of duties, to prevent the importation of prohibited items, or to search persons where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they are carrying prohibited or restricted goods or goods on which duty has not been paid. As part of this examination, they may request access to electronic equipment.
Section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 empowers Border Force immigration and customs officers in England and Wales to arrest persons who are committing an offence or who they have reasonable grounds to suspect are about to commit an offence. Section 32 permits them to search persons who have been arrested. Section 19 empowers officers to seize items that are evidence in relation to an offence.
Under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 a person must give an examining officer any information that the officer requests to establish whether the person is concerned in terrorist related activity. If a person fails to comply they can be prosecuted for wilful obstruction. While it is possible for designated Border Force Officers to be accredited to exercise Schedule 7 powers, in practice it is exercised at port by Police Officers.
We do not hold information on how many times this has occurred in the past 12 months.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) married couples, and (2) civil partners, that might be separated as a result of Brexit.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The agreement we have reached with the EU on citizens’ rights protects those EU citizens and their family members, including spouses and civil partners, exercising free movement rights in the UK before the end of the implementation period on 31 December 2020.
During the implementation period, family members will be able to join EU citizens on current EU law terms. After the implementation period, close family members will be able to join an EU citizen covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, where their relationship existed before 31 December 2020 and continues to exist when they wish to join the EU citizen in the UK. Close family members includes spouses, civil partners and durable partners.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of family separations that might occur as a result of Brexit.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The agreement we have reached with the EU on citizens’ rights protects those EU citizens and their family members exercising free movement rights in the UK before the end of the implementation period on 31 December 2020.
During the implementation period, family members will be able to join EU citizens on current EU law terms. After the implementation period, close family members will be able to join an EU citizen covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, where their relationship existed before 31 December 2020 and continues to exist when they wish to join the EU citizen in the UK. Close family members are spouses, civil partners and durable partners, dependent children and grandchildren and dependent parents and grandparents. Children born or adopted after the UK leaves the EU to or by those covered by the Withdrawal Agreement will also be protected.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what their freeze and seize programme consists of; when it will be implemented; how; and which Government department will lead on delivery of that programme.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government is committed to ensuring that enforcement agencies have the necessary tools available to effectively seize and freeze the financial assets of criminals and terrorists.
To this end the Government brought in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA) which amended the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). The CFA provided for the freezing and forfeiture (including administrative forfeiture, without the need for a court order) of terrorist property held in bank accounts, and introduced unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) which allow the seizure/freezing and forfeiture of funds and property over £50,000 where it is believed the owner is involved in serious crime.
The bulk of the secondary legislation implementing the CFA came into force on 31 January 2018. The Home Office are responsible for the legislative implementation of these powers, which are used by enforcement agencies.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is an operational need for the negotiations regarding the supply of new British passports to proceed immediately; and if not, what assessment they have made of whether the awarding of the new contract should be postponed.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Her Majesty’s Passport Office has run a fair and open competition in line with UK law, EU and World Trade Organisation rules that has concluded in the identification of a preferred supplier. There are no grounds for a national security waiver.
The current passport contract expires in 2019 and we will need to proceed immediately to contract award to ensure a smooth and safe transition to the new contract.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their definition of a required skill for the purposes of immigration; in which sectors of the economy such skills are needed; whether they intend that that definition will change following Brexit; and what is their assessment of future skills requirements.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Tier 2 is the main immigration route for skilled non-EEA workers. The Tier 2 (General) route is designed to fill skilled vacancies for which no suitable resident workers are available. Applicants must have an offer of a graduate level job, paying an appropriate salary, from an employer which has been licensed by the Home Office to sponsor migrant workers. The skill level of a post must be level 6 on the Regulated Qualification Framework with some exceptions for the Shortage Occupation List and certain creative roles.
In July 2017, the Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on the economic and social impacts of the UK’s exit from the European Union and also on how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy. The MAC’s call for evidence sought information on EU migrants’ skills, amongst other things, and this will be considered in their final report due in September 2018. Details can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/call-for-evidence-and-briefing-note-eea-workers-in-the-uk-labour-market
The Government will take account of the MAC’s advice when making any final decisions about our future immigration system for EU nationals.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether biometric and fingerprint data taken from a visa applicant's application to enter the UK are deleted from any database if that applicant is subsequently refused entry; and if not, for what specific purpose the data are retained.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Fingerprints taken from visa applicants are normally retained for up to ten years regardless of whether the application was successful, as set out in regulations made under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
This enables the Secretary of State to identify easily those who make further applications for visas to come to the UK, preventing immigration abuse and those who are a risk of high harm from entering the country.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government, with reference to paragraph 31 of their White Paper Safeguarding the position of EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU, published on 26 June, whether EU citizens in the UK and their family members, in particular children of EU citizens eligible for settled status, will be able to apply for settled status as a family unit or whether each member of the family will be required to make a separate application for settled status.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
It is intended to make the application process for the new settled status as streamlined and user-friendly as possible. Further details will be published in due course.