Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the UK has requested information (a) under the Prüm convention DNA sharing, (b) relating to the European Arrest Warrant about criminal records, (c) from the EU Passenger Name Record sharing scheme, (d) from a Europol Joint Investigation Team, (e) under the Schengen Information System, (f) from Europol's HAVEN project to combat sexual abuse and trafficking and (g) from other EU member states about stadium bans and previous offenders at football matches.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The United Kingdom is not yet connected to any other country for the sharing of DNA under the Prüm Council Decisions.
The UK shares criminal record information with Member States via the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS). In 2015, the UK made 105,164 requests for overseas criminal record checks to other EU Member States, compared to 8,536 in 2010, an increase of over 1100%.
European legislation is currently under consideration that would require EU Member States to process Passenger Name Records (PNR) on scheduled aviation flights. The proposed legislation would require the data to be analysed by a central Passenger Information Unit and all relevant and necessary PNR to be shared with the Passenger Information Units of other Member States in compliance with data protection obligations. Receiving PNR before travel allows law enforcement authorities to plan and respond proactively to threats. PNR plays a vital role in intelligence-led operations, post-incident investigations and judicial proceedings.
Joint investigation teams are Member State led processes. Europol staff may participate in a supporting capacity.
According to the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs IT Agency (eu-LISA), the UK had the following numbers of alerts active (that is, broadcast to Member States and not subsequently revoked) on 17 February 2014:
People wanted by the UK on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) 231
Missing adults 6,121
Missing children 2,589
Wanted for judicial purposes (e.g. Witnesses to be traced) 1,884
Discreet alerts 10,438 Discreet alerts (national security) 478
Europol’s Project HAVEN – Halting Europeans Abusing Victims in Every Nation- is part of Europol’s work under Focal Point Twins. The UK participates in and exchanges information under Europol’s Focal Point Twins and the aim is to support Member States and third countries to prevent or combat the activities of criminal networks involved in the sexual exploitation of children. Operations in the UK to counter organised crime relating to Child Sexual Exploitation have been supported by Europol, and the UK exchanges information on crimes of this nature with and through Europol via our Liaison Bureau, rather than through Project HAVEN.
Between April 2014 and the end of December 2015,UK Football Policing Unit within the Home Office, the national football information point, requested information from other EU member states about stadium bans on 101 occasions. No figures are held on individual offenders with football bans.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department plans to have with the Football Association on eliminating racist chanting and abuse by football spectators.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Football Association’s Inclusion Advisory Board, chaired by Heather Rabbatts, reports to the Sports Minister regarding progress on Football's Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Plan, including actions taken to improve the reporting and analysis of in-stadia offences.
More generally, racist chanting or abuse is a criminal offence under the Football (Offences) Act 1991 and Public Order Act 1986. It is a matter for the police and the courts to determine each case's merits.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had discussions with the (a) Premier League, (b) Football Association and (c) England and Wales Cricket Board on child trafficking into the UK through the use of visas obtained for sportspeople.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We have regular discussions with sporting bodies to ensure that immigration routes are being used as intended and not being used for abuse by either sponsors or migrants. Where we have evidence that immigration routes are being used to facilitate trafficking we take a robust response.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have had any discussions with the Premier League and the Football Association about the issue of child trafficking to the United Kingdom using visas intended for sports people.
Answered by Lord Bates
We have regular discussions with sporting bodies to ensure that immigration routes are being used as intended and not being used for abuse by either sponsors or migrants. Where we have evidence that immigration routes are being used to facilitate trafficking we take a robust response.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to monitor numbers of incidents of football fans using derogatory terms for disabled people (a) at matches and (b) when travelling to and from matches.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The ‘Kick It Out’ app continues to make it easy for fans to report instances of discrimination during, before or after a game. Of the 184 incidents reported to Kick It Out last season by 28 December, 118 (64%) involved alleged racist abuse, while 17% involved complaints about anti-Semitism. Kick It Out also received 15 complaints of abuse involving sexual orientation, 7 about disability, and 13 relating to sexism. The FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, chaired by Heather Rabbatts, scrutinise these statistics, and those reported directly to the FA quarterly, and report to me every 6 months, which I will monitor for positive and negative trends.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect LGBT people from homophobic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect British Jews from anti-semitic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect British Muslims from Islamaphobic attacks.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all attacks motivated by religion, race or sexuality. Everyone should be able to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility, harassment or violence
on the grounds of a particular characteristic.
The Government’s action plan on hate crime brings together the activities of government departments that work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and an independent advisory group to meet three main objectives to challenge
attitudes and behaviours, increase the reporting of hate crime, and improve the operational response to it.
Our work includes encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime or subject to religion or race-related abuse or attack to have the confidence to report it to the police so that the offenders can be dealt with appropriately. As part of
this, we issued guidance in 2014 to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on dealing with hate crimes. This which includes advice on responding to incidents and how to monitor and deal with community tensions.
We have also worked with organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people, to prevent hate crime from happening in the first
place.
A progress report was published in May 2014 and provides an overview of our achievements, which include working with football authorities to help drive racism and homophobia out of football, worked with organisations such as Show
Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and the Jewish Museum to raise awareness of prejudice with children and young people and supported the work of Tell MAMA to address anti-Muslim hatred. We have also seen the first
conviction(s) for offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended). The progress report also includes case study examples which demonstrate how
work is being carried out locally. The report is available in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle homophobic abuse in football stadiums.
Answered by Helen Grant
DCMS and the FA take matters of discrimination very seriously: any form of racism, anti-Semitism or homophobia is completely unacceptable. We have made good strides in tackling discrimination in sport in this country in the last 25 years but we can’t be complacent and must continue to work on it.
Following the 2012 Downing Street summit on racism in football, the FA are now delivering against a whole sport Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Plan called “Football’s for Everyone” to build equality and inclusion in football. DCMS welcomes this commitment, and specific initiatives, such as “Football vs Homophobia”. The FA Inclusion Advisory Board reports quarterly to DCMS on the progress made.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with police forces in England and Wales and with the Football Association of England in order to counter any rise in domestic violence while England are playing in the World Cup 2014; and what steps they are taking to ensure that police forces and supporting agencies are fully resourced to deal with the matter.
Answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Coalition Government is committed to ending it whenever it occurs.
Together with the police, we are supporting the Football United Against Domestic Abuse campaign by Women's Aid, the launch of which was attended by the Crime Prevention Minister and supported by the Home Secretary. This campaign is working with the football community to unite players, clubs and fans at all levels against behaviour and attitudes that underpin domestic abuse.
The Crime Prevention Minister intends to meet with footballing interests in the near future to build on this campaign.
As part of its commitment to tackle domestic abuse, the Government is re-running a campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of domestic abuse for perpetrators of domestic abuse. The campaign was launched on 9 June and activity will run throughout the World Cup until 14 July 2014. Through posters and digital adverts, this campaign will target potential perpetrators and remind them of the terrible impact of violence on relationships.
Additional support to victims of domestic abuse is available through specialist local domestic abuse services and the national domestic violence helplines. The CoalitionGovernment has ring-fenced nearly £28 million of funding up to 2015 to support these services, which includes part-funding 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinator posts.