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443586

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Visas: Migrant Workers
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Migration Advisory Committee to publish the findings of the review of the Tier 2 route of the Points Based System, including their recommendations on the application of a skills levy to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA.
	tabling member printed	Lord Sharkey
	uin	HL4870
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2016 answer text <p>In June last year, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to restrict Tier 2 to roles where there are genuine skills shortages or which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers.</p><p>As part of that commission, the MAC was asked for advice on applying an immigration skills charge to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA. The MAC published its report on 19 January 2016.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 25/01/2016 16:54:49 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	4196 label Biography information for Lord Sharkey

443597

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Vetting
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Henley on 21 March 2012 (HL Deb, cols 914–6), and in the light of the fact that the number of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks in 2014–15 was the highest since 2010–11, what plans they have to reduce the number of DBS checks, and in particular to limit the DBS checking of groups such as parent volunteers.
	tabling member printed	Lord Vinson
	uin	HL4881
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>The Government has introduced an Update Service to enable existing criminal record certificates to be kept up to date whilst reducing the need for repeat checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The DBS is driving greater uptake of the Update Service which will continue to reduce the need for repeat checks.</p><p>The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 reduced the scope of “regulated activity” from which unsuitable people can be barred. It is for schools to decide whether or not to carry out disclosure checks on parent volunteers who work under supervision.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 21/01/2016 16:32:19 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	1807 label Biography information for Lord Vinson

439698

	registered interest
	date	21/12/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Turkey: Refugees
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the £275 million offered by the Prime Minister to Turkey "to secure its southern border" will be spent; whether that funding is intended to stop refugees entering Turkey in advance of any general ceasefire or peace agreement; and how that expenditure will be verified.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL4774
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/12/2015 answer text <p>Turkey is a key partner in the response to the migration crisis and we should commend its generosity in hosting over 2.2m refugees from Syria and Iraq. Acknowledging this pressure, the EU has recently agreed an Action Plan with Turkey. Within this and building on the UK’s existing funding, our contribution of up to £275m (part of a wider European package of €3 billion) will be spent helping Turkey address the consequences of the Syria conflict. This funding will help control the flow of migrants to the EU from Turkey and improve education, health and labour rights for Syrian refugees in Turkey addressing potential push factors for further migration. Implementation of the funding will be jointly overseen by the European Commission and the Turkish government through the establishment of an EU-Turkey high-level working group on migration.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 29/12/2015 14:31:11 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

444435

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Road Traffic Offences
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 16 December 2015 (HL4139), what assessment they have made of whether the police have sufficient officers to undertake enforcement action to deal with moving traffic offences outside London.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bradshaw
	uin	HL4986
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>The Government has not made any assessment of this nature. It is a matter for chief officers, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners to decide the size and makeup of their workforce, taking into account local priorities.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 21/01/2016 16:31:18 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	2483 label Biography information for Lord Bradshaw

444873

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Rights of Accused
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3712), whether, in the interests of transparency, they will arrange for police forces to collate and publicise the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.
	tabling member printed	Lord Morris of Aberavon
	uin	HL5071
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>The Home Office currently has no plans to arrange for police forces to collate and publish data in relation to the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.</p><p>Police are guided in making such decisions by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Guidance on ‘Relationships with the media’.</p><p>There are clearly great risks in naming suspects and the College of Policing guidance makes clear that decisions should only be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the police should not release the names of those who are arrested or suspected of a crime unless they have clearly identified circumstances to justify disclosure.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 21/01/2016 16:31:56 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	565 label Biography information for Lord Morris of Aberavon

443579

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have been received in the UK in each of the last five years.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL4863
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2016 answer text <p>Refugee status is conferred following a grant of asylum. An asylum seeker only becomes a refugee once asylum has been granted. Not all asylum seekers are deemed to be refugees and not all refugees claim asylum. Figures on asylum applications for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release. The attached table shows total applications of asylum for UASC from 2010 to quarter 3 2015.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="11"><strong>Asylum applications received from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children<sup>1</sup>, excluding dependants, 2010 to Q3 2015</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Year</strong></td><td><strong>Total applications</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2010</strong></td><td><strong> 1,515 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2011</strong></td><td><strong> 1,248 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2012</strong></td><td><strong> 1,125 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2013</strong></td><td><strong> 1,265 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2014</strong></td><td><strong> 1,945 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2015 Q1 - Q3</strong></td><td><strong> 1,963 </strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Table Notes</strong></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3" rowspan="2">(1) An Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child (UASC) is a person under 18, or who, in the absence of documentary evidence establishing age, appears to be under that age, is applying for asylum on his or her own right and has no relative or guardian in the United Kingdom.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics July to September 2015, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 13/01/2016 12:54:17 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

443640

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Ethnic Groups
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase diversity in police forces, in particular to close the gap between the percentage of applicants and percentage of appointments from black and minority ethnic groups.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL4924
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2016 answer text <p>It is vital that the police reflect the communities they serve and I am determined to improve BME representation in all 43 forces in England and Wales.</p><p>Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. It is important that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups.</p><p>The Government's reforms have already made improvements, for example we set up the College of Policing which has embarked on a major programme of work, BME Progression 2018, looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers, including the development of an evidence base of successful approaches used by forces.</p><p>As part of this programme the College recently published Positive Action Practical Advice, which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups, and it has published case studies from forces showing what can be done.</p><p>The College of Policing is currently undertaking a review of initial police recruitment, including the SEARCH assessment centre for police recruits, to better understand disproportionality that can occur between white candidates and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The review is due to report by the 31 March 2016.</p><p>Under this Government, innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now are increasing the number of BME recruits to the police, showing that you can achieve better representation while attracting the best and the brightest into policing.</p><p>Of the nine direct entry superintendents who began their superintendent training on November 2014 four (44%) are women and two (22%) are from an ethnic minority background. This is significantly more representative than the current make up of the superintendent rank which comprises 17% women and 4% ethnic minority.</p><p>Police Now, introduced in the Metropolitan Police, has appointed 69 people to start their training, up from an anticipated 50 owing to the high calibre of applicants. Of these, 43% are women and 9% are from a BME background, compared to the national BME proportion of 5.5%.</p><p>With the joint leadership of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner, the Metropolitan Police also introduced its London residency criteria for recruits in August 2014. Recent Metropolitan police figures show that in the three months from June to August 2015, 26% of new Metropolitan police recruits came from a black or minority background, more than double the 12% recruited in the same quarter of 2014, and the 12% of Metropolitan police officers currently from a black and minority ethnic background.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 18/01/2016 14:57:55 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

444356

	registered interest
	date	12/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Biometrics
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 12 November 2015 (HL3286), whether the review of the retention of custody images by police forces has now been completed and reported; if so, what are the recommendations of that review and how they will be taken forward; and if not, why not.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL4964
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>The Review of the use and Retention of Custody Images has now concluded. The report has been submitted to Ministers and they will consider the recommendations. The outcome of this will be made public in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 21/01/2016 16:55:29 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

444845

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2016
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3832), what assessment they have made of Eurostat's figures for comparative police numbers in EU countries; whether they accept that police numbers in England and Wales per head of population are at 64 percent of the average of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain; and whether they consider police numbers in England and Wales to be at an appropriate level.
	tabling member printed	Lord Birt
	uin	HL5043
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>Comparisons of police numbers between different EU countries should be made with extreme caution. This is because different countries have different legal systems, police responsibilities vary considerably, and there are differences in definitions used.</p><p>Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are. All forces need to look at the way frontline services are delivered to ensure that the quality of service provided is maintained or improved.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 21/01/2016 16:31:01 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	2533 label Biography information for Lord Birt

439679

	registered interest
	date	21/12/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Interviews
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 8 December (HL4116), how many personal interviews with adults applying for a passport for the first time were conducted in each calendar year from 2007 to 2015 inclusive.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL4755
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2016 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of interviews conducted in each calendar year since 2007. The lower figures for 2007 reflect the pilot and roll out of the new interview process for all first-time passport applicants and the figures for 2015 are up to week ending 20 December.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year <br></p></td><td><p>Number of Interviews</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007</p></td><td><p>18,160</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008</p></td><td><p>293,337</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009</p></td><td><p>261,593</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010</p></td><td><p>296,434</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>269,587</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>273,680</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>283,284</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>253,156</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>221,759</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 06/01/2016 15:44:39 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno