All visa applications are considered on their individual merits and on the basis of the evidence available, in line with the immigration rules. We welcome international academics and recognise their contribution to the UK\u2019s world-leading education sector.<\/p>
When we are informed of large academic events, UKVI strategic engagement teams can assist event organisers and attendees with the visa application process.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-24T15:01:49.673Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Visas: Africa"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the letter, published in The Observer on 9 June, from 70 senior leaders from universities and research institutes across the UK warning that \u201cvisa refusals for African cultural, development and academic leaders ... [are] undermining 'Global Britain\u2019s' reputation as well as efforts to tackle global challenges\"; and what steps they intend to take in response.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1660", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Judd"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Judd"} ], "uin" : "HL16197"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130833", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130833/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Home Office holds data for the outcomes of crimes recorded by police forces in England and Wales.<\/p>
Since 2010 there have been 231 known recorded charges for the Home Office criminal offence codes which cover crimes related to electoral abuse.
This does not include offences of tampering with nomination or ballot papers which cannot be separately identified in the data held centrally.<\/p>
As policing is a devolved matter, data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are not held by the Home Office.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-24T15:10:18.917Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Election Offences: Prosecutions"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 3 July 2017 (HL3), 15 September 2017 (HL1448), and 13 October 2017 (HL1671), and by Lord Duncan of Springbank on 21 December 2017 (HL3975), 16 March 2018 (HL6045), 20 November 2018 (HL11393 and HL11394), and 17 May (HL15556), what has been the total number of criminal charges for electoral abuse in (1) Northern Ireland, and (2) elsewhere in the UK, since 2010.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/648", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Maginnis of Drumglass"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Maginnis of Drumglass"} ], "uin" : "HL16200"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130839", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130839/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government set out plans for tackling online harms and keeping children safe online, including from child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), in the Online Harms White Paper. The White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online and hold companies to account for tackling a wide range of online harms.<\/p>
This includes an overarching statutory duty of care on companies: this will place a legal responsibility on companies in scope to take reasonable steps to keep their users safe and tackle illegal and harmful activity on their services. This will be overseen and enforced by an independent regulator.<\/p>
The regulator will issue codes of practice that set out what companies should do to fulfil their new duty of care. Reflecting the threat to national security or the physical safety of children, the regulator will require companies to take particularly robust action to tackle terrorist or CSEA content. The Government will publish interim codes of practice providing guidance about tackling terrorist activity and online CSEA later this year<\/p>
In addition, the Home Secretary has been clear with industry that they should be proactive in combatting child sexual exploitation. The Home Secretary set out five key demands of industry at his speech at the NSPCC on 3 September, including stopping online grooming and live-streaming of abuse.<\/p>
As part of this commitment to protect children from online harms, in November the Home Secretary co-hosted the Microsoft-led Hackathon in the US, where he met with leading industry stakeholders to identify robust ways to tackle and prevent child sexual abuse on the internet. A prototype tool was developed at the Hackathon that can be used to automatically flag potential conversations taking place between online groomers and children, which will be licensed free of charge to technology companies worldwide. In June the Home Secretary also announced an additional £300,000 to take forward new technological innovations to target livestreaming of child abuse.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-24T15:09:47.89Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Paedophilia: Social Media"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, or intend to take, to address the number of paedophiles operating on Twitter and other social media platforms.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/621", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Moonie"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Moonie"} ], "uin" : "HL16206"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130946", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130946/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad<\/p>
The Government has significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage. We have introduced a new forced marriage offence, criminalised the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and introduced anonymity for victims<\/p>
In November 2018, the Home Secretary launched the Forced Marriage Awareness Campaign, which highlights that forced marriage is a crime and directs victims and concerned parties to contact the Forced Marriage Helpline for support.<\/p>
The joint Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. In 2018, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,764 cases. Since 2012, the FMU has provided support to between approximately 1,200 and 1,400 cases per year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people currently living in forced marriages in the UK. Further information on the FMU\u2019s 2018 statistics can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804044/Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p> We recognise that forced marriage can constitute modern slavery, as we examined in the Home Office Typology report, but not in all cases, so we must assess each on a case by case basis. Potential victims can be deceived about the nature of their relationship with the trafficker, not understanding that they would be exploited in the marriage. The exploitation can take place through domestic servitude which occurs alongside domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.<\/p> The Home Office Typology Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652652/typology-modern-slavery-offences-horr93.pdf <\/a><\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4399", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Victoria Atkins"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Louth and Horncastle"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Victoria Atkins"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "262232"}
, {"_value" : "262233"}
], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-01T16:26:14.38Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Forced Marriage"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of recognising forced marriage as a form of modern day slavery.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"}
], "uin" : "262231"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130947", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130947/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad<\/p> The Government has significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage. We have introduced a new forced marriage offence, criminalised the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and introduced anonymity for victims<\/p> In November 2018, the Home Secretary launched the Forced Marriage Awareness Campaign, which highlights that forced marriage is a crime and directs victims and concerned parties to contact the Forced Marriage Helpline for support.<\/p> The joint Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. In 2018, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,764 cases. Since 2012, the FMU has provided support to between approximately 1,200 and 1,400 cases per year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people currently living in forced marriages in the UK. Further information on the FMU\u2019s 2018 statistics can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804044/Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p> We recognise that forced marriage can constitute modern slavery, as we examined in the Home Office Typology report, but not in all cases, so we must assess each on a case by case basis. Potential victims can be deceived about the nature of their relationship with the trafficker, not understanding that they would be exploited in the marriage. The exploitation can take place through domestic servitude which occurs alongside domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.<\/p> The Home Office Typology Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652652/typology-modern-slavery-offences-horr93.pdf <\/a><\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4399", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Victoria Atkins"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Louth and Horncastle"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Victoria Atkins"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "262231"}
, {"_value" : "262233"}
], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-01T16:26:14.437Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Forced Marriage"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are living in forced marriages in the UK.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"}
], "uin" : "262232"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130948", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130948/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad<\/p> The Government has significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage. We have introduced a new forced marriage offence, criminalised the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and introduced anonymity for victims<\/p> In November 2018, the Home Secretary launched the Forced Marriage Awareness Campaign, which highlights that forced marriage is a crime and directs victims and concerned parties to contact the Forced Marriage Helpline for support.<\/p> The joint Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. In 2018, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,764 cases. Since 2012, the FMU has provided support to between approximately 1,200 and 1,400 cases per year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people currently living in forced marriages in the UK. Further information on the FMU\u2019s 2018 statistics can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804044/Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p> We recognise that forced marriage can constitute modern slavery, as we examined in the Home Office Typology report, but not in all cases, so we must assess each on a case by case basis. Potential victims can be deceived about the nature of their relationship with the trafficker, not understanding that they would be exploited in the marriage. The exploitation can take place through domestic servitude which occurs alongside domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.<\/p>