here - United Kingdom Parliament

1229W
Written Answers
6 JUNE 2013
Written Answers
1230W
Asylum: Self-employed
Fingerprints
Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department what consideration she has
given to allowing failed asylum seekers who are unable
to return to their home country to take up work on a
self-employed basis. [157702]
Mr Harper: Asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers
are not permitted access to self-employment to avoid
asylum being used as a route to circumvent controls on
economic migration, and to protect the resident labour
market.
Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what consideration she has given to
allowing asylum seekers to take on work on a self-employed
basis while they are waiting for a decision on their case.
[157703]
Mr Harper: Asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers
are not permitted access to self-employment to avoid
asylum being used as a route to circumvent controls on
economic migration, and to protect the resident labour
market.
Asylum: Voluntary Work
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department if she will review her Department’s
guidelines to make it clear that asylum seekers are
entitled to volunteer for work with public sector
organisations. [158322]
Mr Harper: We are currently reviewing whether to
extend access to volunteering for asylum seekers beyond
registered charities and voluntary organisations. If any
changes to guidance are necessary they will be made in
due course.
Electronic Surveillance: Admissibility of Evidence
Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home
Department if she will publish any assessment that her
Department has (a) conducted and (b) commissioned
into the use of intercept evidence in criminal trials
since the completion of the Privy Council review of
intercept as evidence in February 2008. [157145]
James Brokenshire [holding answer 3 June 2013]: A
written ministerial statement of 10 December 2009,
Official Report, column 31WS, reported the conclusions
of the work programme set in train following the Privy
Council Review of 2008. A report of further scoping
analysis was placed in the House Libraries in March
2010.
As announced by the Secretary of State for the Home
Department on 26 January 2011 the Government is
reviewing the benefits, costs and risks of enabling the
use of intercept material as evidence in criminal trials
under the guidance of the cross-party group of Privy
Counsellors. We will report back to the House in due course.
Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what arrangements are in place for
the procurement of the management of the national
fingerprint database; and when it will take place.
[157808]
Damian Green: The contract for the national fingerprint
database for policing (IDENT1) is due to expire on 31
March 2015. A project has been commissioned by the
Home Office and the police which will secure short-term
continuity of service, to provide operational and
maintenance support for the IDENT1 service, by March
2015. This interim arrangement will allow sufficient
time to develop the new user and business requirements
for a long-term successor service that serves the wider
law enforcement community.
Human Trafficking
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what assessment she has made of
the proportion of victims of human trafficking who
entered the country by (a) legal means and (b) illegal
means; and if she will make a statement. [156451]
Mr Harper: As of 16 May 2013, of the 1,186 trafficking
cases referred into the National Referral Mechanism in
2012, 429 have been conclusively identified as victims.
Of these 60% are UK or EEA nationals who have
freedom of movement and less than 1% are nationals of
countries that do not require a visa for general visitor
purposes. Assessments of non-EEA entry routes are
continuing; however, it is understood that 10% are
thought to have entered on a UK visa and in most of
the remaining cases the person is suspected of using an
alias, entering clandestinely concealed in a commercial
or private vehicle or entering on forged or counterfeit
identity or travel document.
These data are based on Home Office and Serious
Organised Crime Agency management information and
as such have not been quality assured under National
Statistics protocols. They are therefore provisional and
subject to change.
Legal Opinion: Treaties
Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what steps she is taking to ensure
requests made under mutual legal assistance treaties
are delivered expediently to the United States of
America; when such measures were introduced; and if
she will make a statement. [158146]
Mr Harper: The current UK-US mutual legal assistance
(MLA) treaty entered into force in February 2010.
Article 4 of the treaty provides for how MLA requests
and related communications are transmitted between
the respective central authorities. We are seeking to
introduce secure e-mail links between the UK central
authority in the Home Office (which is the central
authority for all incoming MLA requests for England
and Wales and Northern Ireland) and the Office of
International Affairs (the central authority for the US)
in order to expedite the sending and receiving of MLA
requests between the UK and the US.