The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

Please note that this is a grouped with 128124

The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority.

Negotiations continue, and on law enforcement and criminal justice, there is a good degree of convergence in what the UK and EU have been negotiating in terms of operational capabilities.

In the event that it is not possible to reach an agreement, the UK has well-developed and well-rehearsed plans in place. We will transition cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements by the end of the Transition Period, where available and relevant. Broadly speaking, this means making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe Conventions and bilateral channels.

The UK will continue to be a global leader on security and one of the safest countries in the world.

Please note that this is a grouped with 128124

The Government has been clear that there can be no safe spaces for terrorists to promote and share their extreme views online.

The Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) identifies, assesses and refers online content that is in breach of UK terrorism legislation to technology companies for removal in accordance with their terms of service. To date, in excess of 310,000 individual pieces of terrorist content referred by CTIRU have been removed by companies.

Police powers need to keep pace with technological developments and the changing way terrorists use the internet. As part of this we amended the law through the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 to update the offence of obtaining information “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” to include viewing or streaming content online.

It is important that we ensure counter-terrorism policing has the resources needed to deal with the threat we face. That is why we increased the budget for counter-terrorism policing in 2020-21 by £90m this year compared with last, taking CT police funding to over £900m for the first time

All fifteen ePassport Gates were open and fully functional at Stansted Airport on the evening of Monday 12 October 2015.

It is not possible to make available how many ePassport Gates were not fully functioning at Stansted Airport during the months of June, July, August and September 2015 on account of security considerations.

ePassport Gates are in operation at many ports across the UK. At present there are (a) thirty five operating across Heathrow, (b) twenty at Gatwick, (c) ten at Luton, and (d) fifteen at Stansted.

In setting the amount of the charge, the last Government considered the range of health services available without charge to migrants, the valuable contribution migrants make to our country and the need to ensure that the UK remains an attractive destination for global talent.

Taking these factors into account, the Government set the charge at £200 per annum, per migrant (with a discounted rate of £150 per annum for students). This is well below the average per capita cost to the NHS of treating temporary migrants. It is also below the rate that migrants might expect to pay for health insurance in our competitor countries. An Impact Assessment published in October 2013 (entitled ‘Regulating migrant access to health services in the UK’), provides further detail.

The new Immigration Act 2014 stops criminals from using family life arguments to delay their deportation by making clear that the public interest normally requires the deportation of foreign criminals, notwithstanding their claim to family life.

Since passing this Act, the Government has also removed more than 600 foreign national offenders under the new non suspensive appeals powers, with many more
going through the system.

We have been clear that, unlike the previous Government, we will always impose
the toughest possible transitional controls on free movement from new Member
States. As the Prime Minister has said we will insist that, when new countries
are admitted to the EU in future, there are new arrangements in place to
prevent a repeat of the mass migration that resulted from the previous
Government’s failure to impose robust transitional controls in 2004.

We have made considerable progress in restricting online access to terrorist related material, the majority of which is hosted overseas. Since February 2010, the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has secured the removal of more than 65,000 pieces of unlawful terrorist-related content, with over 46,000 of these removed since the start of this year.

Where the police cannot remove terrorist content, we are working with Internet Service Providers to further restrict access to this material and identify other legal but harmful extremist content to be included in family-friendly filters.

There is a clear role for the internet industry to ensure there are simple and easy flagging mechanisms for the public to report terrorist and extremist content. Some companies have these already, but we are encouraging other platforms to reach the standards of the best. We have also improved the process for public reporting of terrorist and extremist content to the police.

Members of the public can report content of concern to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) via an online tool on the Gov.uk website which was updated in March 2014.

The information contained in a death certificate is set in statute. The usual addresses of the deceased and the informant are collected primarily for identification purposes and may include postcodes where this is provided by the informant.

We recognise that there are credible reports of torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence perpetrated by the security forces in the aftermath of the
civil war. The Home Office's consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office varies from case to case. However, we are in regular discussions about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka more generally and the information provided is reflected in the Home Office’s published country information and guidance report(s) which are publicly available.

All asylum claims made by those from Sri Lanka continue to be carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and against the background of the latest country information and relevant caselaw – including a Court of Appeal judgment from 18 June 2014 which found that not everyone, including all Tamils, are at risk on return to Sri Lanka.

Border Force has well established plans to deal with a variety of incidents at the border including dealing with communicable diseases. Border Force officers refer people subject to immigration control who they suspect have a serious communicable disease to a medical inspector on arrival at the UK border.

Guidance has been circulated to all frontline officers and reinforced by verbal briefings from senior managers. Border Force continues to work closely with Public Health England to minimise any potential risk to passengers, the public and our staff.

I wrote to the hon. Member, on 12 May. A copy of the letter was also placed in the House Library.

The MPs' hotline is a dedicated resource, for Members, based in Croydon and answers queries on Members' constituents' immigration queries. The staffing costs of the MPs' hotline for 2013 were £180,240.

The Prime Minister's Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism convened for the final time on 26 November 2013. During the five months of its operation, the Extremism Task Force considered a range of measures to confront extremism in all its forms, including in communities, schools, prisons, faith institutions or universities.

On 4 December 2013 the Government published a document that set out the conclusions of the Task Force discussions and the practical steps that Ministers have agreed to address the gaps in our response to extremism. These include:

Taking steps to ensure local authorities are supporting people on the front line of tackling extremism, and intervening where they are not taking the problem seriously;

Giving additional support to local communities which are on the frontline of tackling extremism, and intervening where they are not taking the problem seriously; and

Addressing extremism in institutions by improving oversight of religious supplementary schools, finding trained Muslim chaplains to challenge the extremist views on campuses and restricting the ability of extremist and terrorist prisoners to radicalise others.

Departments will now provide regular updates to the Prime Minister on how their measures are being implemented, their impact, and any further steps needed for an effective and comprehensive approach to dealing with extremism.

Online visa applications have been introduced for all international visa applications and are being developed and implemented for in country application routes. This is in line with the Government’s digital by default agenda and streamlines the customer journey during the application process. As part of the delivery of this current programme of work a range of research and testing has been carried out with customers to ensure the system delivers and continuously improves. It is too early in the delivery of the current programme to have carried out a more detailed review of the impact of these changes, however user testing and efficiency is central to the whole approach.

The decision to issue, withdraw, or refuse a British passport is at the discretion of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), under the Royal Prerogative. On 25 April 2013, Official Report, column 68WS, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary set out the circumstances under which a passport can be issued, withdrawn or refused. That statement redefined the public interest criteria to refuse or withdraw a passport.

A decision to refuse or withdraw a passport must be necessary and proportionate. A decision to refuse or withdraw a passport under the public interest criteria will be used sparingly and will be subject to careful consideration of a person's past, present or proposed activities.

Measures taken for reasons of public interest, and their effectiveness, are kept under continuous review.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Department.

Since the proscription of the Hezbollah military wing, no individuals have been convicted of fundraising for Hezbollah's military wing.