HM Government

Already in November UK aircraft have struck Daesh command posts in Al Qaim, supporting the Iraqi Security Forces liberating the city, and eliminated mortar teams and destroyed parts of the terrorist’s tunnel network in eastern Syria. As the Defence Secretary joins counterparts in Brussels today for a meeting of the Counter-Daesh Coalition, the UK remains steadfast in its commitment to destroy Daesh militarily and to counter its poisonous propaganda.

Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said:

Our forces are working tirelessly to defeat the evil of our time. Daesh is weakened and in retreat having now lost its last remaining major strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

The battle is not yet over. We will continue to hit the terrorists hard in both Syria and Iraq while supporting efforts to rebuild – only by defeating Daesh for good will we reduce the threat to both our nations at home.

In the fight for the last remaining major strongholds, the UK continued to support coalition partners fighting on the ground. Having received intelligence from a coalition surveillance aircraft on Wednesday 1 November, RAF Tornados launched two Paveways at a command post near Al Qaim destroying the building, the terrorists and their vehicles.

Tornados continued to support Iraqi Security Forces in the battle for Al Qaim the following day, and successfully bombed a Daesh observation post, which was attempting to direct mortar fire against the rapidly advancing Iraqi ground forces.

On Saturday 4 November, two Tornados patrolled the far east of Syria, destroying a mortar team north-east of al Mayadin. The aircraft also bombed the entrance to a Daesh tunnel network nearby. Typhoons flew missions over eastern Syria on Sunday 5 November, eliminating a mortar team near Abu Kamal, as well as striking another tunnel complex near Al Mayadin.

British aircraft have struck Daesh 1348 times in Iraq and 262 times in Syria. In that time the group has lost territory, finances, leaders and fighters as the 73-member coalition liberate its last remaining strongholds in both countries.

But despite military progress in Syria and Iraq, the threat posed by Daesh and their poisonous narrative remains substantial. Their continued ability to inspire attacks means that we must remain resolute in our work to defeat them in their branches worldwide and counter their propaganda.

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Councils across England are set to receive a further £18 million to help alleviate pressures on local services such as housing, education and health services resulting from recent migration.

The government recognises that local authorities understand their local communities best and can identify specific pressures on services that can result from high, concentrated or short-term migration. Councils receiving these grants have developed specific plans to ease local pressures arising from migration and at the same time providing overall benefits to their wider communities.

Communities Minister Lord Bourne said:

In some places population change in a short space of time has put pressure on local services and we’re clear there are things we can do to address these problems.

This new funding will help councils rise to the challenge of reducing the impact of migration on local communities in a variety of ways – whether that’s tackling the small minority of landlords who damage neighbourhoods with overcrowded properties, providing English language classes to ensure effective integration.

The grants are the second allocations from the £100 million Controlling Migration Fund, following an initial allocation of £15 million awarded earlier this year.

Many of the projects supported will provide English language lessons to allow new residents to contribute to and feel part of their communities. They will also include education around British values and social norms, breaking down cultural barriers.

The fund is helping to ease pressures on local services but there’s still more work to do to bring net migration down further to sustainable levels. That is why government has reformed routes to the UK from outside Europe, and will get control of our borders and negotiate the right deal in the national interest in our Brexit negotiations.

Lord Bourne added:

It’s great to see so many projects tackling the problems of poor integration in their communities by, for example, allowing migrants to access the benefits of good English. This will create stronger relationships between neighbours and unlock better services for all.

Boston council in Lincolnshire will receive over £1 million to fund a wide range of integration projects, including additional sport and gym facilities where there is pressure on services, community sport sessions and encouraging volunteering from all communities.

Boston borough council Leader Councillor Michael Cooper said:

We’ve been awarded this money in recognition of the impact that migration has had locally. Our partnership will focus on doing things that our residents have told us are important to them.

We will extend the availability of advice services, enforcement capacity, community leadership and volunteering opportunities and importantly, we will support the development of English language skills to support people to communicate effectively with public services to help save time and money and increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Peterborough’s project will help new residents navigate services and provide additional capacity for the whole community. Citizen’s Advice Peterborough is receiving £288,000 to provide advice in a range of locations across the city and help an additional 4,000 clients a year from across the community.

Councillor Irene Walsh, Peterborough City Council Cabinet Member for Communities said:

We are delighted to receive this funding from the Controlling Migration Fund as it will allow even more people to benefit from the valuable service provided by Citizens Advice Peterborough in more locations across the city.

The Controlling Migration Fund is designed to support local areas facing pressures linked to recent immigration. See further details in the Controlling Migration Fund allocations table (PDF, 37.4KB, 13 pages) .

This funding will supplement local authorities’ budgets of £200 billion across the 4 year period up to 2020.

The Fund is available over the 4 years from 2016-17 to 2019-20, and is in 2 parts:

• ‘local service impacts’ totalling £100 million, led by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to help local authorities in England and their communities experiencing high and unexpected volumes of immigration to ease pressures on local services
• enforcement, led by Immigration Enforcement, worth £40 million to direct enforcement action to reduce the impact of migration on local communities; Immigration Enforcement are on track to meet their commitments under the Fund, including through supporting Rochdale’s Operation Maverick
• the government has been reviewing the available evidence on the main causes of poor integration; in the coming months we will bring forward plans for tackling these issues through a new integration strategy, to help people in more isolated communities, including migrants, to integrate into UK society

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A former Dragon’s Den contestant, jailed for 13 child sex offences, including sexual assault has had his jail sentence increased to 7 years 3 months.

Richard Hazell, 48 from Hoddeston, Hertfordshire was arrested when his abuse came to light after the father of one of his victim’s made a complaint to social services. His original sentence of 4 years and 9 months was increased by 2 years 9 months following intervention by the Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

Hazell, was convicted earlier this year for sexually assaulting four girls, one as young as 6 and was found to have nearly 3000 indecent images of children on a computer seized by police. He denied the offences in Court and was convicted only after a lengthy trial where it was revealed he had searched ‘can you be found guilty for downloading child porn if the files are deleted on your computer’ prior to his arrest.

Following the successful appeal the Attorney General said:

“Child sexual offences aren’t singular events, they are truly dreadful offences that will stay with victims for the rest of their lives. They take away a child’s innocence and diminish their capacity to form relationships.

Refusing to admit his offence, despite overwhelming evidence needlessly prolonged the suffering of the victims. I am pleased that the sentence has been increased.”

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The Court of Appeal has today increased the sentence of Manchester man, Nadeem Muhammed who was convicted of trying to take an improvised explosive device onto a plane.

On 30 January 2017, Muhammed was stopped by security staff at Manchester International Airport on his way to Bergamo in Italy. A small pipe bomb was found in the zipped lining of his carry-on suitcase, which he was planning on detonating on the plane.

Muhammed, 43, was convicted at Manchester Crown Court in August of possessing an explosive with intent to endanger life or property and was sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment with an extended licence period of five years.

Following a referral by the Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, the Court of Appeal has today increased Muhammed’s sentence to one of 22 years with an extended licence period of 5 years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General said: “This is a very disturbing case that could have had a devastating impact.

“I am pleased that the Court of Appeal has sent a strong message, that this type of offending merits very significant sentences.”

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We have developed electronic versions of the EC Claim1 forms for providers to use when submitting escape case claims for controlled work matters.

These forms are web based and:

• make the completion and submission process simpler and quicker
• reduce the chances of the form being rejected

Does this affect processing of work?

There are no changes to the way this category of work is processed. The electronic forms provide a more efficient way to submit the claim, which providers should find more convenient.

Although no changes to the assessment process are being made the current Word based versions of the form will eventually be withdrawn.

Using digital escape case claim forms will then be mandatory for submitting your claims for controlled work.

Important to learn new process

We recommend that providers begin to familiarise themselves with the process for submitting digital claims before the paper option is withdrawn.

There are separate electronic claim EC Claim1 forms for these escape case categories:

• civil
• mental health
• immigration and asylum

Once the form is completed providers should use the submit button so that the form can be assessed. You can find a link to the new forms below.

Submitting your case file

Paper case files should be submitted to the usual escape cases postal address.

The assessment will be completed and results issued to you in the same format as at present.

Electronic case files should be placed in a secure cloud based system and details of how to access the account included in the relevant section of the electronic EC Claim1.

Assessment of the claim will then be completed without the need for a paper case file. We will then email you with the assessment result.

Further information

Escaped cases – online portal – to download digital form for the appropriate category

mhu-ec@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk – email for advice on using electronic claim forms 0151 235 6750 – urgent enquiries only

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