I am very pleased to be able to participate in this part of the debate on an important Bill, and particularly pleased to be able to talk about temporary exclusion orders. Let me begin by explaining the background.
Earlier this year, the joint terrorism analysis centre raised our national terrorist threat level from substantial to severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. Approximately 500 individuals who are of interest to the police and security services have travelled from the United Kingdom to Syria and the region since the start of the conflict, and it has been estimated that half of them have returned.
In the context of that heightened threat to our national security, we need a power that will allow us to disrupt the travel, and control the return, of British citizens who have travelled abroad to engage in terrorist-related activity, and to manage the threat they pose. The temporary exclusion power will do just that. It will make it an offence for an individual who is subject to an order to return to the UK without first engaging with the UK authorities. It will also allow for the imposition of certain limited requirements on the individual on his or her return.
Let me make it clear that this is a discretionary power, which will be considered for use on a case-by-case basis. Let me also reassure the Committee again that it will not render any individual stateless. British nationals who are made subject to an order will have the right—which their citizenship guarantees—to return to the UK. Clauses 2 to 11 relate to this TEO and set out the way it will operate and issues around the permits to return.
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As I have said, this measure will not make anybody stateless, but it will mean that when the people concerned return, they do so on our terms, and that could quite possibly be in the company of a police officer. The process of managed return will be a valuable addition to the suite of powers available to our agencies.
It may assist the Committee if I set out in more detail how the power will operate. I, as Secretary of State, can impose a TEO if I reasonably suspect that an individual is, or has been, involved in terrorism-related activity while outside the UK, and I consider that such an order is an appropriate tool to manage the threat he or she poses to the UK. Individuals subject to TEOs will have their British passports cancelled. They will be a class of passengers for whom authority to carry will have to be sought by carriers, under a new authority to carry scheme.
The TEO will be imposed for two years, with the possibility of a new order being imposed following consideration after this time limit expires, but a person subject to an order will be allowed to return to the UK within a reasonable time frame if they make an application to do so or if they are deported by another country. To be clear on this point—because some might get confused about the two-year time frame in the Bill—that relates to the time the order remains extant and for which the terms of the order can be brought to bear on the individual. If the individual remains a threat at the end of that period, clause 2 allows for the imposition of a further order on the same individual.
As I have said, these individuals will not be rendered stateless. They will not be left unable to return to the UK for an indefinite period. They must be issued a permit to return within a reasonable period if they apply for one, and attend an interview if required to do so. I should restate, to make this very clear to the Committee, that the policy is compliant with all our domestic and international legal obligations.