Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of individuals identified as eligible for removal to Rwanda are resident in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Individuals who were previously present in a safe third country and entered the UK by a dangerous and unnecessary method are liable to be relocated to Rwanda. The Home Office does not routinely publish this information at a regional level.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the standard operating procedures for (a) processing and (b) transferring asylum seekers between the UK and Ireland.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In 2020, we agreed operational arrangements which allow for the return and readmission of asylum seekers where this is agreed by both participants. This is a non-legally binding arrangement relating to operational procedures, which we do not routinely publish.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 138 of the Border Target Operating Model, published in August 2023, whether restrictions will be placed on people bringing (a) animal and (b) plant products for food into the UK from the EU for personal use.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The BTOM sets out the policy design for import health controls on commercial consignments and the future regime for goods in personal possession is still being finalised.
We do not intend to prohibit personal imports altogether, and we will set out our new approach, which adopts the same principles of risk assessment and proportionality, in due course.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2024 to Question 21634 on Inland Border Facilities: Ashford, whether (a) the designation decision has been taken and (b) Sevington has been designated as a border control post.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The border control post at Sevington has now received its designation and began operation on 30 April.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2024 to Question 22938 on Youth Mobility Scheme: EU Countries, with which EU member states his Department has discussed a bilateral youth mobility scheme; and when each of those discussions commenced.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Youth Mobility Schemes (YMS) are agreed to following bilateral negotiation over the reciprocal arrangement between the relevant parties. It would therefore be inappropriate to disclose the status of negotiations as they occur, or the parties involved.
We remain committed to expanding our YMS offer to more nations, including, but not limited to, those within the EU. Further details of additional YMS agreements will be announced once they are concluded.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2024 to Question 21012 on Import Controls: Fees and Charges, by what date he expects a decision on designating Sevington as a Border Control Post.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The border control post at Sevington has now received its designation and is ready to begin operation on 30 April.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help tackle hauliers moving consignments subject to the Border Target Operating Model who do not (a) pay the Common User Charge, (b) present for physical inspections at a Border Control Post when required and (c) provide the relevant health declarations.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On the Common User Charge, we will put in place measures to deter late payment and payment avoidance, including charges for late payment. We’ll publish further information on compliance measures before the first invoices are issued.”
Where the BCP has concerns, for example due to non-attendance, there are robust provisions in place to pursue the person responsible for the load. If it is not possible for the goods to proceed to the BCP, then the goods will be referred for inland controls by the local authority, enforceable through the data collected through customs declarations and pre-notification.
Vehicles suspected to be carrying illegal imports (e.g. those for which customs declarations and pre-notification have not been made or suspected to have been made in bad faith) will continue to be stopped and dealt with by Border Force at the point of entry to the UK.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether all consignments travelling from the EU to the UK on 1 May 2024 that are subject to the Border Target Operating Model, other than those coming through a privately-run Border Control Post, will be required to pay the Common User Charge.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The common user charge will apply to all eligible sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) imports at a public BCP, whether or not they are selected for a BCP inspection.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many level 7 apprenticeship starts there have been in small and medium sized businesses in each of the last five years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by business size relate to the 2020/21 academic year and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.
The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts at Level 6 and above by business size in the last five academic years for which data is available. Apprenticeships at Level 6 and 7 are not split out within published data so the figures are a combined total.
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
Small (0-49 employees) | 240 | 1,430 | 2,880 | 3,870 | 5,540 |
Medium (50-249 employees) | 80 | 850 | 1,550 | 1,850 | 2,390 |
Data for 2021/22 will be published in July 2024.
Apprenticeship starts are defined as the count of apprenticeship programmes that begin in an academic year, showing the take-up of programmes. An apprentice is counted for each apprenticeship they start at a provider.
More details on the methodology can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics-methodology#content-section-4-content-1.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 22 November 2023 to Question HL130 on Youth Mobility Scheme: EU countries, whether he has had discussions with EU Member state counterparts on establishing bilateral youth mobility schemes.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK remain open to negotiating new bilateral Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories, including all EU Member States. However, as each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal arrangement which also provides benefit to UK nationals, with the details agreed between the relevant parties, we are unable to disclose the status of negotiations as they occur.
We remain committed to expanding our YMS to more nations, including but not limited to those within the EU. Further details of additional YMS agreements will be announced once they are concluded.