Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the process for moving geographical samples between Britain and the EU.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is not the responsibility of the Home Office to monitor geographical samples such as soil and water.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support she is providing to Afghan nationals during their transition from Weeton Barracks to long-term housin; and whether this includes assistance with (a) employment, (b) language training and (c) healthcare access.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Supporting Afghans on their arrival into the UK is critical in providing a strong foundation for those rebuilding their new life in the UK.
Under the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP), transitional accommodation is offered for up to 9 months, within which households will be expected to move on to their settled home.
An integration tariff has been developed to provide financial support to Local Authorities (LA) supporting the resettlement of Eligible People (EP) under ARP. Further detail and a breakdown of the integration tariff is provided in the published policy guidance for the ARP.
This is viewable on the following link: Afghan Resettlement Programme: policy guidance (accessible) - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to facilitate the visa process for (a) non-British workers working for British companies within UK territorial waters and (b) British workers working in other countries’ territorial waters for short periods of time.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government’s longstanding position has been that foreign nationals need permission to work in UK waters. Workers should apply for the appropriate visa before coming to work in the UK.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of spousal visa processing requirements on British citizens with EU spouses who need to travel frequently between the UK and the EU for family or caring responsibilities.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Customers applying for a spouse visa inside the UK who wish to have to have a quicker decision can use the Super Priority Visa (SPV) service. Customers who choose to use the SPV service should get a decision by the end of the next working day after attending their biometrics appointment. This service is available to all customers including those whose spouses are EU citizens. Further information can be found on GOV.UK: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision - GOV.UK’’
In exceptional circumstances, requests to expedite UK Family Visa applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and take a range of factors into consideration.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the demonstrators arrested in central London on 9 August 2025 were (a) arrested for supporting Palestine Action and (b) subsequently charged for the same offence.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Metropolitan Police has provided several public updates on the progression of the cases arising from the protest of 9 August on its website, with the most recent update on 1 September: https://news.met.police.uk/news/more-people-charged-with-terrorism-act-offences-linked-to-palestine-action-support-500541.
The Metropolitan Police have also released statistics on the arrests made at the central London protests on 9 August 2025. A total of 532 individuals were arrested. 522 of those were arrested for an offence contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT). Section 13 of TACT makes it an offence to wear clothing or display an article in a public place in circumstances that arouse reasonable suspicion that the person is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation. Further information on the arrests on 9 August can be found here: https://news.met.police.uk/news/update-532-arrested-during-protest-policing-operation-499897.
The investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who are operationally independent.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which companies held contracts for the provision of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers on 1 September 2025; and what the (a) value and (b) duration is for each of those contracts.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of asylum accommodation is primarily delivered through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts. These were competitively tendered and awarded in 2019. These contracts are in place for a 10 year term and details can be found in the contract finder website.
It is a requirement of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) that the AASC providers submit information about subcontractors in their supply chain to the Home Office.
The Home Office requires its outsourced contractors to comply with the legal minimum standards of pay of their staff as set out in the Government National Living Wage legislation; again, this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms.
Our suppliers of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) are required to deliver comprehensive training to their staff. The level of training required is dependent on the role being carried out by the staff member. Training standards are a contractual requirement and are monitored through the same mechanisms as referred to above.
The Home Office undertakes rigorous performance management of contracted providers in the provision of accommodation services. This is managed directly through the provisions of the AASC contracts which set out the required service performance levels, service requirements and consequences for not delivering these services to the required standards.
In addition to our contract management procedures the Home Office, through the AIRE contract with Migrant Help, provides a service for asylum seekers to raise any issues or complaints with the services they receive.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on (a) employment conditions, (b) levels of pay and (c) training undertaken by staff working for subcontractors in migrant hotels.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of asylum accommodation is primarily delivered through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts. These were competitively tendered and awarded in 2019. These contracts are in place for a 10 year term and details can be found in the contract finder website.
It is a requirement of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) that the AASC providers submit information about subcontractors in their supply chain to the Home Office.
The Home Office requires its outsourced contractors to comply with the legal minimum standards of pay of their staff as set out in the Government National Living Wage legislation; again, this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms.
Our suppliers of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) are required to deliver comprehensive training to their staff. The level of training required is dependent on the role being carried out by the staff member. Training standards are a contractual requirement and are monitored through the same mechanisms as referred to above.
The Home Office undertakes rigorous performance management of contracted providers in the provision of accommodation services. This is managed directly through the provisions of the AASC contracts which set out the required service performance levels, service requirements and consequences for not delivering these services to the required standards.
In addition to our contract management procedures the Home Office, through the AIRE contract with Migrant Help, provides a service for asylum seekers to raise any issues or complaints with the services they receive.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department requires contractors providing hotel accommodation to asylum seekers to disclose their use of subcontractors.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of asylum accommodation is primarily delivered through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts. These were competitively tendered and awarded in 2019. These contracts are in place for a 10 year term and details can be found in the contract finder website.
It is a requirement of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) that the AASC providers submit information about subcontractors in their supply chain to the Home Office.
The Home Office requires its outsourced contractors to comply with the legal minimum standards of pay of their staff as set out in the Government National Living Wage legislation; again, this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms.
Our suppliers of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) are required to deliver comprehensive training to their staff. The level of training required is dependent on the role being carried out by the staff member. Training standards are a contractual requirement and are monitored through the same mechanisms as referred to above.
The Home Office undertakes rigorous performance management of contracted providers in the provision of accommodation services. This is managed directly through the provisions of the AASC contracts which set out the required service performance levels, service requirements and consequences for not delivering these services to the required standards.
In addition to our contract management procedures the Home Office, through the AIRE contract with Migrant Help, provides a service for asylum seekers to raise any issues or complaints with the services they receive.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum hotels, (b) houses in multiple occupation used to house asylum seekers, (c) other properties used to house asylum seekers and (d) asylum seekers there were in Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley constituency as of 1 September 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 4 September to Question 71421.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds information on any (a) complaints and (b) concerns received from people housed in migrant hotels on the (i) conduct and (ii) quality of services provided by (A) private contractors and (B) subcontractors.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of asylum accommodation is primarily delivered through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts. These were competitively tendered and awarded in 2019. These contracts are in place for a 10 year term and details can be found in the contract finder website.
It is a requirement of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) that the AASC providers submit information about subcontractors in their supply chain to the Home Office.
The Home Office requires its outsourced contractors to comply with the legal minimum standards of pay of their staff as set out in the Government National Living Wage legislation; again, this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms.
Our suppliers of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) are required to deliver comprehensive training to their staff. The level of training required is dependent on the role being carried out by the staff member. Training standards are a contractual requirement and are monitored through the same mechanisms as referred to above.
The Home Office undertakes rigorous performance management of contracted providers in the provision of accommodation services. This is managed directly through the provisions of the AASC contracts which set out the required service performance levels, service requirements and consequences for not delivering these services to the required standards.
In addition to our contract management procedures the Home Office, through the AIRE contract with Migrant Help, provides a service for asylum seekers to raise any issues or complaints with the services they receive.