Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels are being used to house asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has been clear that the use of hotels is a temporary and short-term measure to ensure we meet our statutory obligation to accommodate destitute asylum seekers. We have already made significant progress by ending the use of 100 hotels by 31 March 2024, including 6 in Northern Ireland.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by region.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the correspondence of 12 March 2024 from Professor Brian Bell, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the timescales given for the Migration Advisory Committee's review of the graduate route on the quality and quantity of evidence that the Committee can use to answer the questions included in the commissioning letter.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It is important that we provide certainty on this issue in a timely manner, which is why we asked the MAC to carry out a rapid review. We will consider the evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Professor Brian Bell's letter, published by his Department on 12 March 2024, what assessment he has made of Migration Advisory Committee's concerns on the timescales for its review of the Graduate route.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It is important that we provide certainty on this issue in a timely manner, which is why we asked the MAC to carry out a rapid review. We will consider the evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the (a) removal of the ability of students on taught masters courses to bring dependants and (b) increase in (i) visa and (ii) Immigration Health Surcharge fees on levels of demand for the Graduate visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
An Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the dependant changes to the Student route, announced in May 2023, which came into force in January 2024. The Impact Assessment will be published in due course.
Impact assessments estimating the impacts of increasing visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge were published alongside the explanatory material for the changes. These can be found at The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk) and The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk).
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Passport Office has taken to make travellers aware of the need to renew their passport if they intend to travel 10 years following the issue date.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Foreign travel advice, including passport validity and other entry requirements, is delivered by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
His Majesty’s Passport Office promote this advice through social media, and by sending targeted text message (SMS) reminders where a passport is over 9 years and 8 months, and the contact details are held from the related passport application. These text messages specifically reference the passport validity rules for travel to Europe.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to engage with the (a) Jewish, (b) Muslim, (c) Sikh and (d) other religious communities on their treatment by border officials.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office seeks to engage and consult with all communities and members of the public in developing our policies and services for the public. This includes people from different religious communities. We also ensure that there are equality impact assessments carried out when developing new policies and making important decisions which impact the public in line with our statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting a visa waiver for Ukrainians visiting relatives and friends (a) displaced by the war in Ukraine and (b) temporarily resident in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Visit visas are an important part of securing the UK’s border.
Waiving visa requirements for a specific cohort of Ukrainian nationals would not be consistent with the purpose of the visa requirement. There is no obvious mechanism for delivering the utility of a visa application and biometric enrolment, which underpin the role visas play in securing our border, whilst also distinguishing a cohort of Ukrainian nationals who have the requirements waived. Identifying those individuals and enrolling their biometrics would require a process which would be, in practice, nearly identical to a visa application.
Ukrainians who want to visit relatives and friends in the UK can apply for a standard visitor visa, including multiple-entry visas. The UK has a visa application centre (VAC) in Kyiv, and a VAC network in neighbouring countries, enabling Ukrainians to access these services and apply for visas.
This is in no way a reflection on our support for Ukraine which remains, and will always remain, steadfast. The Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme remains open for new applications from those wishing to come to the UK, seeking temporary sanctuary from the conflict.
To provide future certainty, we recently announced the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, which is a new visa scheme for existing Ukraine scheme visa holders who have made the UK their temporary home. It will provide permission to stay in the UK for an additional 18 months and is due to open early in 2025.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on how his Department can take steps to help tackle labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's policies on tackling labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police stations have been tested for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent and therefore it is the individual responsibility of each police force to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation. This includes duties to maintain a safe workplace, as set out in relevant health and safety legislation.
Last year the National Police Estates Group, working with Home Office officials, conducted a stocktake of all police forces in England and Wales regarding the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. This identified a small number of forces with instances of RAAC, most relating to single building locations. All have reported that remedial action has been taken to mitigate potential risk.