Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many victims of trafficking referred to the National Referral Mechanism received a positive conclusive grounds decision at any time, and 'temporary permission to stay for victims of human trafficking or slavery’ in 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Statistics on modern slavery are published quarterly. The table sets out the number of positive conclusive grounds decisions issued annually between 2009 and 2024 and the proportion of overall decisions that were positive.
Year | Number of positive Conclusive Grounds decisions issued | Proportion of overall Conclusive Grounds decisions issued that were positive |
2009 | 99 | 67% |
2010 | 245 | 69% |
2011 | 442 | 77% |
2012 | 513 | 80% |
2013 | 685 | 68% |
2014 | 978 | 62% |
2015 | 1,004 | 59% |
2016 | 1,092 | 58% |
2017 | 1,220 | 65% |
2018 | 2,258 | 70% |
2019 | 2,962 | 82% |
2020 | 3,077 | 90% |
2021 | 2,595 | 92% |
2022 | 5,497 | 89% |
2023 | 6,514 | 67% |
2024 | 9,727 | 56% |
The requested data on temporary permission to stay for victims of human trafficking or slavery is not currently available in a verified and published form.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any systems or software supplied by Fujitsu are used in the process of determining immigration status.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Fujitsu do not supply the Home Office with any systems or software used in determining immigration status.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their proposals to increase the minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa to £38,700, how income other than from employment and property and savings will be regarded, the additional income required for each child of the family, and what length of visa will be issued and how that will be determined.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The revised minimum income requirement (MIR) will be implemented in spring 2024.
The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with the increase in the MIR, and further policy details, in due course.
Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their proposals to increase the minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa, (1) how savings and income from property and sources other than employment will be regarded, (2) the additional income required for each child of the family, (3) what length of visa will be issued, and (4) what other changes related to family visas they propose.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The revised minimum income requirement (MIR) will be implemented in spring 2024.
The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with the increase in the MIR, and further policy details, in due course.
Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what fees they intend to charge in connection with the increased minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa, in particular (1) what fee will be payable on the initial and subsequent applications for a spouse or partner on a 10-year route to settlement, and (2) what immigration health charge will be due.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
There will be no changes to the fees payable for any visa applications or the health surcharge as a result of the minimum income requirement changes announced by the Home Secretary.
For those applying on a spouse or partner visa, the current application fees of £1,846 for entry clearance, £1,048 for Limited Leave to Remain and £2,885 for Indefinite Leave to Remain will remain the same.
Subject to the passage of the necessary legislation, the Immigration Health Surcharge will increase to £1,035 per year for migrants applying on the partner visa route.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their proposals to increase the minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa to £38,700, what fee will be payable on the initial and subsequent applications for a spouse or partner on a 10-year route to settlement, and what immigration health charge will be due.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
There will be no changes to the fees payable for any visa applications or the health surcharge as a result of the minimum income requirement changes announced by the Home Secretary.
For those applying on a spouse or partner visa, the current application fees of £1,846 for entry clearance, £1,048 for Limited Leave to Remain and £2,885 for Indefinite Leave to Remain will remain the same.
Subject to the passage of the necessary legislation, the Immigration Health Surcharge will increase to £1,035 per year for migrants applying on the partner visa route.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of using (1) X-rays, (2) magnetic resonance imaging, and (3) any other scientific methods, as provided for by the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not yet hold this information. Work is ongoing to determine the level and type of capacity required to support the imaging service.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of using X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging and any other ‘scientific methods’ as provided for by the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 30 December 2022 (HL4283) that the Home Office intended to set out their plans to review the Life in the UK handbook as part of wider nationality reforms “in the first half of next year”, and further to the letter dated 7 September 2022 from the then Minister for Safe and Legal Migration to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, what is the timetable for their review of the handbook.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We are still considering the timetable for potential work to review the handbook. We aim to set out the timetable for reviewing the handbook later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to appoint an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The role of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) as set out in the 2015 Modern Slavery Act is to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims.
The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the IASC and had launched a new open competition to recruit for this role on the 23 February 2023, the process for which is now at an advanced stage.