Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Biometric Residence Permit cards confirming that the holder has been granted indefinite leave to remain have been sent to an address other than the latest address on the successful applicant's record; and what plans they have to ensure that such Permits go to the correct addresses in future.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Based on the most recent data available, lost or mis-delivered Biometric Residence Permits account for less than 0.04% of Biometric Residence Permits produced for all applications granted further leave of greater than 6 months or indefinite leave to remain within the UK between 1st July 2020 and end December 2020. We are not able to break this figure down by leave type.
It should be noted this data may be subject to minor change as we were actively working with FedEx to reconcile lost and mis-delivered Biometric Residence Permit deliveries between 1 July 2020 and end December 2020 by the end of May 2021.
Where a customer reports a Biometric Residence Permit has been mis-delivered to either our delivery partner FedEx, or directly to UKVI, it is investigated. Where possible FedEx will attempt to recover the package and re-deliver to the correct address. Where it is not possible to recover, the BRP will be cancelled and re-issued at no cost to the customer where the mis-delivery was down to a UKVI or a FedEx error.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the UK’s departure from the European Union, what instructions they have given schools to ask for documentary proof of pupils’ indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government provides advice for state funded schools and local authorities on gov.uk. The website is clear ‘school admission authorities must not refuse to admit a child on the basis of their nationality or immigration status nor remove them from roll on this basis. The guidance can be found at:
www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children
It is the responsibility of parents to check their children have a right, under their visa entry conditions, to study at a school.’ The School Admissions Code would not permit schools to ask for proof of pupils’ indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom as a condition of admission.
Independent schools which also hold a student sponsor license have a general duty to assure themselves sponsored students have a right to study in the UK throughout their course. This is a long-standing policy for student sponsors able to recruit international students from overseas through the Student or Child Student routes.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of each Police and Crime Commissioner; and what assessment they have made of the value added to policing from the election of Police and Crime Commissioners.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
On 4 February 2021, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £15.8 billion in 2021/22. Individual costs associated with PCC offices are available via individual Statement of Accounts online.
PCC salaries are set by the Home Secretary, taking into account a recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body, and reflect the size of the police force they oversee. As a locally elected and democratically accountable individual, it is up to them how they decide to balance their expenditure on their policing and crime priorities and on their office functions.
Since their inception, PCCs have brought real accountability to how Chief Constables and their forces perform. They are supporting hundreds of local community groups, charities and partnerships by funding innovative projects to cut crime, intervene early and make people safer.
Overall, PCCs have presided over a reduction in crime to record lows with crimes traditionally measured by the Independent Crime Survey for England and Wales down by well over a third since 2010.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current time delay from application to granting indefinite leave to remain for those who qualify for this status.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We are deciding cases within published service standard, unless there is a specific reason we cannot, in which case we will contact the customer. Our service standard for the processing of Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) cases remains six months.
Performance against service standards for ILR applications are included in the Migration Transparency data which is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for indefinite leave to remain from spouses of UK citizens are outstanding; and what is the target response time for such applications.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The normal service standard for applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain applications is six months.
The Home Office publishes transparency data on the number of outstanding applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the spouse/partner route, the Home Office also publish transparency data on the performance against service standards for Indefinite Leave to Remain applications under the spouse/partner route. This can be found in our transparency data:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visas-and-citizenship-data-february-2021
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, (1) to review the immigration criteria for construction industry specialists, and (2) to amend the shortage occupation list to include (a) bricklayers, (b) plasterers, (c) plumbers, (d) carpenters, and (e) quantity surveyors.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Given the wider economic impact of the global pandemic and the number of UK based workers facing uncertainty about their employment or the need to find a new job at this time, the Government believes it is right our global points-based systems encourages employers to look to domestic recruitment and skills training in the first instance, rather than immigration,
In March 2020, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on the composition of the Shortage Occupation Lists (SOL) in light of the expanded skills threshold of the new Skilled Worker route, which came into effect on 1 December.
The MAC published its findings and recommendations on 29 September. The Government welcomed the MAC’s comprehensive advice, which included a recommendation to add bricklayers and masons; however, we do not consider changes to the immigration rules or the SOLs should be made at this time, before assessing how the UK labour market develops post-Covid 19 and in response to the introduction of the new Points-Based Immigration System. Immigration policy should be considered alongside the strategies for the UK Labour Market not in isolation to them.
As published on 22 October, the Immigration Rules for the new Points-Based Immigration System include an Appendix Shortage Occupation Lists. This replaces the existing lists under Appendix K. The contents are the same.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cyber-attack on the Woodland Trust; and what assistance, if any, they have provided to that charity as a result.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We are aware of the cyber-attack on the Woodland Trust. The National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency were notified of this incident through Action Fraud. The National Cyber Crime Unit within NCA provided direct liaison with the charity and offered guidance throughout the incident management phase.
The law enforcement response is being led by East Midlands Special Operations Unit with support from Lincolnshire Constabulary.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they did not close the UK’s borders in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic; and what assessment they have made of the impact of not closing the borders on the spread of COVID-19 in the UK.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
HMG decisions throughout the pandemic have been guided by the science, including with measures taken at the border over the last year. We are now in a completely different position to where we were at the start of the pandemic in terms of our awareness of the disease and of the new variants identified across the globe, such as in Brazil and South Africa.
Any decisions on borders must also consider the need to keep vital supply routes open, especially freight traffic across the Short Straights and to the Republic of Ireland via the UK Land Bridge.