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 vacancies there are in the Fire and Rescue Service.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the number of vacancies in the Fire and Rescue Services in England.
The Home Office collects data annually on the size and diversity of the Fire and Rescue Service workforce in England. These statistics are published here: Fire statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
It is the responsibility of each Fire and Rescue Authority to determine what resources they need to meet their anticipated risk.
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 asylum seekers are housed in hotels in England.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The significant increase in dangerous journeys across the Channel is placing unprecedented strain on our asylum system and it has made it necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers. The use of hotels is a short-term solution, and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral statement by the Prime Minister of 13 December 2022, Official Report, column 885, whether she plans to publish further details on the changes to the asylum claim system.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As the Prime Minister outlined last month, we are radically re-engineering the end-to-end asylum process, for instance, by drafting shorter and simpler guidance, and omitting long, substantive interviews where decisions can be taken on the evidence available. We are committed to engaging with external organisations working in the asylum and immigration sector and will continue to work with such organisations in existing stakeholder forums.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what external organisations were consulted when drafting the changes to the asylum claim system announced in the Prime Minister’s statement on 13 December 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As the Prime Minister outlined last month, we are radically re-engineering the end-to-end asylum process, for instance, by drafting shorter and simpler guidance, and omitting long, substantive interviews where decisions can be taken on the evidence available. We are committed to engaging with external organisations working in the asylum and immigration sector and will continue to work with such organisations in existing stakeholder forums.
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 long on average it takes for applications to the Ukrainian Sponsorship Scheme to be processed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not publish data on the average processing times for an application under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.
Applications for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme are processed as quickly as possible whilst ensuring that the appropriate checks and safeguarding measures are in place.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the revenue was for the Immigration Skills Charge from NHS employers in (a) each financial year since 2017-18 and (b) the 2022-23 financial year as of 24 November 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office reports total Immigration Skills Charge revenue in the Annual Report and Accounts. Whilst some employment data is captured, it is not captured or recorded in a way that allows for the specific categorisation of NHS employers.
Total Immigration Skills Charges is found in the links and pages referenced below:
2021-22 pages 208 and 216
Home_Office_ARA_21-22_Final_-_Gov.uk.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)
2020-21 pages 191and 199
HO annual report and accounts 2020-21 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
2019-20 pages 187 and 195-196
Home Office annual report and accounts 2019 - 2020 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
2018-19 pages 168 and 175
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Data relating to the current financial year will be made available on publication of the 2022-23 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts following closure of the financial year.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any staff in her Department were dismissed for misuse of the email system in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office disciplinary database has several broad categories to group cases for identification and management information purposes.
However, the categories are not sufficiently detailed to identify particular elements of a case. Therefore, this information can only be supplied by disproportionate effort.
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 people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) fined for excessive vehicle noise on public roads in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information annually on the number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued and other outcomes for motoring offences, including for the specific noise offence classification 822. This information is published as part of the Home Office’s annual ‘Other PACE Powers’ bulletin and can be found in Table FPN_03 of the Fixed Penalty Notices data tables.
It should be noted that offence 822 does not cover all offences related to excessive vehicle noise and the data does not specify whether the incident occurred on a public road.
The next release of this bulletin is scheduled for Thursday 17th November, and will contain data for the calendar year 2021.
The Home Office does not collect information on the number of prosecutions for excessive vehicle noise on public roads. The Ministry of Justice publishes data in its Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication on prosecutions and convictions for motoring offences.
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 staff employed by her Department were dismissed for misuse of the email system in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office disciplinary database has several broad categories to group cases for identification and management information purposes.
However, the categories are not sufficiently detailed to identify particular elements of a case.
Therefore, this information can only be supplied by disproportionate effort.
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 staff employed by her Department have been reinstated following dismissal for misuse of the email system in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office disciplinary database has several broad categories to group cases for identification and management information purposes.
However, the categories are not sufficiently detailed to identify particular elements of a case. Therefore, this information can only be supplied by disproportionate effort.