Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visas his Department has granted to applicants from North Macedonia in each year since 2020.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on visas granted, by nationality, are published in table Vis_D02 of the Entry clearance detailed dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate up to the end of 2023.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to introduce a (a) visa exemption, (b) visa on arrival and (c) eVisa scheme for people from North Macedonia.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are no plans to introduce a visa exemption or visa on arrival for North Macedonians. The introduction of eVisas will help travellers prove their status at the UK border in a secure, timely and efficient manner. This introduction will not be country specific.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to provide funding to Women's Aid in the next three financial years.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Tackling violence against women and girls is a government priority. Our strategies aim to transform the whole of society’s response to these crimes with actions to prevent abuse, support victims and ensure more perpetrators are bought to justice.
The Home Office has provided funding to Women’s Aid of up to £1.34m until March 2025 to deliver the Flexible Fund. This fund will help hundreds of domestic abuse victims next year who will receive lifeline payments to help escape tormenting and often life-threatening abuse, providing the chance to rebuild their lives. We are also investing £753k into Women’s Aid next year to improve the awareness of domestic abuse amongst young people.
Funding beyond March 2025 is subject to future budgets which will be set through the next Spending Review process.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether UK Visa and Immigration is meeting the eight-week service standard for processing graduate visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are operating within the eight-week service standard for Graduate applications.
Some applications may take longer if we have requested further information, or if their personal circumstances are complex. Further details can be found at Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials in his Department with responsibility for engaging with hon. Members are given training on the types of visas that are available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Officials responsible for engaging with Hon. Members are required to complete an initial 12-week training programme, which includes training on the visa routes available.
Following the initial training programme, officials are subject to assurance checks on all their work until they are assessed to meet the required quality standard.
Ongoing development ensures that officials keep their understanding of immigration routes up to date.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason his Department has reduced the amount of support given to people living in asylum accommodation which provides all their meals to £8.86 per week.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The level of the allowance given to those supported under section 95 and section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is reviewed each year to ensure it covers an asylum seeker’s essential living needs.
In setting the rates, we have utilised an alternative methodology to determine the costs of essential needs, which uses a ‘disaggregated CPI’ (Consumer Prices Index). The methodology has been designed to offer a more accurate measure of changes in the price of items to cover essential living needs. As previous rate increases have been made using CPI rates, this has led to an overestimate of the cost of essential needs for an individual in catered accommodation, therefore, using the methodology set out above, the catered rates have been slightly reduced.
Individuals accommodated in hotels and other catered sites are also provided 3 meals a day, snacks, water, toiletries, and some other services, in addition to their weekly allowance. Additional support is also available to pregnant women, young children, and individuals who provide evidence of exceptional needs.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an estimate of changes in the level of home burglaries using blowtorches to gain access to properties.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows a 56% fall in domestic burglaries when comparing the year ending September 2023 with year ending March 2010. This is clearly good news; however, we recognise the impact domestic burglary can have on individuals and communities and we are committed to tackling and preventing this crime.
The public rightly expects that the police will visit them when a home burglary has been committed, which is why we welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on 8 June that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this attendance policy since March 2023. We are working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglary.
The police attendance commitment, along with the commitment to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry, is supported by College of Policing guidance on conducting residential burglary investigations: https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/residential-burglary. This sets out the importance of the police accurately identifying the point and method of entry to a victim’s property. Forces will share this information with Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI), which works with manufacturers, the construction industry and standards authorities to ensure security standards keep pace with emerging crime trends. https://www.policecpi.com/about-us.
We are putting in place record funding for the police in England and Wales with up to £18.4bn in 2024/25, and funding for Police and Crime Commissioners is increasing by up to £922 million in 2024/25.
The Home Office has not made a specific assessment of the use of blowtorches to gain access to properties.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional resources to Police and Crime Commissioners to help tackle (a) the use of blowtorches in and (b) other methods of home burglaries.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows a 56% fall in domestic burglaries when comparing the year ending September 2023 with year ending March 2010. This is clearly good news; however, we recognise the impact domestic burglary can have on individuals and communities and we are committed to tackling and preventing this crime.
The public rightly expects that the police will visit them when a home burglary has been committed, which is why we welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on 8 June that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this attendance policy since March 2023. We are working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglary.
The police attendance commitment, along with the commitment to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry, is supported by College of Policing guidance on conducting residential burglary investigations: https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/residential-burglary. This sets out the importance of the police accurately identifying the point and method of entry to a victim’s property. Forces will share this information with Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI), which works with manufacturers, the construction industry and standards authorities to ensure security standards keep pace with emerging crime trends. https://www.policecpi.com/about-us.
We are putting in place record funding for the police in England and Wales with up to £18.4bn in 2024/25, and funding for Police and Crime Commissioners is increasing by up to £922 million in 2024/25.
The Home Office has not made a specific assessment of the use of blowtorches to gain access to properties.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help local police forces tackle thefts from tradesmen's vans.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% when comparing the year ending September 2023 with the year ending March 2010.
The Home Office is working with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) and the Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) to explore ways to prevent the theft of tools from tradespeople’s vans. The NBCC and Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (Secured By Design) have also published crime prevention guidance to help tradespeople prevent theft: Crime Prevention Guides (nbcc.police.uk) and Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.
Following engagement with the Home Office and National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to help reduce the rate of theft of tools from tradespeople’s vans, Thatcham Research has agreed to add to their New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA), locks and alarms on the back of vans (previously NVSA only covers the cab area of vans) and a motion sensor on the load area of the van.
In addition, through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure forces can share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and better tackle regional issues.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the Leader of the House on making time for a (a) debate and (b) vote on the Government’s treaty with Rwanda before 31 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government places great importance in providing opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. We have sought to provide this opportunity during various parliamentary activity, but most notably as part of the passage of the Bill which is intrinsically linked and gives legal effect to the treaty. Most recently, we have had the two days of Commons Committee stage (Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 January) on the floor of House, allowing members to scrutinise this policy. We look forward to debating all aspects of the Bill as it is scrutinised by both Houses.