Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) relevant stakeholders on the appointment of a migrants commissioner; and what is the timeline for their appointment.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
A range of options have been considered for delivering the Windrush recommendations, including discussions with external stakeholders. The Home Office is taking steps to be more transparent to ensure that the department is as open as possible to all types of scrutiny, both internal and external.
We will keep the Home Affairs Select Committee updated on the progress of all the Wendy Williams recommendations.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason it takes 16 weeks on average to receive a decision on Health and Care Workers visas; and what steps she is taking to reduce this amount of time.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted on the delivery of some of our service standards.
We remain focussed on the processing of Entry Clearance applications for Health & Care Workers, to assist them in entering the UK to take up employment in the Health and Care sector, and these are being decided within our published service standards. We have injected additional resource into the team and expect the time taken to assess Health and Care Worker in-country applications to reduce significantly.
Details on visa processing times are published on the Home Office website at: Visa decision waiting times - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) These are updated on a regular basis to inform customers of any changes that may affect their application.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect people who protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London since the incident at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This government will always fully support these rights, including the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest.
It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law.
The management of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police. In certain circumstances, the police have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle metal theft across the country; and what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of licensing and regulatory requirements in the metals recycling sector in preventing the sale of stolen metals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 regulates the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. A 2017 review of the 2013 Act found it provides a strong legislative foundation. We will continue to keep the Act and supporting guidance under review and update where appropriate.
To support enforcement of the 2013 Act, the Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), ensuring co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends and implement crime prevention measures and has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.
Last month officers and partner agencies across the UK took part in the fourth national week of action tackling metal theft, heritage and waste crime. During the week officers visited 39 scrap metal dealers, 41 mobile collectors were stopped, and 16 offences were identified.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to (a) provide additional funding to help tackle illegal unlicensed operators in the metals recycling sector and (b) launch a wider campaign to tackle waste crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 regulates the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. A 2017 review of the 2013 Act found it provides a strong legislative foundation. We will continue to keep the Act and supporting guidance under review and update where appropriate.
To support enforcement of the 2013 Act, the Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), ensuring co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends and implement crime prevention measures and has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.
Last month officers and partner agencies across the UK took part in the fourth national week of action tackling metal theft, heritage and waste crime. During the week officers visited 39 scrap metal dealers, 41 mobile collectors were stopped, and 16 offences were identified.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police on lead theft from buildings such as churches.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.
The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.
We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police on gas copper pipe theft.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.
The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.
We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will appoint a new Minister for Refugees.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Immigration Minister is responsible for safe and legal routes to the UK.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to provide further support following the closure of its Portcullis House hub to respond to enquiries from the offices of hon. Members relating to (a) passport and (b) Ukraine visa applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Following the closure of the Portcullis House hub, we have now set up a national programme of engagement events enabling MP’s and their caseworkers to meet with Home Office officials nearer to their constituencies.
Urgent enquiries, including passport and Ukraine visa applications should be sent to the Urgent inbox mpurgentqueries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to (a) recruit more staff, (b) increase the responsiveness to MPs written and helpline enquiries and (c) put in place other resources to mitigate delays in processing visa and asylum applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
(a) Staffing levels in the MP Account Management team have increased by 20% over the last 6 months and recruitment is continuing, with additional staff joining over the coming weeks.
(b) A recovery plan is in place which will lead to incremental improvements in service standards over the coming 5 months with a return to 20 day service standard by March 2023.
(c) The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Schemes applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Staff from other government departments, including DWP and HMRC, have been surged into the department to help with Ukraine work and enable normal visa routes to return to normal service levels in due course.
To help reduce the number of outstanding claims for protection we are investing in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives that will speed up and simplify our processes, reduce the time people spend in the asylum system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision.
We have extensive ongoing recruitment plans in place and are actively increasing the number of asylum decision makers. Additionally we have career progression options that will aid the retention of staff.