Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of drug addiction on the economy of (a) Sheffield and (b) UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The total social and economic costs of drugs in the UK are estimated to be £10.7 billion per year. The costs which accrue specifically to the economy cannot be disaggregated from this total.
A breakdown of these costs by local area, such as Sheffield, is not available.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government has made available for research into knife crime prevention in the last two years; and how much funding is being made available in the next 12 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy sets out the action it is taking to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. We have carried out an analysis of the trends and drivers of serious violence and this looked at the evidence of the key risk factors which may mean a young person may have a greater propensity to get involved in crime than would otherwise be the case. It also sets out the evidence about what are the most effective type of programmes and the importance of early intervention with young people and to provide them with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence.
In 2017/18 we awarded £765,000 to 47 projects from the (anti-knife crime) Community Fund launched in October 2017 to support local communities across England and Wales to tackle knife crime. In addition we have announced up to £1million for a new round of the Community Fund on 18 May which is currently open for bids for funding from community groups. As part of our work with successful projects, we will require a report back outlining the outcomes achieved and the nature and level of the impact their interventions have had on young people.The Serious Violence Strategy also includes a commitment for a new £11 million Early Intervention Youth Fund to support communities for early intervention and prevention with young people for 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020. We have also provided support to Redthread to expand its capacity and youth violence intervention work to Birmingham and Nottingham.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the implications are for his policy on conducting an inquiry into police action in England and Wales during the 1984 miners' strike of the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to order an independent review of the effect of policing on communities in Scotland during that strike.
Answered by Nick Hurd
There are no plans to review the Government’s decision of 31 October 2016 not to establish a public inquiry into the policing of the events at the Orgreave coking plant on 18 June 1984.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether EU citizens who have been resident in the UK for five years or more but have not been in employment or in receipt of benefits are eligible for settled status after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We have agreed with the EU that the eligibility criteria for UK settled status will be the same as, or more favourable than, those set out in the Free Movement Directive for acquiring permanent residence after five years. The criteria will include those EU citizens who have resided here as self sufficient persons and so have never worked or been in receipt of benefits.
As a matter of domestic policy, we have decided that the main requirement for eligibility under the settlement scheme will be continuous residence in the UK. Applicants will not need to demonstrate that they met the relevant requirements in the Free Movement Directive as to permitted activity.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of first-time Passport applicants were required to attend an interview in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The table below shows proportions of UK based First Time Adult (FTA) customers attending interview over the last 3 years. However, not all FTA, for example HM Forces service personnel serving in the UK and overseas are required to attend an interview.
Year | Number of UK First Time Adult Applications | Number of UK First Time Adult Interviews | Proportion of UK FTA Intake to Interviews |
2015 | 286,640 | 222,264 | 78% |
2016 | 325,793 | 244,555 | 75% |
2017 | 293,647 | 177,540 | 60% |
The reduction in the 2017 proportions being interviewed is due to the option for individuals applying for citizenship to opt for the Joint Citizenship and Passport Application Process (JCAP).
HM Passport Office does not require FTA customers using JCAP to attend an interview as identity is confirmed through the naturalisation process.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of complaints received on the use of fireworks in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a business which did not use her Department's employer checking service when requested by a job applicant would be in breach of Home Office rules on recruitment and selection.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Immigration (Restrictions on Employment Order) 2007, as amended, specifies the steps employers should take in checking a job applicant’s right to work in order to prevent illegal working. In the majority of cases, an employer establishes a statutory excuse against a civil penalty under the Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 by examining a document presented by the job applicant from a list specified in the Order.
In limited circumstances, where the job applicant has an outstanding immigration application, administrative review or appeal, the employer should confirm the person’s right to work by contacting the Home Office Employer Checking Service in order to comply with the Order. In these cases, the job applicant is unlikely to have a current and valid immigration document because their case is pending, but they may have a right to work by virtue of having submitted an in-time application, administrative review or appeal and this can be confirmed by the Home Office Employer Checking service.
The Home Office has recently launched a new Digital Checking Service which enables the holder of a biometric residence permit and, with their consent, their prospective employer to view the holder’s current immigration status on-line. The digital service will provide employers with additional assurance when conducting right to work checks, but does not currently substitute the checks specified in the Order.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the guidance for police forces on recording and publishing statistics on knife crime to provide more specific figures than the force-wide level of knife crime.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes data from the police on the number of offences involving knives or sharp instruments at the police force area level. The Home Office carefully considers the burden on the police in supplying data against the need for centrally requested data on an annual basis. We are presently working with police forces on the level of information that is sent to the Home Office on offences involving knives.
Individual police forces will hold data at a lower geographical level and it is up to individual forces to determine the level of detail they publish at.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124304, on Immigrants: Employment, whether her Department has considered allowing people to use alternative forms of ID to prove their employment status while their immigration documents are processed.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are no plans to expand the list of documents an individual can use to demonstrate a right to work. Acceptable right to work documents are set out in legislation. Employers seeking to verify an individual’s right to work where there is an outstanding immigration application, administrative review or appeal can use the Home Office’s Employer Checking Service. This is designed to ensure that where individuals have a right to work, employment can commence with minimal delay.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2018 to Question 120539 on Immigrants: Employment, what steps her Department is taking to simplify the employer checking service for (a) perspective employees and (b) employers.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office has rolled out biometric residence permits to persons subject to immigration control to make it easier for them to evidence their status and simpler for employers to check their right to work.
We remain committed to simplifying the system of right to work checks for migrants and employers, including through the development of automated checking tools.