Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who took the recent decision to stop cash payments for asylum seekers placed in hotels in Glasgow.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office have not taken the decision to stop support for any service users in Glasgow or anywhere else the UK, where they remain entitled to it.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of an Exceptional Assurance visa extension of four weeks on a person's ability to remain in or secure rental accommodation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Each request for Exceptional Assurance is dealt with on its own merits. There is no condition in place limiting Exceptional Assurance to a maximum of four weeks.
Exceptional Assurance allows for the conditions of a previous grant of leave to continue until its expiration, including the right to rent. We have provided clear guidance on GOV.UK stipulating landlords must take extra care to ensure no one is discriminated against if they are struggling to evidence their right to rent during this pandemic.
The Landlord Checking Service is in place to verify the confirmation of Exceptional Assurance.
This service provides a response within two working days, from receipt of request, providing the landlord with a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-landlord-right-to-rent-checks
https://eforms.homeoffice.gov.uk/outreach/lcs-application.ofml
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will extend Exceptional Assurance from four weeks to six months for people who are unable to travel to their home country due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Each request for Exceptional Assurance is dealt with on its own merits and the end date is under constant review.
There is no condition in place limiting Exceptional Assurance to a maximum of four weeks.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the need to reapply for an Exceptional Assurance visa every three to four weeks on a person's (a) mental health, (b) financial situation and (c) ability to maintain stable accommodation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There is no current condition in place limiting Exceptional Assurance to four weeks or requiring all covered by one to reply every three to four weeks, each request for Exceptional Assurance is dealt with on its own merits.
Exceptional Assurance allows for the conditions of a previous grant of leave to continue until its expiration, including the right to rent and the right to work where relevant.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2020 to Question 57177 on Visas, whether she plans to introduce a further extension of visas for people that are unable to travel home after 31 July 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office has put in place a range of measures to support those affected by the covid-19 outbreak. We recognise further adjustments are likely to be required to cater for all scenarios, and we are working to ensure people are not unduly affected by circumstances beyond their control.
The latest information in respect of advice for visa holders can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-uk-visa-applicants-and-temporary-uk-residents.
This is being kept under review, including whether further extensions will be necessary. We will confirm the position for those affected shortly.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2020 to Question 51863 on Visas, whether she plans to introduce a further extension of visas for people that are unable to travel home after 31 July 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Individuals who are in the UK legally and whose visa expires between 24 January 2020 and 31 July 2020 can have their visa extended to 31 July 2020, if they cannot leave the UK because of travel restrictions or self-isolation related to coronavirus.
This is being kept under regular review in case further extensions are necessary. The latest information can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-uk-visa-applicants-and-temporary-uk-residents.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce a further extension of visas for people that are unable to travel home after 31 May 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Individuals who are in the UK legally and whose visa expires between 24 January 2020 and 31 July 2020 can have their visa extended to 31 July 2020, if they cannot leave the UK because of travel restrictions or self-isolation related to coronavirus.
The latest information can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-uk-visa-applicants-and-temporary-uk-residents.
This is being kept under regular review in case further extensions are needed
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people in Scotland who do not have a (a) passport and (b) driving licence.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold information on the number of UK citizens without a valid passport. However, I can confirm that there were 51,372,413 valid British passports as of 22 September 2019.
We are unable to provide data on the number of valid passports issued to people in Scotland or any geographical region within the UK, as the data could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold any information relating to driving licenses. For information on driving licences I would direct the Honourable Member to PQ 597 answered on 21 October 2019.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of local authority capacity to support British children returning from North east Syria.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Children returning from Syria are likely to have been exposed to the conflict, indoctrination, to have experienced severe trauma, and in some circumstances pose national security concerns that need to be carefully managed.
The Home Office has funded an NHS Foundation Trust to assist local authorities and local NHS trusts to conduct comprehensive mental health and emotional wellbeing assessments of all British children returning from the conflict in Syria; and to provide key worker support to assist in the safe reintegration of those children. Our support will be tailored to the needs of each individual child.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on people applying to the EU Settlement Scheme of charges issued by private operators for biometric services.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
All applicants to the EU Settlement Scheme will be able to submit their biometric photograph via their online application. There is no charge for this.
Family members who are not EEA or Swiss nationals and do not already hold a Biometric Residence Card will also need to enrol a biometric photograph and fingerprints, excluding children who are 4 years old and under - they do not need to enrol fingerprints. The Home Of-fice estimates that only a small cohort (less than 5%) of the overall EU Settlement Scheme co-hort will need to submit their biometrics fingerprints.
When required, biometric fingerprint enrolment will take place at one of 57 UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) centres across the UK, run by Sopra Steria, our commercial partner. Six of the locations can be used without any appointment charge being incurred. The remaining locations attract an appointment charge of £60 at an enhanced service point or £200 for the premium lounge in London. Additional charges also apply at each of the 57 sites for out of hours appointments It is a matter for the customer to decide which location to attend.
Our commercial partner, Sopra Steria, undertook market research to identify service locations; their research included the impact on customers of travel time, cost and accessibility. The 6 core service centres that offer free appointments have been sized and located based on projected customer footfall information, providing coverage for customers across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of the service point locations are situated in town and city centres and close to transport links and 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service centre, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles