Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether UK citizens will be able to travel to the European Union visa-free and vice versa after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The EU has announced that UK nationals would be able to enter the EU vi-sa-free for short periods after the country’s exit, provided EU nationals en-joy the same conditions when travelling to the UK.
Whether we leave the EU with or without a deal, the Home Secretary has announced that EEA and Swiss nationals will be able to continue to travel to the UK for holidays or short-term trips, without needing a visa.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate the Government has made of the costs associated with ending the free movement of people between the UK and the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government’s White Paper “The UK’s future skills-based immigration system” (Cm 9722) published on 19 December 2018, includes an annex setting out the economic appraisal of the impact of our proposals.
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 (a) potential effect on immigration levels of the Government's new immigration proposals and (b) implications of those proposals for Government policy on reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government’s Immigration White Paper, the UK’s Future Skills-Based Immigration System (Cm 9722), includes an economic appraisal of potential impacts of the proposed future immigration system.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding has been made available to police forces for contingency planning in relation to the UK leaving the EU; which police forces have applied for that funding; how many of those applications have been successful; how much has been spent on that contingency planning to date; and whether that funding is available to police in Scotland.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Claims for EU Exit related policing costs for forces in England and Wales have been dealt with under the Special Grant process. So far only Kent Police have sought funding and have been provided with £845,000 to cover their planning costs. We are continuing to liaise closely with the force to ensure they have the resources they need.
Funding provided by the Home Office is only for forces in England and Wales. Policing in Scotland is a devolved issue.
We are also working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on implementing operation safety net to establish the International Based on NPCC proposals we agreed to allocate £2.4m of additional, national-level funding to the NPCC for this work in 2018/19.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent consideration has been given to allowing residents who are British by descent to gain citizenship.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The British Nationality Act 1981 defines who is a British citizen. A person who is of the first generation born outside the United Kingdom to a British citizen would usually be a British citizen by descent. There is no difference in the quality of citizenship between those who are British citizens by descent and those who acquire it by birth, registration or naturalisation in the UK. All have the same rights and access to services in the UK or consular services while overseas.
A person who is a British citizen by descent cannot usually pass on that citizenship to a child born overseas unless they were in Crown service at the time of the child’s birth. However, if children are born overseas to a British citizen by descent, the legislation contains provisions for a child to be registered where a continuing connection with the United Kingdom is demonstrated.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the immigration health surcharge will be increased from £200 to £400; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The immigration health surcharge will increase to £400 for each year of leave to be granted, on 8 January 2019. Students and Youth Mobility Scheme applicants will pay a discounted rate of £300 for each year of leave to be granted.
The increased rate will apply to new applications made on or after this date.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to (a) the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund and (b) other sources of funding available to his Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to develop and implement new guidance on the conduct of asylum interviews, and how the effectiveness of that guidance is being monitored and evaluated; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it and this Government is committed to delivering a fair and humane asylum system.
We recognise that asylum interviews are a vital part of the asylum process, ensuring that decision makers have available all relevant evidence so that they can make an informed decision. To that end, we have published detailed Home Office policy guidance setting out how caseworkers are expected to conduct asylum interviews, which was developed in collaboration with external partners, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We are currently reviewing this policy and intend to publish a revised version by the end of the year.
We systematically assess the quality of asylum decisions against a detailed audit framework drawn up in consultation with external partners, including the UNHCR, which includes checks on compliance with existing asylum policies and relevant case law.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the medical research sector will be able to recruit talented overseas professions through the immigration system that will be introduced after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans .
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to assess the skills of prospective migrants using measures other than their expected salary in reforms to the UK's immigration system; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans .
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to assess the skills of prospective migrants using measures other than their expected salary in reforms to the UK's immigration system; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans .