Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of women on spousal visas that have been a victim of (a) domestic abuse and (b) modern slavery.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of women on spousal visas that have been a victim of domestic abuse and modern slavery does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the prevalence of arranged marriages in the UK.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government has not made a recent assessment on the prevalence of arranged marriages in the UK.
In an arranged marriage the families take a leading role in choosing the marriage partner, but the marriage is entered into freely by both parties.
This is in contrast to a forced marriage, where one or both people do not or cannot consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used to force them into the marriage.
It is also a forced marriage when anything is done to make someone marry before they turn 18, even if there is no pressure or abuse.
More information on forced marriage can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban plastic materials in (a) boilers and (b) water tanks.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 – which, in part, are designed to prevent contamination of drinking water supplies from water fittings – do not cover the design of boilers or hot water tanks, including the materials they are constructed from. If a consumer suspects that their drinking water is contaminated, they should contact their local water company who will investigate. If the cause of contamination is identified as occurring from plumbing inside the property, water companies will provide instructions to the consumer on remedial action to consider such as replacement or repair of the defective component. All plumbing inside a property is the responsibility of the property owner.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to establish an independent body to (a) identify and (b) monitor public health threats from (i) plastic and (ii) microplastic contamination.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals. Public health threats are the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to establish an independent body to (a) identify and (b) monitor public health threats from defective household (i) boilers, (ii) water tanks and (iii) other products.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State does not currently plan to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has received recent representations on the disintegrating of plastic within internal baffles of household water tanks.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has not received recent representations on the disintegrating of plastic within internal baffles of household water tanks.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to create a centralised certification body for water tanks.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State does not currently plan to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 23 October 2023 to Question 200957 on Turkey: British Nationals Abroad, what points HM Ambassador raised with the Turkish Health Minister; whether his Department plans to discuss with the Turkish authorities measures to tackle the issue of of medical tourism and the need for comprehensive advice for Britons seeking such treatment in Turkey; and what issues will be discussed during the visit by the delegation from the Department for Health and Social Care.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
On 4 October, HM Ambassador met with the Turkish Minister of Health and discussed the importance of mutual cooperation and clear advice to ensure the safety of increasing numbers of British Nationals seeking elective medical treatments in Turkey. HMA continues high level engagement with the Turkish Minister of Health and Minister of Culture and Tourism on the issue. On their visit, Department of Health and Social Care officials engaged with the Turkish Ministry of Health on patient safety measures for UK patients undertaking planned medical treatment in Turkey, as well as exploring the support to UK tourists to Turkey who may need emergency healthcare. Our Embassy in Ankara will continue to engage regularly with the Turkish authorities on these issues. We keep our central online guidance up to date, as well as the FCDO Travel Advice for Turkey.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made (a) a comparative assessment of the speed of processing asylum claims for (i) her Department's existing method and (ii) alternative methods and (b) an assessment of the efficiency of alternative methods taken by other nations.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We have taken immediate action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system. This includes simplifying guidance and streamlining processes. We have also introduced shorter, focussed interviews, making the interview process more efficient.
The asylum backlog of legacy cases had fallen by over 35,000 cases, between the end of November 2022 and the end of August 2023, and has continued to fall since the last publication of statistics.
Information on the legacy backlog is published online in the IMB_02 Tab of the data table regarding Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk(opens in a new tab)). This data is provisional and has not been cleansed to remove duplicates.
In the year ending June 2023, there were 23,702 initial decisions made on asylum applications, 61% more than in the previous year. This is in part due to an increase in the number of asylum decision makers employed by the Home Office.
We are confident that with increased capacity and improved efficiency this will help deliver further significant output over the coming months.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2023 to Question 199460 on Members: Correspondence, and with refence to the letter from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Europe to the hon. Member for Falkirk relating to a bereaved constituent, ref MC2023/14846, dated 14 September 2023, what forms of liaising his Department undertakes with the Turkish Government on this topic; and whether he is taking (a) bilateral and (b) other steps to help prevent deaths following private medical procedures in that county.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Our Embassy in Ankara engages regularly with the Turkish authorities on the issue of medical tourism and the need for comprehensive advice for Britons seeking such treatment in Turkey. The Ambassador raised the subject with the Turkish Health Minister on 4 October. A delegation from the Department for Health and Social Care is due to visit Turkey in November to discuss medical tourism with the Turkish authorities. We keep our central online guidance up to date, as well as the FCDO Travel Advice for Turkey.