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Written Question
Fraud: Telephones
Wednesday 20th February 2019

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to protect consumers from telephone fraud.

Answered by Ben Wallace

The Government takes telephone fraud very seriously and continues to in-troduce measures to tackle the problem. Ofcom has introduced new rules on Calling Line Identification (CLI) data, which should help telephone call recipient’s make more informed decisions about whether to accept a call, and to report problem calls to regulators and law enforcement agencies more effectively.

The rules, which came into effect in October 2018, mean that Communications Providers are now required, where technically feasible and economically viable, to provide CLI facilities and turn them on by default. Under these rules, Communications Providers must also ensure that, where technically feasible, the CLI Data that is provided with a call includes a valid, dialable, telephone number which uniquely identifies the caller. They must also now take reasonable steps to identify and block calls on which invalid or non-dialable CLI is provided.

Separately, the Joint Fraud Taskforce (a coalition between government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector) is leading an ambitious programme of work to prevent fraud. This includes broadening its engagement with the telecommunications sector, to collectively address the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit to commit their crimes.


Written Question
Taxis: Fares
Friday 23rd November 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of incidents of taxi fare evasion reported to police in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The Home Office collects data on police recorded crime, which are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest figures, for the year ending June 2018, can be accessed here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

Crimes involving taxi fare evasion will be included within the category of making off without payment along with other incidents such as driving off from a petrol station without paying for fuel and leaving a restaurant without paying the bill. However, from information held centrally it is not possible to identify incidents of taxi fare evasion.


Written Question
Visas
Tuesday 16th October 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to improve the communication applicants receive on the progress of their visa application.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

UKVI are bringing in a new streamlined online journey for most application types, with an intuitive easy-to-use form. This will provide an improved online customer journey, making it easier and quicker for customers to complete applications and keeping the customer informed via notifications throughout the process.


Written Question
Immigration
Tuesday 16th October 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Leave to Remain have been rejected by his Department in the last 12 months.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Information on the number of (in country extensions) leave to remain applications granted and refused is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, extensions table ex_01_q at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#extensions


Written Question
Immigration
Tuesday 16th October 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Leave to Remain made outside the rules have been granted in the last 12 months.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Information on total grants and refusals of in-country applications for leave to remain is published in the Home Office’s quarterly Immigration Statistics, Extensions tables, the latest edition is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#extensions

See tab ex_01_q. Leave outside the rules and discretionary leave decisions fall under ‘other’ in column B.

Applications made outside of the rules can result in grants of leave within the rules and these are recorded in the category under which they are granted.


Written Question
Immigration
Tuesday 16th October 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of applicants for Leave to Remain that continue to reside in the UK after their application has been refused.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

The information requested is not recorded in a form that can be reported. Answering the question would entail the individual examination of cases and would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on the UK’s resident population by characteristic is a matter for the Office for National Statistics.

The available information on total grants and refusals of leave to remain is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Extensions tables tab ex_01_q, latest available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#extensions


Written Question
Metals: Theft
Friday 14th September 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the banning of cash transactions from the scrap metal sector has helped reduce metal theft.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 provides the legislative basis for tackling metal theft across England and Wales. The banning of cash payments for scrap metal is one of several measures in the Act.

The Government has conducted a review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to assess its effectiveness in tackling and reducing metal theft. The review concluded that the measures in the Act have contributed to the falls in levels of metal theft since its introduction, and provides a strong legislative basis for action.

A report setting out the findings of the review was published by the Government on 11 December 2017.


Written Question
Immigration: Married People
Tuesday 11th September 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many leave to remain applications were rejected from applicants married to habitually resident British subjects in the last 12 months.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Published data on decisions on applications for extension to stay is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/734168/extensions-jun-2018-tables.ods.

Refer to tab ex_01_q and select ‘Family’

The data does not capture ‘applicants married to habitually resident British subjects’


Written Question
Religious Buildings: Security
Tuesday 26th June 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has a timetable for reopening the Vulnerable Faith Institution Scheme to enable bids from places of worship to improve their security measures; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Home Office has committed £2.4m over three years (2016 to 2019) to provide protective security measures to places of worship in England and Wales that have been subject or are vulnerable to hate crime.

The third year of the scheme opened for applications on 8 June. The Vulnerable Faith Institutions Scheme was a separate funding scheme of £1million for one year following the attack at Finsbury Park in June 2017.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Health Professions
Tuesday 26th June 2018

Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many health professionals have been refused visas in the last 12 months; and what the timetable is for the cap on skilled health workers to be removed.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Information on Tier 2 entry clearance visa applications broken down by outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018.

On Friday 15 June, the Government laid amended Immigration Rules altering the allocation of places under the Tier 2 (General) cap. This will come into effect on 6 July. The change is intended to be temporary and will be kept under review.