Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of her Department's record keeping for the (a) Ukraine Family Visa Scheme and (b) Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
All applications made under Homes for Ukraine and Ukraine Family Scheme are recorded on Home Office systems.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the trends in the level of disability hate crime in Wales in the last three years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable. We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity, and the Hate Crime Action Plan has improved the response to all forms of hate crime, including disability hate crime.
Increases in police recorded hate crime are generally driven by improvements in crime recording and a better indication of what constitutes a hate crime. Recorded disability hate crime has increased in both Wales and England over the past three years.
This may be due to a genuine increase in these crimes, or due to police force improvements in their recording of offences and identification of what constitutes hate crime.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment has she made of the adequacy of financial support available to participants in the Ukraine Family Scheme compared to those participating in the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ukrainian nationals coming to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme are given the same access to work, benefits and public services as those coming here under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as laid down in Appendix Ukraine to the Immigration Rules, details of which can be found at:
Those sponsoring under the Ukraine Family Scheme are not required to provide accommodation. Therefore, the Government has not extended the £350 per month ‘thank you’ payment offered to those providing a home to refugees arriving in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine and Super Sponsor Schemes.
Sponsoring family members able to provide appropriate accommodation can choose to sponsor their family members under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme or Super Sponsor Schemes in order to become eligible for the ‘thank you’ payment.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of average time it currently takes to process and issue visas for non-Ukrainian nationals.
Answered by Kevin Foster
For applications not lodged under the Ukraine schemes, UKVI offers a range of service levels for applications which include Standard service (15 working days), Priority service (5 working days), and Super Priority service (next day) after a customer has provided their biometrics.
UKVI made a decision to prioritise the Ukraine Schemes following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Resources are now being returned to focus on visa routes impacted by these prioritisation decisions which should reduce the average processing times in due course. We continue to prioritise any urgent compelling or compassionate cases across all workstreams and are working to reduce the current processing times as quickly as possible.
For Standard applications lodged outside the UK, the current average processing time is as follows:
Further information can be found at Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and this is regularly updated.
For Standard applications lodged inside the UK, the current average processing times are not published though all routes are currently within the published service standards which are:
Further information is published at Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit’s Change Programme, what assessment she has made of the impact on animal welfare of (a) that programme and (b) the proposed decrease in in-person inspector visits to animal testing sites.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Each establishment licence holder has the responsibility at all times for the welfare of the animals within their establishment.
Establishment licence holders are required to have governance systems in place to ensure all Personal and Project Licence Holders comply with the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) and to maintain compliance with the conditions on their own establishment licence. These requirements are defined in the Standard Conditions of licences.
In July 2021 the regulator initiated a new operating model that delivers a structured and integrated framework aligned with leading regulatory practice. In October of this year the regulator commenced a new system of full system audits that form part of an integrated system to assess compliance across the regulated community.
The audit process and the evidence for assessment of compliance against the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and associated licence conditions, are available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-research-technical-advice#process-and-standards-for-establishment-full-system-audits
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2022 to Question 131268, on Police: Pepper Spray and Tasers, under what circumstances police officers are permitted to be in possession of (a) PAVa and (b) Conducted Energy Devices when they are (i) off duty and (ii) on call.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Decisions around equipping police officers, including the specific arrangements for carrying and storing equipment while off-duty and on call, are for operationally independent Chief Constables.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent guidance her Department has issued to police officers on the possession of (a) Pelargonic Acid Vannilylamide (PAVa) spray and (b) conducted energy devices (Taser) when they are (i) off duty and (ii) on call.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office has not issued guidance to police officers on the possession of PAVa and Conducted Energy Devices.
Guidance for police on operational matters, including equipment, is for Chief officers and/or the College of Policing to issue.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of travellers who have been unable to complete the passenger locator form for a return journey to the UK, in the context of there being a 48 hour window for people to complete that form before arriving in the UK, because they did not have access to the internet.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Current regulations require transport operators to check all passengers have completed the Passenger Locator Form (PLF) prior to departure to the UK.
We do not have specific data on the number of passengers that have not been able to complete the form because they did not have access to the internet.
However, from the assurance checks carried out by UK authorities there continues to be very high levels of compliance and the vast majority of travellers are meeting the UK’s health requirements for travel, including completion of the PLF before departure.
We engage closely with travel industry partners and operators and take onboard their feedback. As part of a wider review to reduce and simplify the PLF, we will also be extending the PLF completion window from 48 hours to three days from the end of February.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 who have been spiked through the use of injection needles in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each month since January 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Home Office does not collect figures for the number of people who have been spiked through the use of injection needles.
However, following the concerns raised about this new phenomenon last year, the Home Secretary has been receiving regular reports from the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). The NPCC has established a reporting mechanism to enable forces to report any reported incidences of needle-spiking to help us to gain a better understanding of the scale and nature of the problem.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to accelerate the activation of Emergency Area Service masts in Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Activation of all EAS sites is dependent on securing a transmission solution with a supplier. This is currently in progress and we expect to make this award towards the end of this year. Thereafter, we anticipate that all EAS sites will commence in April 2022 with all sites activated by the end of 2024. In Wales there are 86 EAS sites of which 35 are passive build complete and awaiting transmission and activation. These 35 sites will be part of the priority sites once the transmission contract has been secured. We need to follow government procurement processes fully in this award and are unable to accelerate this aspect of the process.