Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the report by Public Health Scotland entitled Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland, published on 27 June 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government notes the recent outcome report from Public Health Scotland.
The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence with interest.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State the Home Department, if his Department will (a) develop a definition of trauma-informed in relation to the delivery of public services to (i) women and (ii) girls and (b) publish a toolkit explaining the implications of that definition.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Trauma informed practice is an innovative intervention to help frontline workers recognise and respond to trauma in the people they work with. It encourages a public health approach and effective multi-agency working, addresses barriers to accessing support, and reduces the potential for re-traumatisation.
The Department of Health and Social Care published their Women’s Health Strategy in July 2022, and committed to publishing a definition of trauma informed practice for use in the health and social care sector.
The Department of Health and Social Care published the working definition of trauma informed practice in November 2022, which provides the health and social care sector with a consistent foundation on which to build trauma-informed practice into their services and systems.
To better understand the potential impact of taking a trauma informed approach, the Home Office is providing up to £4m towards the Youth Endowment Fund’s (YEF) trauma informed practice grant round.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to ensure that information on constituency cases provided to the offices of hon. and Rt hon. members is useful.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Information provided to MPs on constituency cases is taken from case working systems, contributions from the relevant business area and agreed policy lines were applicable.
We have a robust assurance process to ensure the quality of responses remains high.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has taken recent steps to end the use of the false swim test.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office welcomes the recent advice from the Government’s independent advisory body, the Animals in Science Committee, on the use of the forced swim test. The report and its recommendations are being carefully considered, and the Home Office will respond in due course.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Hospitality UK on the potential impact of the immigration fees introduced in October 2023 on the recruitment of (a) chefs, (b) hotel staff and (c) other staff in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is little evidence that fee increases to date have significantly affected demand on work routes.
The Home Office keeps fees under review and publish impact assessments when we make fee changes in legislation, which evaluate potential behavioural impacts on prospective applicants. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been published and analyses the potential impact on migration, broken down by visa product and delineated on applications made in and out of country: The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk).
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Hospitality UK on the potential impact of increasing the minimum income threshold for visas on the recruitment of (a) chefs, (b) hotel staff and (c) other staff in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and which will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of harm reduction units for the use of drug taking in a safe environment.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The term ‘harm reduction units for the use of drug taking in a safe environment’ refers to what are often more commonly known as Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs).
The Government does not support DCRs. We have been clear that we have concerns about the potential for these facilities to appear to condone drug use and to encourage the continued illicit supply of drugs. They will not be introduced in England and Wales. While we remain open to considering any new evidence, the evidence available to date has informed the current policy position.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to delay the implementation of the Government's proposed measures to restrict the ability for international students to bring family members to the UK on student visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government’s measure to further restrict the right for international students to bring dependants to the UK, came into effect for courses starting from 1 January 2024.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the cost to policing of alcohol abuse.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to reducing alcohol-related crime.
A 2012 calculation estimated that alcohol related harm costs society £21bn a year. However, we have not calculated an estimate of the cost to policing of alcohol abuse.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department takes to ensure that an equivalent test is not available without the use of animals before issuing a licence for animal experimentation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The use of animals in scientific procedures is only authorised by the Home Office Regulator where there is clear scientific benefit, to people, animals, or the environment, and only when all aspects of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have been fulfilled.
Licence applicants are required to robustly evidence their consideration of alternative methods. The Regulator reviews all licence applications and will only issue a licence once it is satisfied there are no practicable alternative methods.