Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how visa applicants from the Occupied Palestinian Territories can contact HM Embassy Cairo for approval for exit at Rafah to facilitate (a) visa application interviews and (b) biometric processing at a visa application centre.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Visa Application Centres, where interviews and biometric processing take place, are open and operating in Egypt, in both Cairo and Alexandria, and an application can be started online at any time. British nationals travelling from Gaza to Egypt that require visas for their eligible dependents can apply online and then visit the Visa Application Centre in Cairo to provide their biometric details. In addition, existing UK visa holders who have a spouse/partner or a child aged 17 or under currently living in the UK and hold valid permission to enter or remain in the UK for longer than 6 months criteria can also contact the FCDO to request support to leave Gaza. Palestinians in Gaza who want to apply for a UK visa but are not a dependent of a British National are not currently eligible for our assistance. The FCDO Consular Contact Centre can be contacted on 020 7008 5000. Further advice on travelling to Egypt from Gaza is available at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/israel
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what checks Companies House carry out to ensure that businesses are not being registered fraudulently under incorrect addresses.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Registrar carries out checks to ensure filings are complete, but at present, she has limited powers to verify or validate the information which is delivered to her. Provided a document appears to be properly delivered, the Registrar must register it.
The Registrar will be given broader powers under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act so that she can become a more active gatekeeper over company registrations. This will include powers to check, challenge and refuse to register any information which is inaccurate or false whilst also ensuring any fraudulent addresses can be removed more easily.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help asylum seekers to integrate into their local communities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This Government’s priority is to focus our efforts and resources to support those who most need it. As not all of those who seek asylum are found to need international protection, integration resources are available to those granted permission to stay. Under the New Plan for Immigration, the Government committed to offering an enhanced integration package for refugees arriving through safe and legal routes.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to directly consult with (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees to understand where more integration support may be required.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All refugees and those granted protection in the UK should be able to fully integrate into life here and become self-sufficient, providing for themselves and their families, and contributing to the economy.
Refugees (those who have been granted asylum, humanitarian protection or temporary protection under the Immigration Rules), as well as individuals on our resettlement schemes with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK; have access to mainstream benefits and services to enable their integration; and we are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees.
Integration support is coordinated by local authorities, who are best placed to support the needs of those resettled in their area. The Home Office provides local authorities with a core tariff of £20,520 per person to cover resettlement and integration costs for those who arrive via refugee resettlement schemes, including the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). This tariff can be used flexibly by the local authorities to meet the integration needs of the refugees they are supporting.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the risk of homelessness for new refugees; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the move-on period before the withdrawal of Section 95 support.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Where an individual is given notice that their asylum claim has been granted, their appeal has been allowed or their asylum claim has been refused but they have been given leave to enter or remain, the prescribed period in legislation (or ‘move on’ period’) is 28 days. There has been no change to the prescribed period. Individuals remain on asylum support, including accommodation, until the end of the 28 day period.
During this period, the Home Office provides individuals who have received a positive decision to their asylum claim with support through Migrant Help and/or their partner organisations. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing. Individuals do not need to wait for their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) to make a claim for Universal Credit and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require it. Messaging to individuals is being reviewed to encourage them to plan to move on from asylum support as soon as they have received their decision.
The Home Office are ensuring our cross government partners, such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are sighted on data to enable them to consider the impacts of increased decision making and effectively plan. Additionally, the Home Office are working with DLUHC to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures. Accommodation providers are also working directly with local authorities to notify them when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.
The asylum accommodation estate is under huge strain and increasing the ‘move on’ period would exacerbate these pressures. There are no current plans to extend the period (of 28 days) for how long individuals remain on asylum support once they have had a grant of asylum. We are engaging the DWP and DLUHC to ensure individuals can move on from asylum support as smoothly as possible.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203866 on Letting Agents: Regulation, what his planned timescale is to respond to the recommendations from Lord Best's working group.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government continues to work with industry on improving best practice across the property agent sector.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill announced in the King’s Speech will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both freeholders and property managing agents. The Bill will also make it easier for leaseholders to take on management of their buildings themselves so that they can directly appoint or replace agents.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his Department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a Freedom of Information request which may include personal data held within it.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a Data Subject Access Request which may include personal data held within it.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his Department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a question to the Secretary of State or other Minister in the Department.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce the time taken to diagnose people with bipolar disorder.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing £2.3 billion extra funding a year in expanding and transforming mental health services by March 2024, enabling an extra two million people, including people with bipolar disorder, to be treated by mental health services within the National Health Service.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are also expanding community mental health services. This includes new integrated community models for adults with severe mental illness including bipolar disorder. These new models are still in the early stages, and will take time to embed nationally, but will give at least 370,000 adults greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities by March 2024.
The Department also provided an additional £500 million in 2021/22 to accelerate our expansion plans and help address waiting times for mental health services. The NHS is also working towards implementing five new waiting time standards for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, to ensure timely access to the most appropriate, high-quality support.