Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the then Minister for Immigration of 17 October 2023, Official Report, column 54WH, what recent progress the Government has made on establishing a specific route to family reunion for Afghan nationals who are family members of individuals resettled to the UK under pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under Pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited in the first half of this year.
Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish details on the (a) level of financial and (b) other incentives his Department plans to offer to asylum seekers to encourage them to voluntarily relocate to Rwanda.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Voluntary relocation to Rwanda builds on our already widely used voluntary returns scheme – details of this can be found at the following link:- Voluntary and assisted departures.docx (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department holds information on illegal working via the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The HO holds some information in relation to individuals who rent profiles on food delivery apps. However, we do not routinely publish the information you have requested and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has had discussions with representatives of food delivery companies on the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Government is engaging constructively with food delivery platforms, calling on them to end the use of unverified substitution. Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration and leads to the exploitation of workers.
In November 2023, the Home Office secured agreement from the firms to strengthen their recruitment and on-boarding processes, in order to prevent unchecked sharing of accounts.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/food-delivery-companies-urged-to-end-unchecked-account-sharing.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to regulate the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Government is engaging constructively with food delivery platforms, calling on them to end the use of unverified substitution. Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration and leads to the exploitation of workers.
In November 2023, the Home Office secured agreement from the firms to strengthen their recruitment and on-boarding processes, in order to prevent unchecked sharing of accounts.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/food-delivery-companies-urged-to-end-unchecked-account-sharing.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusions of the Independent Review of the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, relating to protection of employment rights of migrant workers in private households, if he will (a) review and (b) reverse changes to the rules for that visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Independent Review the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, what the Government's policy is on the implementation of proposed changes in that review to the overseas domestic worker visa rules that have not yet been implemented.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department last reviewed the potential risk of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers under the overseas domestic worker visa rules.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allegations of (a) sexual assault, (b) physical assault and (c) harassment by staff have been made by detainees in detention centres in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
We operate a comprehensive complaints process in immigration removal centres, residential and non-residential short-term holding facilities (STHFs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and during escort. Complaints are managed in line with published guidance ‘Handling complaints in immigration removal centres’ - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and are recorded under predetermined categories; service complaints, minor misconduct complaints or serious misconduct complaints.
Data on the overall number of complaints received in each category is included in published data at Customer service operations data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visa applicants that used the (a) priority and (b) super priority service were (i) granted a visa and (ii) refunded due to missed deadlines in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release).
Data on visa applicants using the Priority and Super Priority services can be found in VSI_02 of the Visa and Citizenship Transparency data (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk.) The latest data relates to Q4 2023 (October to December).
Information on the number of applicants refunded due to missed deadlines is not published or held in a reportable format.