Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is offering to (a) former Hong Kong elected district councillors and (b) pro-democracy party leadership figures who have been waiting for a decision on an asylum application.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis in line with published policy including those raised by Hong Kong nationals.
Individuals from Hong Kong may also be able to apply for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route which reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their ties to the UK by taking up BN(O) status before Hong Kong’s handover to China. To be eligible, applicants must have BN(O) status, or be the eligible family member of someone with BN(O) status.
In November 2022, the BN(O) route was expanded to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders, aged 18 or over and who were born on or after 1 July 1997 to apply to the route independently. As of 31 March 2023, a total of 166,420 applications to the BN(O) route have been granted since its introduction.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applied for a renewal of limited leave to remain with a request for a discretionary grant of indefinite leave to remain under the five-year route to settlement concession outside of the Immigration Rules between 21 October 2021 and 19 June 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of people applying for renewal of limited leave to remain with a request for a discretionary grant of indefinite leave to remain under the five-year route to settlement concession outside of the Immigration Rules between 21 October 2021 and 19 June 2022 does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
However, the transparency data and migration statistics do include a range of processing data relating to family visas and can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration entitled An inspection of the Home Office’s processing of family visas, September 2021 to February 2022, published on 18 October 2022, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who fall into irregular status due to the absence of a fee waiver for indefinite leave to remain applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of people who fall into irregular status due to the absence of a fee waiver for indefinite leave to remain applications does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a fee waiver for indefinite leave to remain applications for young people on the five-year route to settlement under the Immigration Rules Appendix Private Life who can demonstrate that they cannot afford the fee after meeting essential living costs.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The right to stay indefinitely is one of the most valuable entitlements offered for those seeking to enter or remain in the UK, and it is right that the fee should be higher than most for migrants staying temporarily in the UK.
A grant of indefinite leave to remain is not necessary to enable people to remain in the UK on the basis of their Article 8 or other ECHR rights, as these can be met through a grant of limited leave to remain. The provision of an affordability-based waiver for limited leave on family and private life routes allows an individual or family to remain here lawfully, and to then apply for settlement and pay the fee when the funds become available. As such, there are no plans to waive the fee for indefinite leave to remain.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Minister for Immigration plans to respond to the letter from We Belong, delivered to her Department on 19 April 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The letter of 19 April 2023 has been received by the Home Office and a response will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to respond to the Children’s Commissioner’s letter of 5 April 2023 requesting information on unaccompanied child refugees who have been accommodated in hotels by her Department since July 2021.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Home Office officials continue to work collaboratively with the Children’s Commissioner’s Office in response to this request for information. We have introduced weekly meetings to provide the Children’s Commissioner’s office with progress updates directly and I have personally met with the Children’s Commissioner twice. We will continue to work through the required legislative and legal processes to ensure this request is managed in the right way which is essential when answering a request of this sensitivity and size.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect (a) parliamentarians and (b) political refugees from China from state-sponsored cyber attacks by China.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government continually assesses potential threats in the UK, and takes protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously. The Home Office works closely with its partners to protect people identified as being at risk, and to ensure the UK is a safe and welcoming place for those who choose to settle here.
All attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce was established last year to help protect the democratic integrity of the UK from foreign interference.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to require an applicant’s sex at birth to be displayed on a DBS certificate.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The purpose of a criminal record certificate issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is to assist employers and others to make safer recruitment decisions by providing details of an individual’s criminal history. A criminal record certificate will include the individual’s gender and any other names that they may have used in the past.
The DBS also offers a sensitive applications route which takes into account both the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010. This gives transgender applicants the choice not to have any gender or name information disclosed on their DBS certificate that could reveal their previous gender identity.
Those applying via the sensitive applications route are required by law to provide all name details to the DBS, including any previous identity, in the same way as applicants using the mainstream route. The criminal record certificate issued by the DBS will contain exactly the same criminal record information as a certificate obtained via the main route, including any relevant convictions, cautions or other information dating from when the applicant had a different gender identity.s
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that the Disclosure and Barring Service is notified when a registered sex offender changes their gender.
Answered by Sarah Dines
All applicants for criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) are required to sign a legal declaration confirming that they have disclosed both their current and previous identities. The DBS has systems in place, including working with HM Passport Office and the police, to verify identity and detect previous cautions and convictions an applicant may hold, including those obtained under a previous identity. Police forces supply all relevant nominal data to DBS to ensure that checks are as complete and robust as possible.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to require all of an applicant’s previous names to be displayed on a DBS certificate.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The purpose of a criminal record certificate issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is to assist employers and others to make safer recruitment decisions by providing details of an individual’s criminal history. A criminal record certificate will include the individual’s gender and any other names that they may have used in the past.
The DBS also offers a sensitive applications route which takes into account both the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010. This gives transgender applicants the choice not to have any gender or name information disclosed on their DBS certificate that could reveal their previous gender identity.
Those applying via the sensitive applications route are required by law to provide all name details to the DBS, including any previous identity, in the same way as applicants using the mainstream route. The criminal record certificate issued by the DBS will contain exactly the same criminal record information as a certificate obtained via the main route, including any relevant convictions, cautions or other information dating from when the applicant had a different gender identity.s