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 family reunion decisions did not meet the 60 working days service standard in 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government’s refugee family reunion policy provides a safe and legal route to bring families together.
Information regarding processing times and nationality of applicants is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications. We are reviewing processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to our customers.
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 family reunion applications have not been processed as of 14 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government’s refugee family reunion policy provides a safe and legal route to bring families together.
Information regarding processing times and nationality of applicants is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications. We are reviewing processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to our customers.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what his policy is on the relationship between Somalia and Somaliland; and what account that policy takes of the positions of the (a) United States and (b) African Union.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK, alongside others in the international community, does not recognise Somaliland's unilateral declaration of independence. The constitutional settlement between Somaliland and Somalia is not for the UK to decide. It is for Somalia and Somaliland to come to an agreement about their future relationship and we encourage dialogue on this issue.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to monitor the number of UK citizens travelling to Somaliland for the purpose of fighting in the region.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO advises against all travel to the Somaliland regions of Toghdeer, Sanaag, and Sool. We advise British Nationals in Somaliland to leave any area of unrest quickly. Our ability to provide consular support in Somalia, including Somaliland, is very limited. Should any British Nationals travel to Somaliland to fight, or to assist others engaged in the conflict, their activities may amount to offences under UK legislation and they could be prosecuted upon return to the UK.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken with the national working group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith on tackling spiritual and ritualistic abuse.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Working Group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief has been renamed as the National Working Group on Abuse Linked to Accusations of Witchcraft and Spirit Possession. It is independent and the department is invited as an observer.
The government is determined to protect children from this abuse, as from any other form of abuse. Where there are concerns that any child is at risk of, or has suffered significant harm, these should be reported to the police or to local authority children’s social care who should take action to safeguard and promote their welfare, following the actions outlined in the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance.
In the Children in Need statistics for the year ending 31 March 2023 published in October 2023, faith-based abuse was identified as an assessment factor in 2,140 episodes of need. Episodes of need are when a child is referred to children’s social care services and is assessed as being in need of children’s social care services. It should be noted that not all episodes of need have assessment factors recorded, but this has improved over time. Nonetheless, there can be differences in the recording practices between local authorities. Therefore, this data should be treated with caution and should not be taken to represent the national prevalence of particular issues.
The government’s ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, published on 2 February 2023, set out plans to reform children’s social care, including a commitment to deliver a decisive, multi-agency child protection system for all children.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the trends in the level of reports of spiritual and ritualistic abuse against children since 2017.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Working Group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief has been renamed as the National Working Group on Abuse Linked to Accusations of Witchcraft and Spirit Possession. It is independent and the department is invited as an observer.
The government is determined to protect children from this abuse, as from any other form of abuse. Where there are concerns that any child is at risk of, or has suffered significant harm, these should be reported to the police or to local authority children’s social care who should take action to safeguard and promote their welfare, following the actions outlined in the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance.
In the Children in Need statistics for the year ending 31 March 2023 published in October 2023, faith-based abuse was identified as an assessment factor in 2,140 episodes of need. Episodes of need are when a child is referred to children’s social care services and is assessed as being in need of children’s social care services. It should be noted that not all episodes of need have assessment factors recorded, but this has improved over time. Nonetheless, there can be differences in the recording practices between local authorities. Therefore, this data should be treated with caution and should not be taken to represent the national prevalence of particular issues.
The government’s ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, published on 2 February 2023, set out plans to reform children’s social care, including a commitment to deliver a decisive, multi-agency child protection system for all children.
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 child deaths as a result of spiritual and ritualistic abuse have been recorded in each year since 2011.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office Homicide Index holds detailed information on the homicides of children recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, it is not possible to tell from this information whether the death was the result of spiritual or ritualistic abuse.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of funding announced for NHS services in 2023 will be spent on child health services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As the financial year has not yet concluded, outturn data on National Health Service spending in 2023/2024 is not yet available. The Government is committed to ensuring that babies, children, and young people are prioritised in integrated care systems, and that the reforms in the Health and Care Act 2022 to improve child health and wellbeing outcomes are delivered on the ground.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce elective backlogs in child health services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to action the Delivery Plan for Tackling the COVID-19 Backlog of Elective Care, aiming to reduce the number of patients waiting over a year for treatment, including for child health services.
The Department and the National Health Service are committed to ensuring that babies, children, and young people are prioritised in integrated care systems, and that reforms in the Health and Care Act 2022 aiming to improve child health and wellbeing outcomes are delivered on the ground.
To join up work, NHS England has established a National Children and Young People Elective Recovery Delivery Group, bringing together the national Elective Recovery Programme, the Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme and other stakeholders. The group to accelerate progress and ensure the recovery of paediatric services keeps pace with recovery of adult elective care.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether senior officials from his Department have travelled to China since January 2019.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes, senior officials have travelled to China since January 2019.