Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum were in Home Office hotel accommodation as of 24 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As of the 24 January 2024, there were no children accommodated in the remaining UASC hotel.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with his Irish counterpart on trends in irregular migration flows via Irish ports in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has discussed migration with the Irish Department of Justice on several occasions over the last 12 months, including on matters relating to irregular migration trends via Ireland.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department carried out an equality impact assessment on the recent proposed changes to visa salary thresholds.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process. A fact sheet and an initial assessment on the impact of the changes on immigration can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.
A full Regulatory Impact Assessment on these changes will be developed and the Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change, both in due course.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed changes to visa salary thresholds on individuals living in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process. A fact sheet and an initial assessment on the impact of the changes on immigration can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.
A full Regulatory Impact Assessment on these changes will be developed and the Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change, both in due course.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of people fined under article 2 of the Immigration (Employment of Adults Subject to Immigration Control) Order 2008 for each year since it came into force.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The link to the transparency data can be found here, and covers the period 2016 to September 2023: Immigration Enforcement data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Right to Work statistics can be found on tab CP02 and Right to Rent statistics can be found on tab CP03.
The data for 2023 only includes the published data covering the period January to September.
The information within the transparency data refers to the total numbers of entities who have received a civil penalty, rather than “the number of people fined”. For employment, this could mean a limited company, a sole trader, or a franchise. For renting, an entity could include a landlord or a letting agency.
It is possible that some entities have been fined on more than one occasion.
Data prior to 2016 does not exist in the same reportable format.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of people fined under section (a) 23(2) and (b) 25(4) of the Immigration Act 2014 for each year since the Act came into force.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The link to the transparency data can be found here, and covers the period 2016 to September 2023: Immigration Enforcement data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Right to Work statistics can be found on tab CP02 and Right to Rent statistics can be found on tab CP03.
The data for 2023 only includes the published data covering the period January to September.
The information within the transparency data refers to the total numbers of entities who have received a civil penalty, rather than “the number of people fined”. For employment, this could mean a limited company, a sole trader, or a franchise. For renting, an entity could include a landlord or a letting agency.
It is possible that some entities have been fined on more than one occasion.
Data prior to 2016 does not exist in the same reportable format.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visas submitted to the Visa Application Centre in Khartoum before its closure in April have not been processed.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not routinely publish visa application data by Visa Application Centre location. Entry Clearance Visas - Summary Tables for year ending September 2023 can be found here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We continue to assist customers applying from Sudan by offering flexibility with arranging appointments, collection of passports from third country VAC locations or courier of passports to third country residential addresses.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 6 December 2023 on Signing of the Rwanda Treaty [HCWS101], what his timescale is for beginning relocation of asylum seekers to Rwanda; and what plans he has for accommodating asylum seekers who are not relocated to Rwanda in the next five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The process of relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda will begin after the Treaty and the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill comes into force after having progressed through Parliament. The Treaty has been laid before Parliament under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the procedures under that Act must be complied with before the Treaty can be ratified and come into force.
Individuals whose asylum claims are declared inadmissible may be able to obtain support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 if they would otherwise be destitute. Certain individuals may also be able to obtain support under sections 98 and 95 of this Act. Such support may include accommodation.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow 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 impact of introducing a humanitarian travel visa on the level of small boat crossings.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from individuals overseas who might like to come here.
Those in need of immediate protection should take the fastest route to safety and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. Individuals should not put their lives at risk by leaving manifestly safe countries with well-functioning asylum systems and make unnecessary and dangerous onward journeys to the UK.
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for those who need it. Our focus is on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability, and we believe that our resettlement programmes are the best way to provide much needed support. Between 2015 and September 2023, over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will list (a) the visa categories for which the average processing time was longer than the agreed customer service standard and (b) the number of people waiting for their visa application to be processed in each of those categories on 13 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Detailed information on UK Visas and Immigration's performance against all of its customer service standards across different immigration routes is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/visa-processing-times.
UKVI are currently within their service standards on the overwhelming majority of visa applications.