Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing more integration support for Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities will continue to receive the £5,900 per person tariff payment to support our Ukrainian guests. We are also working across Government to identify other ways to unblock barriers, helping Ukrainians access employment, commensurate with their skill set, liaising with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who encourage their employer and the Refugee Employment networks to advertise job vacancies. In addition, Job Centre Plus teams also help guests with much needed CV Writing and Interview skills courses.
Ukrainians with work related qualifications are directed to the UK National Information Centre (UK ENIC) for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills, as well as signposting to the relevant professional regulators, all of which is available as comprehensive guidance on GOV.UK.
For specific healthcare and education roles, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) have provided pathways for Ukrainians, to help them understand what they need to do to work in these sectors, also available on GOV.UK.
We recognise through engagement with guests, other Government departments, local councils, VCS organisations and sponsors that English language skills is one of the main barriers to employment, and wider integration. The UK Government is funding STEP Ukraine which is a completely free, virtual 12-week English language and employment support programme for Ukrainians in the UK. Thousands of Ukrainians have already benefited from STEP Ukraine, achieving improved job prospects and English language skills whilst here in the UK.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward secondary legislation under the Elections Act 2022 to implement his policies on overseas voting.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The secondary legislation to deliver the overseas electors change is expected to be made and come into force in January 2024.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward secondary legislation under the Elections Act 2022 to implement his policies on overseas voting.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The secondary legislation to deliver the overseas electors change is expected to be made and come into force in January 2024.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the importance of responding to members of the public in an effective and timely manner, and the Cabinet Office published an updated Guide to Handling Correspondence for government departments and agencies in July 2021.
The guidance reasserts the standards for handling correspondence, including a 20 working day deadline for departments to respond to members of the public, criteria outlining when a response to a member of the public is required, and when a piece of correspondence from a member of the public should be transferred to another department. Following publication of the updated guidance, all departments have been reminded that they must follow the processes outlined in the guidance.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps his Department is taking to tackle antisemitism.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Anti-semitism must be understood for what it is – racism against Jewish people. There can be no excuses for anti-semitism. My Department has led the way across government in tackling anti-semitism, as my Rt Hon Friend, Sajid Javid, highlighted in this House on 17 April. This requires actions, not just words, as this government is doing.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department's revised planned expenditure is for 2015-16 following the recent transfer of responsibility for fire and rescue services to the Home Department.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 5 January, HCWS448. The Department’s Budget will be updated as part of the Supplementary Estimates process.