Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6369 on Rural Payments Agency: Digital Mapping, how many and what proportion of people have been waiting for more than (a) three and (b) six months in (i) Mid Bedfordshire constituency and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no farm businesses waiting for more than three or six months in England for field boundary changes. The average time to complete processing is 13 days recognising that some changes are straightforward, and some take more time depending on the extent of the changes requested.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2024 to Question 11230 on Immigration: Personal Income, how many people on the current 10 year route to settlement will now have to meet a higher income threshold.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
People on the 10-year route to settlement do not need to meet an income threshold. Under Appendix FM, a partner, parent, or child can make an application for settlement on the basis of the five-year route where they meet the requirements of the rules, including where applicable the Minimum Income Requirement. Where those requirements are not met, but there are exceptional circumstances, then applicants may be granted permission to stay under the ten-year route to settlement.
Those on the ten-year route to settlement are able to switch back to re-commence the five-year route if they meet all of the requirements including, where relevant, the level of Minimum Income Requirement in place at the time they make their application.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps he has taken to (a) tackle off-road biking and (b) work with local authorities on this issue.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers to respond quickly and effectively to incidents of anti-social behaviour, including those that involve vehicles.
Last year we launched our Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, backed by £160 million of funding, which includes increased hotspot patrolling in areas experiencing high levels of anti-social behaviour.
How the police enforce off-road biking is an operational matter for the local chief officer, in conjunction with the Police and Crime Commissioner, based on local pressures and priorities.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of pavement parking on (a) people living with visual impairments and (b) wheelchair users.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local Authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. The Department consulted on additional measures to help councils across England tackle this problem.
The consultation asked specific questions around impairment and whether pavement parking had an impact on people leaving their homes.
We are currently working through the policy options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them and as soon as those matters are certain we will publish our formal response. The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish his response to his Department's consultation entitled Managing pavement parking, which closed on 22 November 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local Authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. The Department consulted on additional measures to help councils across England tackle this problem.
The consultation asked specific questions around impairment and whether pavement parking had an impact on people leaving their homes.
We are currently working through the policy options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them and as soon as those matters are certain we will publish our formal response. The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle pavement parking on a national level.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local Authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. The Department consulted on additional measures to help councils across England tackle this problem.
The consultation asked specific questions around impairment and whether pavement parking had an impact on people leaving their homes.
We are currently working through the policy options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them and as soon as those matters are certain we will publish our formal response. The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the transparency data entitled DCMS: Ministerial travel, 1 July to 30 September 2023, published on 15 December 2023, how much and what proportion of the £17,601.43 cost of the trip to Sydney between 17 August and 21 August 2023 was spent on air travel.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State’s trip to Australia was to represent the UK Government at the FIFA Women's World Cup, supporting the Lionesses in the final, as well as undertaking a number of engagements to support the UK's culture sector.
The cost of her return flight from London to Sydney was £11,845.41.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce processing times for decisions on the naturalisation of children.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Secretary of State’s Home Department publishes data on the processing of applications for British citizenship on the Gov.uk website. This includes performance against the service standard for completing applications. The most recent Migration Transparency Data published in November 2023 shows that 99.9% of straightforward applications were decided within service standard.
The link to the latest Migration Transparency Data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visas-and-citizenship-data-q3-2023.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's average processing time for reaching a decision on a naturalisation application was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Secretary of State’s Home Department publishes data on the processing of applications for British citizenship on the Gov.uk website. This includes performance against the service standard for completing applications. The most recent Migration Transparency Data published in November 2023 shows that 99.98% of straightforward applications were decided within service standard.
The link to the latest Migration Transparency Data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visas-and-citizenship-data-q3-2023.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the net migration measures announced in December 2023, whether changes to the minimum income thresholds will apply to people who are already on the 10 year route to settlement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The ten year route to settlement as a spouse is for those who cannot meet the core requirements of the family rules in Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules, but who have exceptional circumstances.
Those on the ten year route to settlement are able to switch back to the five year route to shorten their route to settlement, if they believe they are able to meet all of the core requirements. In such circumstances, applicants would be required to meet the new level of the Minimum Income Requirement in place at the time they make their application.