Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 125286 on Visas: Married People, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the Minimum Income Requirement on levels of (a) family and (b) spousal separation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) was implemented in July 2012, following advice from the Migration Advisory Committee, reflecting the income at which a British family could no longer access income-related benefits. It was introduced to ensure family migrants are supported at a reasonable level, do not become a burden on the taxpayer and can participate sufficiently in everyday life to facilitate their integration into British society.
The level of the MIR has not increased since it was introduced in 2012.
The Home Office considers the impact on families, particularly children, in the review and implementation of all its policies.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many National Crime Agency officers were working on the issue of missing child asylum seekers as of 25 January 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
For security reasons, we do not disclose how many staff are working on an issue at a given time. The National Police Chiefs Council, Home Office Immigration and Border Force are focused on the missing child asylum seekers. The Home Office is working closely with policing and local authorities.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to increase the Minimum Income Requirement for spousal visas.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) was implemented in July 2012, following advice from the Migration Advisory Committee, reflecting the income at which a British family could no longer access income-related benefits. It was introduced to ensure family migrants are supported at a reasonable level, do not become a burden on the taxpayer and can participate sufficiently in everyday life to facilitate their integration into British society.
We keep all our immigration routes under review.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of cancer among firefighters.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The health and safety of firefighters is of great importance and employers must be mindful of the academic research in this area.
Fire and Rescue Authorities are responsible for the health and safety of their employees. It is for individual fire and rescue authorities, as employers with responsibility for health and wellbeing, to ensure that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need to safely respond to the wide range of incidents which they attend. This includes working conditions inside fire stations where there are strict requirements for decontamination of personal protective equipment following incidents.
The Home Office will be studying and considering this report carefully.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual reports 2019 to 2021, published on 26 October, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the incidence of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in laboratories.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Establishments conducting research are regularly inspected, with both announced and unannounced inspections carried out by inspectors to ensure compliance with their licences and the legislation.
The regulator’s compliance policy explains how it identifies and investigates potential incidents of non-compliance and decides on appropriate and proportionate measures aimed to minimise the risk of recurrence. It is available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to issue travel documents to children born to parents on a British National Overseas visa in the UK so that they do not have to enter Chinese consulate grounds.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not have plans to issue travel documents to children of parents on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route or to Hong Kong residents born after 1997 who hold a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport.
Individuals arriving in the UK must produce a valid passport with a photograph or some other document which satisfactorily establishes their identity and nationality, if required to do so by a Border Force officer. Individuals who wish to travel outside the UK will need to comply with the entry requirements of the country they wish to enter, which may require a valid travel document to establish their identity and nationality.
It remains the case that those who hold a HKSAR passport and wish to travel to or from the UK will need to renew that passport or arrange for alternative documentation. The UK cannot assist with the renewal of passports of other nationalities.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to issue travel documents to Hong Kong residents who were born after 1997 and hold a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport so they do not have to step onto Chinese consulate grounds to renew their documentation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not have plans to issue travel documents to children of parents on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route or to Hong Kong residents born after 1997 who hold a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport.
Individuals arriving in the UK must produce a valid passport with a photograph or some other document which satisfactorily establishes their identity and nationality, if required to do so by a Border Force officer. Individuals who wish to travel outside the UK will need to comply with the entry requirements of the country they wish to enter, which may require a valid travel document to establish their identity and nationality.
It remains the case that those who hold a HKSAR passport and wish to travel to or from the UK will need to renew that passport or arrange for alternative documentation. The UK cannot assist with the renewal of passports of other nationalities.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to counter Iranian government disinformation in the UK.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Misinformation and disinformation can come from a range of sources, but we know that certain states routinely use disinformation as a foreign policy tool. The UK – along with our G7 and NATO partners, is working hard to protect our democracies against disinformation. DCMS holds overall HM Government policy responsibility for counter-disinformation and is the convening department for the Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit, bringing together cross-government monitoring and analysis capabilities.
DCMS also closely with social media platforms to help them identify and take action to remove disinformation, in line with their revised terms and conditions, and to promote authoritative sources of information. Home Office are supporting DCMS in their response to countering disinformation, including through engagement with platforms.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that Russian oligarchs who sold assets prior to sanctioning by the UK Government are held to account.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We, working under an FCDO-led designation regime, have sanctioned an unprecedented and world-leading number of oligarchs linked to the Kremlin-regime with implementation of financial sanctions led by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in HM Treasury and criminal investigations led by the National Crime Agency.
We have established a Combatting Kleptocracy Cell in the NCA which will target corrupt oligarchs and their associates through their assets hidden in the UK, target the professional enablers of these corrupt oligarchs and support HMG sanctions delivery and enforcement.
The UK is also working with international partners to ensure there is nowhere for dirty Russian money to hide, including through the Russian Elites Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force, which brings together international partners to ensure the effective enforcement of financial sanctions implemented against Kremlin-linked elites and entities.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March to Question 126597 on Animal and Plant Health Agency: UK Border Force, if she will update Members on the effectiveness of the Service Level Agreement between Border Force and the Animal and Plant Health Agency following its three month initial assessment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The introduction of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between Border Force and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) commenced at 09:00 on the 24 January 2022 and the agreement has been reviewed.
During the review period, all detections have been dealt with at the port and there have been no incidents of Border Force securing information and releasing the animals for APHA inland action.
Border Force and APHA have reviewed the process and the SLA will remain in place for all but exceptional cases and will continue to monitor its effectiveness on a regular basis.