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 17 June 2021 to question 15183 on General Register Office: Internet, what the evidential basis is for her assessment that the service issue has had no significant impact upon the public when registering life events; and what steps she plans to take in response to the letter from the National Panel for Registration detailing the negative effect on the mental health of registrars as a result of that service service disruption.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The General Register Office has acknowledged following introduction of new functionality in May, there has been performance issues around printing causing some disruption across the local registration service (as outlined in our response to PQ 15183).
However, this has not significantly impacted the public’s ability to register life events as evidenced by the numbers of registrations continuing to take place, helped considerably by some parts of the registration service amending their processes where required.
In response to the letter from the National Panel for Registration, a letter was sent to all Proper Officers in England and Wales on 18 June outlining the plans to stabilise and improve the performance of the registration online system (RON).
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 determine when the three-year-old daughter of Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei is planned to receive a (a) biometric identification card and (b) response to her citizenship application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
Applications received by the Home Office are considered in accordance with UKVI customer service standards which is 6 months for standard applications.
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 she is taking to ensure that the General Register Office’s registration website (RON) is fit for purpose.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Following the recent introduction of new functionality there has been some intermittent system disruption for local registrars. This will be resolved as soon as possible.
The majority of the system continues to work as expected, and this issue has had no significant impact upon the public when registering life events.
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 people seeking asylum were in employment in 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Casework systems do not allow us to report on the number of permission to work requests received from asylum seekers or the number subsequently granted permission. Obtaining these figures would require a manual trawl of cases amounting to disproportionate time and cost.
The Home Office does not keep track of how many asylum seekers are in employment.
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 asylum applicants were granted permission to work in the UK in 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Casework systems do not allow us to report on the number of permission to work requests received from asylum seekers or the number subsequently granted permission. Obtaining these figures would require a manual trawl of cases amounting to disproportionate time and cost.
The Home Office does not keep track of how many asylum seekers are in employment.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on prioritising police officers in the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government recognise that police officers are playing a vital role helping to control the spread of coronavirus while continuing to keep criminals off our streets. In protecting the public, they put themselves at risk to keep us all safe, and we have seen that courage and professionalism continue throughout the pandemic.
The current priority list, produced by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), targets those assessed to be at the greatest risk of dying from coronavirus. In line with this advice those being vaccinated first are people in care homes, the elderly, those with underlying health conditions and frontline health workers. Under phase 2 of the Vaccine Delivery Plan the JCVI may include key public services and occupations with a high-risk exposure to the virus like police officers who have frequent close contact with members of the public. Conversations are continuing in line with developments.
Those over 50, and all adults in an exposure risk group, will then also be eligible for vaccination in the early phase of the programme. This already includes members of the police.
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 27 November 2020 to Question 119191, if she will provide refunds for payments of the immigration health surcharge made prior to 31 March 2020 by people working in the (a) health and (b) care sector.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Following the announcement in May that health and care workers would no longer be required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, the policy was backdated to 31 March to bring it in line with the introduction of visa extensions for health and care workers.
Health and care workers who paid the health surcharge to cover the period from 31 March 2020 onwards may be eligible for a refund. Refunds will not be made for the period prior to 31 March 2020.
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 the potential merits of providing refunds for payments of the immigration health surcharge made by people working in the (a) health and (b) care sector prior to 31 March 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Health and care workers who paid the health surcharge to cover the period from 31 March 2020 onwards, may be eligible for a refund. This includes those who were working in the health and care sector before that date.
More information on this policy can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/refunds
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 the potential merits of introducing emergency payments to (a) sex workers and (b) women in crisis during the covid-19 outbreak to help protect (i) the health and wellbeing of sex workers and their families and (ii) public health.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We understand that those who are vulnerable and involved in selling sex and women in crisis can face a number of challenges that affect their ability to access services particularly during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government is providing £76m to charities and organisations throughout the country to support victims of modern slavery, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Of this, the Ministry of Justice is providing £25m to support sexual violence and domestic abuse services through Covid 19 pressures. A further £3m per annum until 2022 will also be invested in the recruitment of more Independent Sexual Violence Advisors across the country. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is providing £10m for safe accommodation services.
Healthcare services remain open including general practice, drug and alcohol, and sexual health services. Whilst they have reduced face to face appointments, some services are able to see urgent, priority or vulnerable clients (including sex workers) seeking support where necessary.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to reopen registry offices to enable registration of an intention to marry.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The local registration service in England has been advised that they can open to take notices of intention to marry where these can be safely delivered in line with public health and local authority guidelines. Restrictions in Wales have not yet been lifted.