Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure documentation for children's passport applications are linked to their parents' documents sent as part of the application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Her Majesty’s Passport Office endeavours to associate documents to the relevant passport application as quickly as possible.
Where the same document is required to complete checks upon multiple applications, HM Passport Office is working to deliver further technical solutions to improve this process for both its customers and staff.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Homes for Ukraine visas were approved and awaiting a permission to travel letter to be sent from the dispatch team as of 1 June 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Information on the number of visas granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme can be found in our published data on the GOV.UK webpage: Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Information requested which is not contained within this published data is not routinely captured. To capture this would require a manual trawl of data and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many shortage occupation list vacancies have been filled by (a) refugees and (b) people entering the UK as part of a resettlement scheme in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government does not collect the information required to calculate the number of people with refugee status employed in the UK. Those granted refugee status in the UK have full, unrestricted, labour market access and are free to take employment without notifying the Home Office.
To capture numbers would require a manual trawl of data and to do so would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2022 to Question 847, on Asylum: Employment, how many asylum seekers have (a) applied for and (b) been accepted for permission to work or volunteer in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022; and what steps her Department is taking to promote vacancies on the shortage occupations list to asylum seekers.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office are unable to report how many asylum seekers have applied for and been accepted for permission to work in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as this information is not held in a reportable format or forms part of published data.
The Home Office do not track how many asylum seekers have applied to volunteer as they are able give their time for free to charitable or public sector organisations without any contractual obligation or entitlement. They are not employees or workers as defined by various statutory provisions. Further information can be found at: Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers (accessible version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Information on the shortage occupation list (SOL) is readily available in the public domain as part of the immigration rules: Immigration Rules - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2022 to Question 847, on Asylum: Employment, what steps her Department is taking to promote employment support to (a) refugees and b) people entering the UK as part of a resettlement scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection, as well as those arriving under one of the UK’s resettlement schemes, have immediate access to the labour market and welfare benefits. If in receipt of Universal Credit, they can receive employment support from the Department for Work and Pensions.
For those arriving through one of the UK’s resettlement schemes, the Home Office funds local and regional authorities to provide a package of support. As part of this, authorities are responsible for ensuring that arrivals are provided with a dedicated source of advice and support to assist with registering for mainstream benefits and services, including assistance with access to employment.
For those who were asylum seekers, we provide a further 28 days' support after the grant of refugee status to help with the transition to the mainstream benefits system. This Move-On service includes advice and assistance in relation to applying for Universal Credit and employment support.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of public opinion towards the Rwanda Asylum Agreement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Last year the Government launched an extensive and wide-reaching public consultation with stakeholders, relevant sectors and members of the public, including those with lived experiences, to inform the New Plan for Immigration. The findings from the consultation were carefully considered and the Government response was published on 22 July 2021.
A YouGov poll carried out last year found the majority of people (64%) thought the Government’s ‘New Plan for Immigration’ policies are fair and many agree that how someone enters the country should be taken into account in their asylum application.
Our Nationality and Borders Act has received Royal Assent last month and at the heart of this approach is fairness. The Act allows us to put in provisions to deter illegal entry to the UK, remove those with no right to be in the UK, and make the system more effective so that we can better protect and support those in genuine need of asylum.
YouGov conducted an independent poll on 14 April, the day that the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda was announced. The question posed was as follows:
The Government has proposed a deal where some people who have entered Britain and applied for asylum will be flown to Rwanda, in Africa, for their asylum applications to be processed. Do you support or oppose this proposal?
This snap poll indicated that 35% of the public supported the partnership, 42% opposed it, and a further 23% were unsure.
Source: YouGov poll of 2943 GB adults on 14 April 2022.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what risk assessment her Department plans to undertake of asylum seekers' vulnerabilities including (a) disabilities, (b) sexual orientation, (c) gender reassignment status, (d) mental trauma, (e) mental health and (f) physical health when determining eligibility for relocation to Rwanda.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office will continue to ensure that the welfare and dignity of all claimants forms a central platform of our decision-making processes.
An individualised assessment of each eligible person’s circumstances will be undertaken prior to any decision to relocate them to Rwanda. We would not relocate someone where it would be unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
Any vulnerabilities will be taken into consideration and every individual who is eligible for removal under this policy will be able to make representations where they are concerned the country in question would not be safe for them.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support his Department is providing for asylum seekers who are experiencing trauma and mental health issues (a) upon their arrival to the UK and (b) in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Asylum seekers have access to NHS health service.
All Home Office staff and contractors engaging with asylum seekers are trained to adopt a risk-based approach towards potential indications of vulnerability and to refer relevant cases onto the Safeguarding Hub, a dedicated resource assigned to identifying and safeguarding vulnerable asylum seekers.
The Safeguarding Hub works closely with the statutory agencies to signpost vulnerable customers for support with their health and social care needs.
We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24, the largest increase in mental health funding in NHS history.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that asylum seekers housed in bridging hotels have access to all items outlined in Section 4 of the Home Office Guide to Living in Asylum Accommodation.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Guide to Living in Asylum Accommodation sets out what is available for people being accommodated in asylum accommodation and who are eligible for asylum support. Those accommodated in bridging hotels have been evactuated from Afghanistan and are refugees with leave to remain in the country, they are not asylum seekers and therefore are not eligible for asylum support and so the guide does not apply to them.
In 2021 The UK Government undertook the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, helping over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan. Due to the scale and pace of the evacuation we were not able to source appropriate accommodation in the normal way, we therefore had to use bridging hotels as a temporary measure. In these hotels we provide 3 meals a day for residents. All arrivals received an Aspen Card with funds equivalent to those on Universal Credit (UC). The families/individuals will then apply for UC and Aspen Cards will be terminated.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
What plans she has to bring forward proposals to review the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government currently has no plans to review the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. We keep drug controls under review, in consultation with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Drugs Legislation forms part of our wider approach to preventing drug misuse alongside prevention and education, supporting treatment and recovery, and tackling the supply of illicit drugs.