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Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the progress of the Windrush compensation scheme.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The victims of the Windrush scandal suffered terrible injustices, and this Government remains steadfast in our commitment to do everything in our power to right the wrongs. We are determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled at the earliest point possible. The Windrush Compensation Scheme is making significant progress towards achieving this aim. As at the end of May 2023 the scheme had paid or offered more than £75 million in compensation and over 66% of claims received by the end of May 2023 had been given a final decision.

Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected communities and stakeholders about how the Scheme operates and its accessibility. The changes made to the Scheme in December 2020 and August 2022, mean people receive significantly more money more quickly. Last year redesigned claim forms were published along with refreshed casework guidance, with the aim of reducing the time taken to process claims and improving individuals’ experiences of applying to the Scheme. Changes were also made to the Homelessness category and a new ‘Living Costs’ category was created, to compensate close family members for certain contributions to a primary claimant’s living costs. These significant and positive policy changes were made following consultation with claimants and stakeholders.


Written Question
Asylum: Hotels
Thursday 16th March 2023

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provision is being made for the education of and the disruption caused to children from asylum seeking families who are moved to hotel accommodation.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Irrespective of where “school aged” asylum seeking children are housed, the responsibility for the provision of education remains with the Local Authority in conjunction with the parent(s). When dispersal accommodation is identified a dispersal notification is issued which generally provides 5 days’ notice to the family. For those children of service users who are due to be dispersed there is a responsibility on the parent to ensure that their childrens’ school is advised they are due to move. Where necessary, accommodation providers will signpost and assist asylum seekers with this.

In terms of the new receiving school, it remains the responsibility of the asylum seeker to ensure that the new school is advised of their child’s previous place of education so effective ‘link up’ can be made by both schools, as is the case for the general population. Accommodation providers reiterate the importance of this when signposting asylum seekers to schools within the local area. Receiving councils will work quickly to ensure that available school places are offered to the children of asylum seekers.


Written Question
Naturalisation
Wednesday 21st December 2022

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for naturalisation as a British citizen her Department received by the applicant's country of origin in each year between 2017 and 2021; and how many and what proportion of these applicants were (a) granted naturalisation within (i) six months, (ii) 12 months and (iii) two years, (b) refused naturalisation and (c) are awaiting a decision on their application.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes UK data on applications, grants, and refusals of British Nationality in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on applications and grants of British Citizenship, by year and nationality, are published in tables Cit_D01 and Cit_D02 of the Citizenship detailed data tables dataset. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022.

The Home Office also publishes data on naturalisation applications made and completed each quarter as part of the Transparency data series. This includes performance against the six-month service standard for completing applications. The most recent data set was published on 24 November 2022 and can be found here: Transparency data: Visas and Citizenship Q3 2022


Written Question
British Nationality: Iran
Monday 19th December 2022

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the level of threat posed by Iran to British nationals.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

On 16th November, the Director General of MI5 outlined that since January, there have been at least ten threats to kidnap or even kill UK-based individuals, and there have been threats from Iran arise since that speech.

Iran has established a pattern of this type of behaviour which is deplorable, yet sadly typical of the regime and its lack of respect for basic rights.

The Home Office works closely across Government to ensure all tools are utilised to protect individuals in the UK against any threats from the Iranian state.


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Wednesday 12th January 2022

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to progress applications to the EU Settlement Scheme from applicants who are awaiting a response and who have been unable to take up offers of employment and education as a result of delays in the application process.

Answered by Kevin Foster

We are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system, and we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand.

Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) as quickly as possible. Each individual case is considered on its own facts, which means some cases will inevitably take longer than others to conclude. Cases may take longer dependent on the circumstances of the case, for example, if the applicant is facing an impending prosecution or has a criminal record.

The following link lists the expected processing times for EU Settlement Scheme applications, based upon current performance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-application-processing-times/eu-settlement-scheme-pilot-current-expected-processing-times-for-applications

The rights of those EU citizens and their family members who were lawfully resident at the end of the transition period and who, from 1 July 2021, have a pending application under the EUSS or an appeal against the refusal of an application submitted by then, will be protected until their application is finally determined.

Anyone awaiting the outcome of their in-time application to the EUSS can evidence their rights to work or study with their Certificate of Application which is issued as soon as possible after a valid application is received.


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Wednesday 12th January 2022

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken address delays in the processing of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Answered by Kevin Foster

We are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system, and we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand.

Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) as quickly as possible. Each individual case is considered on its own facts, which means some cases will inevitably take longer than others to conclude. Cases may take longer dependent on the circumstances of the case, for example, if the applicant is facing an impending prosecution or has a criminal record.

The following link lists the expected processing times for EU Settlement Scheme applications, based upon current performance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-application-processing-times/eu-settlement-scheme-pilot-current-expected-processing-times-for-applications

The rights of those EU citizens and their family members who were lawfully resident at the end of the transition period and who, from 1 July 2021, have a pending application under the EUSS or an appeal against the refusal of an application submitted by then, will be protected until their application is finally determined.

Anyone awaiting the outcome of their in-time application to the EUSS can evidence their rights to work or study with their Certificate of Application which is issued as soon as possible after a valid application is received.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies
Friday 26th November 2021

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from businesses and trade organisations on the effect on HGV driver shortages of adding HGV drivers to the Shortage Occupation List.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers do not qualify for Skilled Worker visas therefore cannot be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

However, in response to the current exceptional circumstances, we have made provision for poultry workers, pork butchers and HGV drivers in food distribution to enter the UK on a short-term basis to support the food and haulage sectors.

The Government continues to support the sector in solving this issue, but this must be based on sustainable solutions delivered by employers through more investment in skills and training, along with better pay and working conditions, (including facilities), rather than seeing immigration as providing an alternative to this.

Measures to address shortages being led by DfT including ramping up testing capacity is a more effective solution to issues facing the sector, rather than immigration - especially given the current global shortage of drivers.

While the Home Office regularly engages with other Government Departments and stakeholders on departmental business, the Department for Transport is leading the Government’s work on what can be done to support the sector.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies
Friday 26th November 2021

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding HGV drivers to the Home Office Shortage Occupation List on a temporary basis.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers do not qualify for Skilled Worker visas therefore cannot be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

However, in response to the current exceptional circumstances, we have made provision for poultry workers, pork butchers and HGV drivers in food distribution to enter the UK on a short-term basis to support the food and haulage sectors.

The Government continues to support the sector in solving this issue, but this must be based on sustainable solutions delivered by employers through more investment in skills and training, along with better pay and working conditions, (including facilities), rather than seeing immigration as providing an alternative to this.

Measures to address shortages being led by DfT including ramping up testing capacity is a more effective solution to issues facing the sector, rather than immigration - especially given the current global shortage of drivers.

While the Home Office regularly engages with other Government Departments and stakeholders on departmental business, the Department for Transport is leading the Government’s work on what can be done to support the sector.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Thursday 4th November 2021

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) hotels and hostels are placed in each local authority and (b) asylum seekers are currently living in hotels and hostels in each local authority.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 22 August 2021. The next quarterly figures are due to be released in November 2021

The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 3rd November 2021

Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Independent - Enfield, Southgate)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers living in hotels or hostels had been in contingency accommodation for (a) 35 days or less, (b) more than 35 days, (c) more than three months, (d) more than six months, (e) more than 12 months, (f) more than 18 months or (g) more than two years, as at 1 October 2021.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 22 August 2021. The next quarterly figures are due to be released later this month.


The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation, as these figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.