Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been granted the right to remain in Bromsgrove constituency since July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the initial decision of asylum claims (including grants), is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. This data is not broken down by constituency. The Home Office does not track the addresses of those granted refugee status, and refugees are free to move around the UK or leave.
Data on asylum seekers on support by local authority is published in table Asy_D11 of the ‘Asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority detailed datasets’. This data does not include information about the decisions made on the asylum claims of these individuals.
The latest data relates to the year ending September 2024. Data for October to December 2024 will be published on 27 February 2025.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing firearms license fees on firearms license holders.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 15 January, the Government laid a statutory instrument before Parliament that will increase fees charged by police forces to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications, giving effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto. The new fees will come into force on 5 February 2025.
The fees were last increased in 2015 and they no longer meet the cost of the service provided. It is essential for both public safety and police efficiency that full cost recovery fees are introduced so that service improvements can be made. The need to increase firearms licensing fees to help address shortcomings in firearms licensing was highlighted by the Senior Coroner in his Preventing Future Deaths reports into the fatal shootings in Plymouth in August 2021.
The NPCC Lead on Firearms Licensing is developing a new performance framework for firearms licensing teams. In addition, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services will later this year be undertaking a thematic inspection of police forces’ arrangements in respect of firearms licensing.
A full impact assessment, which covers the impact of increased fees on the shooting community, was published alongside the statutory instrument.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of charging asylum seekers for costs associated with their settlement in the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Current Home Office policy in this area remains the same as that in place under the previous government.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of deporting foreign nationals resident in the UK that engage in activities contrary to British values.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is already government policy to pursue deportation where a foreign national:
In this Government’s first six months in office, we removed 2,580 foreign national offenders, a 23% increase on the same period twelve months prior.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional police officers her Department plans to fund in West Mercia by the end of 2025.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of our Safer Streets Mission we will put neighbourhood police back on the beat, with 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales.
Last week the Prime Minister announced that £100 million will be made available in 2025/26 to support the initial delivery of the 13,000 additional neighbourhood police, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales.
The Home Office is working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce further detail in due course.