Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps with her Cabinet Colleagues to encourage international medical graduates to work in the UK, in the context of the pressures on the NHS.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office have already delivered a range of measures to support the health and care sector and encourage international medical graduates to work in the UK. The Home Office launched the Health & Care visa in 2020, which makes it easier, cheaper, and quicker for health workers – including international medical graduates - to come and stay in the UK to work compared to other immigration routes.
The Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work together to raise awareness of the Health and Care visa and support the use of the Points Based System.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that the police screen suspects for gambling addictions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All police officers in England and Wales have access to a six-hour training course on understanding and spotting early signs of gambling addictions, which launched in September 2021.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) have acknowledged there is more work to be done in this area. They are currently gathering best practice from Police forces on early screening of gambling addicts, offering the right support and signposting them to where they can seek further help. This will involve partnership working with other agencies to provide the right support that anyone with a gambling addiction requires, reflecting that police intervention often comes at a late stage of addiction.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the current delays within HM Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ahead of unrestricted international travel returning, HM Passport Office prepared extensively to serve an unprecedented number of customers, with 9.5 million British passport applications forecasted throughout 2022.
These preparations, which include the recruitment of 650 additional staff since April 2021 and with plans in place to recruit a further 550 by this summer, have ensured passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. This was demonstrated in March and April 2022 when HM Passport Office achieved a record monthly high by completing the processing of nearly two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options that will help to ensur people receive their passports in good time.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department is taking to ensure that passport applications are processed accurately and without delay.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ahead of unrestricted international travel returning, HM Passport Office prepared extensively to serve an unprecedented number of customers, with 9.5 million British passport applications forecasted throughout 2022.
These preparations, which include the recruitment of 650 additional staff since April 2021 and with plans in place to recruit a further 550 by this summer, have ensured passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. This was demonstrated in March and April 2022 when HM Passport Office achieved a record monthly high by completing the processing of nearly two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options that will help to ensure people receive their passports in good time.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the visa application process is accessible for people with disabilities.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that visa applications submitted under the Ukrainian Family Scheme are processed at the earliest opportunity.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Applications from Ukraine nationals are being prioritised by UKVI. We are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system.
We actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet caseworking demand of the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) tackle misogyny in society, and (b) implement measures to tackle domestic and intimate partner violence.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for the Government. These crimes include rape, sexual violence, domestic abuse, stalking, ‘honour’-based abuse including female genital mutilation and forced marriage, ‘revenge port’ and ‘upskirting’. They have a profound and long-lasting impact on victims and have absolutely no place in our society.
On July 21 we published our new cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere- at home, online and on the streets.
A key new commitment in the VAWG Strategy is a multimillion-pound national communications campaign with a focus on targeting perpetrators and harmful misogynistic attitudes, educating young people about healthy relationships and ensuring victims can access support. Work is underway to launch this campaign this year.
Our landmark Domestic Abuse Act, alongside a comprehensive action plan of non-legislative measures, will help tackle domestic abuse by ensuring that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experience, safe in the knowledge that the justice system and other agencies will do everything they can both to protect and support them and pursue the abuser. We have already begun to implement the Act and will continue to do so across criminal justice systems and agencies later this year.
In the coming months we will also publish a strategy dedicated to tackling domestic abuse, going beyond the implementation of the Act. This Domestic Abuse Strategy complements the VAWG Strategy and will seek to transform the whole of society’s response to prevent offending, support victims, pursue perpetrators and strengthen the systems processes in place needed to deliver these goals.
The Law Commission’s review of hate crime laws was commissioned by the Government in 2018. This review examined the coverage and approach of existing hate crime legislation, including consideration of whether other protected characteristics, including sex/gender, should be included. The Law Commission published its final recommendations on 7 December.
We are grateful to the Law Commission for the detailed consideration it has given to its review. The Government will consider its proposals carefully and respond to the recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of passports applied for under the 1 Week Fast Track scheme were delivered within one week in each of the 12 months to 31 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There is no integration of the system used for passport application processing and the one used by third-party suppliers for delivery services. This means whilst Her Majesty’s Passport Office is able to monitor performance on a case-by-case basis for customer service purposes, there is no accurate measure of whole service performance to the point of delivery.
Under the terms of the Fast Track service, passports will be delivered on or before the seventh day following an appointment before 12.30pm, or the eighth day for appointments after this time. Passports printed under the Fast Track service are delivered to customers the following day through a 24-hour service level.
The data attached shows the volume of passports printed under the Fast Track service within 144 hours (six days) of the application being submitted. Due to COVID-19, the Fast Track service was suspended until April 2021, with exceptions primarily on compassionate grounds.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of restrictions in the Immigration Act 2016 that a tenancy cannot be offered to NHS staff without a minimum of a Band 5 qualification.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Anyone with lawful immigration status in the UK can access the private rented housing sector, regardless of their qualifications, employment or income.
The Right to Rent Scheme came into force under the Immigration Act 2014. It was launched to ensure only those lawfully present in the UK can access the private rented sector, and to tackle unscrupulous landlords who exploit vulnerable migrants, sometimes in very poor conditions.
The Immigration Act 2016 introduced criminal offences for landlords and letting agents who knowingly let property to individuals without lawful immigration status. It does not carry any restrictions on the right to rent for individuals who are lawfully present in the UK.