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Written Question
Visas: Care Workers
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism entitled Visa system forces care workers to stay silent on rape and abuse, published on 11 March 2024.

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

The Government strongly condemns any allegations of such abuse.

Anyone who has witnessed or been the victim of criminal activity should, in the first instance, contact the police.

The UK’s sponsorship system has a built-in compliance framework, which has strong safeguards to prevent sponsors from engaging in illegal employment practices.

Sponsors are required to comply with UK laws, including wider employment law (such as working hours and meeting minimum salary requirements). UKVI have powers to revoke a licence where any of the key personnel named on it are convicted of certain serious offences. UKVI regularly visits premises to check sponsor compliance with the duties and requirements set out in the sponsor guidance, and this is frequently done alongside the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, whose specific remit is to protect vulnerable and exploited workers.

Employers in the health and care sector are also expected to adhere to the Department’s Health and Social Care’s Code of Practice for international recruitment. This sets out clear routes of escalation for anyone with concerns about exploitative recruitment or employment practices. It can be accessed here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-international-recruitment-of-health-and-social-care-personnel/code-of-practice-for-the-international-recruitment-of-health-and-social-care-personnel-in-england.

Anyone who has witnessed or has been the victim of immigration abuse is strongly encouraged to report an immigration or border crime here: www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime.

Or, to the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) here: www.gla.gov.uk/report-issues/.


Written Question
Seasonal Workers: Conditions of Employment
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2024 to Question 9608 on Agriculture: Seasonal Workers, what steps his Department has taken to investigate allegations of abusive practices relating to the Seasonal Worker Scheme since May 2022.

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

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under ongoing review and works closely with DEFRA to monitor the scheme to ensure operators adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers. This includes changes made on 12th April 2023, introducing rules ensuring seasonal workers are guaranteed a minimum number of 32 hours’ paid work each week. We have also increased UKVI compliance capacity to monitor welfare.

The operators of the scheme are, and must remain, licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Seasonal Workers
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2024 to Question 9608, what steps he is taking to improve conditions for migrant workers on the Seasonal Worker Scheme since May 2022.

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

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under ongoing review and works closely with DEFRA to monitor the scheme to ensure operators adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers. This includes changes made on 12th April 2023, introducing rules ensuring seasonal workers are guaranteed a minimum number of 32 hours’ paid work each week. We have also increased UKVI compliance capacity to monitor welfare.

The operators of the scheme are, and must remain, licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).


Written Question
Agriculture: Seasonal Workers
Monday 22nd January 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy, published on 12 January 2024, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the comments made by the UN’s special rapporteur on modern slavery on the UK's seasonal worker scheme.

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

The Government is aware of the comments attributed to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Modern Slavery regarding the operation of the Seasonal Worker Scheme in a recent press article. We do not, however, recognise the description of the operation of the UK’s Seasonal Worker route put forward in that article, on which the UN’s Special Rapporteur appear to be based.

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under close and ongoing review, including the welfare of participating overseas workers.

A key objective of the route is to ensure that migrant workers are protected against modern slavery and other labour abuses. The Home Office takes any allegations of mistreatment or abuse of this route extremely seriously. We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not being met.


Written Question
Asylum
Thursday 14th December 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4245 on Asylum, from which organisations he received this evidence.

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

The Home Office employs professional analysts who provide a wide range of impartial advice to Home Office ministers on the evidence that both they and external organisations produce.

Current published information on why individuals come to the United Kingdom can be found at: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2023.


Written Question
Hate Crime: Transphobia
Wednesday 6th December 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle the causes of transphobic hate crimes.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is clear that all forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and we have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target transgender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. We expect the police fully to investigate these abhorrent offences and make sure those who commit them feel the full force of the law.

Whilst part of the increase in transgender hate crime may be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvements in police recording. The police are also better at identifying whether a crime is a hate crime, along with increased victim willingness to come forward. This is positive and reflects the hard work that has gone in to ensuring that police can target their resources, understand the scale of the challenge and ensure that victims get the support they need.

Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. This has included the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023.

The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also continue to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime. The Hub provides expert advice to police forces to support them in investigating these despicable offences.

The Government is providing over £3m of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic based bullying. The providers are the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Diversity Role Models, EqualiTeach, Anne Frank Trust and the Diana Award.


Written Question
Asylum
Wednesday 6th December 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Minister for Immigration's oral contribution on Monday 27 November 2023, column 536, what the evidential basis is for many people claiming asylum in the UK being economic migrants making spurious claims to game the system.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

A wide body of evidence points towards key pull factors to the UK including language, diaspora, presence of friends and family, economic opportunity, and availability of education. That is why we have no plans to change right to work provisions and are trebling fines for illegal working.


Written Question
British Nationality and Visas: Fees and Charges
Wednesday 29th November 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to reduce the cost of application fees for (a) visas and (b) citizenship.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office keeps fees for immigration and nationality applications under review. However, there are no plans to reduce fees for applications for visas or British Citizenship. It is the government’s policy that those who use and benefit most from the immigration system should contribute towards the cost of operating it, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer.

The Home Office provides exceptions to the need to pay application fees in a number of specific circumstances. These include affordability-based waivers for entry clearance and leave to remain on family and human rights grounds, and for applications for children seeking to register as a British Citizen.


Written Question
Fire and Rescue Services
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the proposals in the Firefighters’ Manifesto published on 1 November 2023 by the Fire Brigades Union.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government remains committed to reform in the fire sector and will continue to work with our partners, including the Fire Brigades Union, to push for meaningful change for the benefit of both the sector and the public.

The response to the Fire Reform White Paper will be published shortly.

The Government is committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their important work and to keep the public safe.

In 2023/24, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.6 billion. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.


Written Question
Agriculture: Seasonal Workers
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's report into the Seasonal Worker scheme, published on 22 October 2023.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under close and ongoing review, including the welfare of participating overseas workers.

A key objective of the route is to ensure that migrant workers are protected against modern slavery and other labour abuses and the Home Office takes any allegations of mistreatment or abuse on this route extremely seriously.

The operators of the scheme are, and must remain, licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

The Scheme Operators are responsible for managing all aspects of the recruitment and placement of workers on UK farms and ensuring their welfare in the UK.

The Home Office and Defra monitor the scheme closely to ensure operators adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers.

The Sponsor a Seasonal Worker guidance is kept under regular review and updated and published as required.