Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to provide guidance for (a) web hosting companies, (b) telephone infrastructure companies, (c) the banking industry and (d) other industries potentially prone to fraud on protections against fraud for vulnerable and elderly people.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector and we will publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud.
In October 2021, we launched three Fraud Sector Charters, which are voluntary agreements with the telecommunications, retail banking and accountancy sectors. The charters have delivered innovative actions to counter fraud in these industries including measures to reduce scam texts, measures to help vulnerable victims of fraud and to share data.
The Home Office is also intending to launch tech, insurance and legal sector charters with industry. This will include private and public actions that will drive down fraud in these sectors.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle authorised push payment fraud, including that which targets vulnerable people.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Authorised Push Payment scams are often highly sophisticated and emotionally manipulative and it is unacceptable that victims may lose their money as a result. The Government is working with industry, including the banking and tech sectors to ensure that victims are protected from these crimes in the first place and are not left out of pocket because of them
The government is legislating through the Financial Services and Markets Bill to give the Payment Systems Regulator the powers it needs to make all Payment Service Providers reimburse victims of authorised fraud on the Faster Payments System in circumstances where the victim hasn’t been grossly negligent. We expect that this will materially improve outcomes for victims and provide enhanced incentives for firms to prevent these scams in the first place. The Payment Systems Regulator has consulted on the mechanism for reimbursement and industry liability and will publish its response shortly.
We are focused on stopping unscrupulous fraudsters in their tracks and supporting victims so they can recover and protect themselves. Raising awareness and safeguarding victims will form a key part of the Government’s forthcoming fraud strategy.
We are already taking concrete steps to protect the most vulnerable victims:
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Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to introduce a Minister for Economic Crime.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Ministerial appointments are a matter for the Prime Minister’s office.
The Home Office and HM Treasury lead the policy response to tackling economic crime for government. It is right that these two departments jointly lead the government’s approach, to support system leadership that fully considers the long-term ramifications of decisions that impact both the UK’s prosperity and security. The Treasury leads on supervision and regulation, while the Home Office leads on law enforcement capabilities and related legislation
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential economic effect on the UK university sector of restricting the number of (a) international students and (b) their dependants permitted into the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government’s International Education Strategy set out a target of attracting 600,000 international Higher Education students to the UK by 2030, which we have achieved almost a decade early.
The public rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests. We keep our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they reflect our priorities.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to set up a dedicated poultry workers visa scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government expanded the Seasonal Worker route to include the poultry sector on 18 October. This enables workers to come to the UK in the run up to Christmas to support the sector during the busy festive period.
The route has been extended until 2024, with 40,000 visas available for 2022, consisting of 38,000 for horticulture and 2,000 for the poultry sector. This will support our farmers as they adapt to changes in the UK labour market. The Government is keeping the position under close review.
Many roles in the poultry sector can also be recruited through the Skilled Worker route.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to expand (a) number of workers on and (b) the scope of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government expanded the Seasonal Worker route to include the poultry sector on 18 October. This enables workers to come to the UK in the run up to Christmas to support the sector during the busy festive period.
The route has been extended until 2024, with 40,000 visas available for 2022, consisting of 38,000 for horticulture and 2,000 for the poultry sector. This will support our farmers as they adapt to changes in the UK labour market. The Government is keeping the position under close review.
Many roles in the poultry sector can also be recruited through the Skilled Worker route.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 15228 on Agriculture: Seasonal Workers, on what basis her Department decided what the duration of seasonal worker visas for poultry workers should be; if she will make an assessment of the impact of the duration of those visas on incentives for poultry workers to come to the UK; and what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on helping to ensure that (a) recruitment processes for poultry workers are safe and (b) poultry workers are protected by UK employment rights.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government will announce full details of how the detailed arrangements for poultry workers within the Seasonal Worker route will operate in due course. It will however operate along similar lines to the concession operated in 2021, supporting the sector for its seasonal peak in production in the run up to Christmas.
As with the core Seasonal Worker route, labour providers will be required to hold a sponsor licence and will be subject to the compliance arrangements for that route. Operators of the seasonal worker scheme must hold and retain relevant Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority licensing.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to provide visas for workers in food production.
Answered by Kevin Foster
On Monday 13th June, the government launched a new Food Strategy, which will seek to address challenges faced by the sector. Recognising the sector cannot sustainably rely on migrant labour, especially in light of global pressures elsewhere, the strategy sets out that Government will commission an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain, considering the roles of automation, domestic labour and migration routes.
To support the sector, the Government will release 10,000 additional visas for the seasonal worker visa route, with 2,000 of these going to the poultry sector for the eight-week period prior to Christmas. This is to cover the surge in demand for chicken, turkey and goose during the festive season and to ensure the smooth running of the food supply chain.
The Government introduced the Points Based System in 2020 which is designed to attract the skills and expertise which the UK requires. Acting upon advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the skills threshold of the Skilled Worker route and introduced a lower salary threshold which, as modelling by the MAC suggests, strikes a reasonable balance between access to labour and controlling immigration. The independent review’s consideration of the role of migration will therefore need to be with reference to the MAC’s advice. A number of roles in the food production sector are already eligible for a Skilled Worker visa.
For those roles in the sector which do not meet the threshold for the Skilled Worker route, there is the domestic labour market which includes UK workers and migrants with general work rights. The Government does not intend to introduce a route for those who do not meet the skills and salary threshold allowing recruitment at or near minimum wage.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to expand the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
On Monday 13th June, the government launched a new Food Strategy, which will seek to address challenges faced by the sector. Recognising the sector cannot sustainably rely on migrant labour, especially in light of global pressures elsewhere, the strategy sets out that Government will commission an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain, considering the roles of automation, domestic labour and migration routes.
To support the sector, the Government will release 10,000 additional visas for the seasonal worker visa route, with 2,000 of these going to the poultry sector for the eight-week period prior to Christmas. This is to cover the surge in demand for chicken, turkey and goose during the festive season and to ensure the smooth running of the food supply chain.
The Government introduced the Points Based System in 2020 which is designed to attract the skills and expertise which the UK requires. Acting upon advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the skills threshold of the Skilled Worker route and introduced a lower salary threshold which, as modelling by the MAC suggests, strikes a reasonable balance between access to labour and controlling immigration. The independent review’s consideration of the role of migration will therefore need to be with reference to the MAC’s advice. A number of roles in the food production sector are already eligible for a Skilled Worker visa.
For those roles in the sector which do not meet the threshold for the Skilled Worker route, there is the domestic labour market which includes UK workers and migrants with general work rights. The Government does not intend to introduce a route for those who do not meet the skills and salary threshold allowing recruitment at or near minimum wage.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to improve the access of migrant workers to jobs in the farming and agriculture sector.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office works closely with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to monitor the labour needs of the farming and Agricultural sector and will continue to monitor the labour needs of the economy more generally.
We have no plans to improve access for employers to recruit migrant workers into jobs in the farming and agricultural sector beyond those which qualify for our Skilled Worker Visa and the already expanded Seasonal Workers Pilot, which went from 10,000 to 30,000 places for 2021.
The Government wants employers to focus on training and investing in our domestic workforce rather than relying on labour from abroad. Employers should engage with the Department for Work and Pensions in the first instance, as they are best placed to help companies with recruitment issues.