Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that English language testing has (a) high standards and (b) testing integrity.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We set high standards in all our services and the current English Language Testing Service is no exception, with Commercial expertise and OFQUAL regulation as well as day to day oversight and monitoring by a dedicated contract management team. Where issues are identified, we do not hesitate to act and we work with suppliers on a daily basis to monitor, manage and improve the service.
As part of the Home Office English Language Testing Procurement, we have engaged the market to understand what capability is available to maintain and enhance the highest standards of security and integrity and be innovative in our delivery, harnessing technology and industry best practice. These standards will be assessed as part of the procurement process and assured during implementation by rigorous technical testing and subject matter experts.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 English language immigration requirements are strengthened in the context of proposals to move English language testing for immigration purposes to a remotely proctored system.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The proposals contained within the Immigration White Paper 2025 will be delivered over the course of this Parliament, including new English Language Requirements.
The Home Office is committed to maintaining the highest standards of security and integrity in our immigration system whilst modernising services for legitimate applicants. The new service will enhance existing arrangements via robust and consistent identity management, increased monitoring of test takers and activity that is underpinned by stringent security and cyber security requirements. Detecting and combatting existing and emerging threats is at the centre of this service.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 on (a) the (i) agriculture, (ii) forestry and (iii) fishing industry, (b) the construction industry and (c) other sectors.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to specified new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes.
We published a Call for Evidence last summer, seeking views on the details needed for the secondary legislation, targeted at those who may be affected by proposals, including the agricultural and construction sectors, manufacturers, dealers, retailers, tradespeople and law enforcement.
Over 200 responses were received, and we have further engaged with manufacturers and retailers on the detail. I am carefully considering responses before publishing the Government response.
Work has begun on the necessary secondary legislation regulations.
The Act will help prevent equipment from being stolen in the first place, and will have a deterrent effect by making it harder for criminals to sell on stolen machinery. The Act will also assist the police with identifying the owners of stolen equipment when it is recovered, and provide additional lines of enquiry.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to engage with stakeholders on the drafting of secondary legislation under the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023; and what his planned timescale is for bringing forward such legislation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to specified new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes.
We published a Call for Evidence last summer, seeking views on the details needed for the secondary legislation, targeted at those who may be affected by proposals, including the agricultural and construction sectors, manufacturers, dealers, retailers, tradespeople and law enforcement.
Over 200 responses were received, and we have further engaged with manufacturers and retailers on the detail. I am carefully considering responses before publishing the Government response.
Work has begun on the necessary secondary legislation regulations.
The Act will help prevent equipment from being stolen in the first place, and will have a deterrent effect by making it harder for criminals to sell on stolen machinery. The Act will also assist the police with identifying the owners of stolen equipment when it is recovered, and provide additional lines of enquiry.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 on (a) manufacturers, (b) consumers and (c) retailers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to specified new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes.
We published a Call for Evidence last summer, seeking views on the details needed for the secondary legislation, targeted at those who may be affected by proposals, including the agricultural and construction sectors, manufacturers, dealers, retailers, tradespeople and law enforcement.
Over 200 responses were received, and we have further engaged with manufacturers and retailers on the detail. I am carefully considering responses before publishing the Government response.
Work has begun on the necessary secondary legislation regulations.
The Act will help prevent equipment from being stolen in the first place, and will have a deterrent effect by making it harder for criminals to sell on stolen machinery. The Act will also assist the police with identifying the owners of stolen equipment when it is recovered, and provide additional lines of enquiry.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Project Pegasus on the right to (a) privacy and (b) data protection.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Pegasus is a unique private-public partnership that will radically improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders. This will include development of a new information sharing platform and training for retailers.
Pegasus is spearheaded by Katy Bourne, the Business Crime lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and is backed by the Home Office, 14 retailers and the National Business Crime Solution.
Pegasus will be funding the creation of a dedicated team of specialist analysts and intelligence officers to work within OPAL, the national policing team that oversees intelligence on serious organised acquisitive crime.
OPAL is responsible for the management of data and intelligence, as well as information sharing agreements set up with members of Pegasus.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to provide access to the passport photo database to police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The sharing of passport data with law enforcement agencies for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime is longstanding, and is provided for within His Majesty’s Passport Office’s Privacy Information Notice:
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs against travel to Russia would qualify as an insurmountable obstacle as set out in Ex.2 of the Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members, published on 25 February 2016.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The application of Section Ex. is fact sensitive, and consideration is on a case-by-case basis, considering a range of factors including, but not limited to, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advice.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure clarity on (a) new student visa rules which will affect international PhD students in Cambridge listed in their first year as Not at first registered and (b) the right of such students to bring their families on a student visa.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
For courses starting from 1 January 2024, students will only be able to bring dependants if they are on a PhD, other doctoral qualification, or a research-based higher degree, or in receipt of a full government scholarship. If a student is unsure of what level their course is, they should check with their sponsor or the course details on their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
Our guidance products are regularly updated to reflect changes to the immigration rules and such an update was published following the rules changes of 17 July 2023. The Home Office regularly engages with stakeholders regarding policy changes.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's visa application processing times for Sudanese nationals who have travelled to a third country and have applied to join family members in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Visa processing times for family migration applications are updated regularly on gov.uk.
Refugee family reunion visa processing is currently outside of service standard. We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications and are reviewing our processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to all our customers