Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the end of fire appliance mobilising system collaboration between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority on fire safety in those areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requires each Fire and Rescue Authority to make arrangements for dealing with calls for help and for summoning personnel. How this is delivered is an operational decision, and one for the respective Chief Fire Officers who are both responsible and accountable to the public.
My officials are aware of the potential plans to end the current collaboration agreement between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Fire Authority and will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of applicants who have requested indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the grounds of long residency and have been able to access the super priority service between 1 January 2023 and 30 April 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department expects the report by Kings Arms Bedford on the second joint UNHCR Home Office Alternatives to Detention pilot project to be published.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UNHCR have appointed the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to independently evaluate this pilot. We expect them to publish their report soon.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the seasonal worker visas made available for workers for the poultry sector have been issued as of 7 December 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas granted are published in table Vis_D02 of the Entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar(opens in a new tab)’.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to in the Animals in Science Regulation Unit's annual report for 2021, what steps she is taking to help ensure that fish are not subjected to additional harms beyond those licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Animals used in science, including fish, are given protection under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). Work is only authorised after a rigorous assessment process through a three-tiered licensing system and the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement must be followed at all times.
The ASPA requires that each project licence holder ensures adherence to the severity limits as specified in their licence and observance of any other controls. If these constraints appear to have been, or are likely to be, breached, the holder shall ensure that the Regulator is notified as soon as possible.
Licensed establishments that use animals in scientific procedures are subject to both announced and unannounced inspections to assure compliance with the conditions of their licences under ASPA.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on assisting Russian citizens already in the UK who require a change in their visa status to reflect their present circumstances but cannot return to Russia to complete their application due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Russian nationals who are in the UK with permission to stay in a non-visit capacity can, before their permission ends, apply from within the UK to extend or vary their permission. Russian nationals who are visiting are expected to leave the UK before the end of their visa.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy to continue to provide graduate visas after 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive and ensures that we continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.
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 also rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests.
As the Growth Plan set out, the Government is looking at how immigration contributes to growth and will set out further details in due course.
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 potential impact of introducing a cap on the number of dependents that international students can bring to the UK on (a) the number of international students studying in the UK, (b) the potential economic cost to the UK and (c) women.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive and ensures that we continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.
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 also rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests.
As the Growth Plan set out, the Government is looking at how immigration contributes to growth and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to place a limit on the number of international students who are able to study at UK universities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive and ensures that we continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.
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 also rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests.
As the Growth Plan set out, the Government is looking at how immigration contributes to growth and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is to process right to work applications for non-UK workers; and what steps are being taken to address the application backlog.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Due to supporting the Home Office’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, applications for Entry Clearance under our economic routes are currently taking longer than our published service standard.
With the return of staff to the teams who handle these cases, alongside additional resources also being deployed the length of time taken to receive a visa in these routes is reducing.