Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to reintroduce the scheme for temporary visas to poultry workers in 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government does not currently plan reintroduce the scheme for temporary visas to poultry workers in 2022. We will however monitor the position closely.
Our points-based system allows for many roles in poultry production to be recruited via the Skilled Worker route, such as poultry processors, bird dressers, pluckers, trussers and butchers for all meats.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many skilled butchers have (a) been granted a temporary visa and (b) arrived in the UK under the extension to the seasonal workers scheme announced on 14 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We are working to implement the decision taken on 14th October to make available temporary visas for pork butchers.
This requires changes to the Immigration Rules and operational processes across both the Home Office and Defra. Further details will be provided in due course.
Butchers can also be recruited under the Skilled Worker Route.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on preventing illegal practices in the rental sector.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office operates the Right to Rent Scheme in England, which ensures only those with the correct immigration status can access the private rented sector, whilst tackling unscrupulous landlords who exploit vulnerable migrants.
My officials work closely with their colleagues in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and enforcement bodies to ensure the effectiveness of powers to tackle criminal landlords, including civil penalties and banning orders.
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 clear the backlog of asylum applications, and if she will reinstate the six-month service standard for assessing asylum applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is committed to ensuring asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay.
We have already made significant progress in prioritising claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children. Additionally, we are prioritising older claims and those where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required.
The Home Office are pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. This includes almost doubling decision makers number to c.1,000 by March 2022 and providing improved training and career progression opportunities to aid retention of staff. We are continuing to develop existing and new technology to help build on recent improvements such as digital interviewing and move away from a paper-based system.
We have three key areas of focus in the short to medium term to reduce the number of outstanding asylum cases by improving efficiency and productivity, reducing the number of outstanding claims and building high performing teams. We are streamlining and digitalising the case working process to enable more effective workflow, appointment booking and decision-making.
Asylum Operations are working to reintroduce a service standard and will be looking towards aligning potentially with changes being brought about by the New Plan for Immigration.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including key food workers on the shortage occupation list to help tackle labour shortages in the meat industry.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on 23 October 2020 setting out the Governments response to their review of the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
A copy of the full letter can be found at:
The UK labour market is changing as a result of the global pandemic, hence general queries about the availability of labour in the UK Labour Market and recruitment issues for businesses should be directed to the Department for Work and Pensions in the first instance.
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 effect of ending the visa concession allowing international students to undertake distance or blended learning on recruitment for 2021-22.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Throughout the pandemic, the Government have introduced several concessions to support international students and their sponsors.
These concessions are kept under regular review and we are engaging with the education sector as to the ongoing impact of the global pandemic on their operations.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police staff in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have received a covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold the number of police officers and staff who have received a Covid-19 vaccine, including in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
For Phase 1 of the vaccine roll-out, the Government has rightly prioritised the elderly, given the disproportionate impact of the virus by age range. The clinically vulnerable, and front-line Health and Social Care staff who care for them, are also being prioritised. Phase 1 also includes police officers and staff who fall into these categories.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice for Phase 2 of the vaccination programme sets out that the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age. This is because age is assessed to be the strongest factor linked to mortality, morbidity and hospitalisations, and because the speed of delivery is crucial, prioritising people by age enables us to operationally vaccinate more people, providing them with protection from Covid-19.