Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign Catholic priests have been denied a visa for the UK since July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data, in a reportable format, on how many foreign Catholic priests have been refused UK visas since July 2024.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department's policy that foreign nationals who have received a Stage 1 decision letter regarding their possible deportation following an offence resulting in a custodial sentence should remain in custody until a deportation decision has been made.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We make every effort to ensure that a foreign national offender’s (FNOs) removal by deportation coincides with their release from prison upon completion of their custodial sentence.
Latest published information shows that 51% (2,632) of FNOs removed between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 were removed directly from prison under the Early Removal Scheme, which is a 10% increase compared to the 2,385 in the same period 12 months prior.
The public rightly expect us to maintain a firm and fair immigration system and immigration detention plays a crucial role in enabling the removal of individuals who include serious, violent, and persistent FNOs.
We do not detain people indefinitely. The law does not allow it. In each case, we must have a realistic prospect of removal in a reasonable timescale, and includes consideration given to the likelihood of risk to the public and absconding from immigration control. Published Home Office detention policy is clear that detention must only ever be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary.
We have safeguards in place which underpin detention decisions. These include regular reviews once a person is in detention to ensure that their detention remains lawful, appropriate, and proportionate. In addition, those detained can apply to the courts at any time for bail from detention and FNOs held in detention have the option to apply to an independent immigration judge for bail at any point.
Where the Home Office cannot remove a FNO within a realistic timeframe, the individual may be released into the community.
The decision to release a foreign national offender into the community is never taken lightly. The threat of harm to the public or vulnerable individuals, victims, and their families, as well as the risk of absconding is always carefully considered. The Home Office and HMPPS work closely together to manage risk in the community.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the merits of including the time people already living in the UK have accrued on their route to settlement via the Indefinite Leave to Remain routes.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and further details on the proposed scheme will be provided at that time.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting a visa waiver for Ukrainians visiting relatives and friends (a) displaced by the war in Ukraine and (b) temporarily resident in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Visit visas are an important part of securing the UK’s border.
Waiving visa requirements for a specific cohort of Ukrainian nationals would not be consistent with the purpose of the visa requirement. There is no obvious mechanism for delivering the utility of a visa application and biometric enrolment, which underpin the role visas play in securing our border, whilst also distinguishing a cohort of Ukrainian nationals who have the requirements waived. Identifying those individuals and enrolling their biometrics would require a process which would be, in practice, nearly identical to a visa application.
Ukrainians who want to visit relatives and friends in the UK can apply for a standard visitor visa, including multiple-entry visas. The UK has a visa application centre (VAC) in Kyiv, and a VAC network in neighbouring countries, enabling Ukrainians to access these services and apply for visas.
This is in no way a reflection on our support for Ukraine which remains, and will always remain, steadfast. The Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme remains open for new applications from those wishing to come to the UK, seeking temporary sanctuary from the conflict.
To provide future certainty, we recently announced the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, which is a new visa scheme for existing Ukraine scheme visa holders who have made the UK their temporary home. It will provide permission to stay in the UK for an additional 18 months and is due to open early in 2025.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to reinstate the offshore wind workers concession.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The government is fully supportive of businesses involved in delivering the UK’s net zero ambitions. The wind farm sector has many roles which meet the requirements of the UK’s main economic migration route, the Skilled Worker route.
The offshore wind farm worker immigration rules concession ended on 30 April. There are no plans to reinstate the concession given the industry has a visa route available to them to use if they are unable fill vacancies from the domestic workforce.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to use biometric data collection when processing asylum applications from Afghan nationals.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We use biometrics to fix and confirm the identities of foreign nationals who apply to come or extend their stay in the UK.
We check them against security and criminality databases which are available to the UK, to ensure multiple applications are not made using multiple identities, and to identify those who pose a threat to public safety, our national security, or are likely to breach our laws.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a list split by gender of the number and proportion of biometric data exemptions that have been issued to Afghan asylum seekers since 2021.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No exemptions exist to asylum seekers with regards to the registration of biometrics.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contractual obligations will apply to people who have made a successful application under the Ukraine Extension Scheme and who were previously in the UK on the seasonal worker visa in relation to any contract previously negotiated by a labour provider.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Customers granted leave under the Ukraine Extension Scheme are normally granted for a period of 36 months and are able to access work, study and public funds. They are not restricted in the work they can undertake from an immigration point of view.
Employment contracts between an employee and employer are not something the Home Office would be involved in under the Ukraine Extension Scheme.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to facilitate access to foreign seasonal labour for the hospitality sector.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Issues with recruitment in the Hospitality sector are not unique to the UK, with reports of similar issues in the USA, the Republic of Ireland and Spain. This indicates factors other than immigration policy need to be considered to resolve these issues.
Several roles in the hospitality sector (including chefs and managerial roles) are eligible for the Skilled Worker route in the Points Based System. Modelling by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) suggest the new, lower salary and expanded skills thresholds, strike a reasonable balance between controlling immigration and business access to labour.
Other roles will need to be filled from the resident workforce and those with full work rights, including the 6.5 million applicants under our EU Settlement Scheme, dependants of work visa holders, and those coming to the UK under our new Ukraine Schemes, the British National (Overseas) route, the Graduate route and Youth Mobility Schemes.
Further advice from the MAC has been against the creation of sector specific visa routes.