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Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for visitor visas from (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens were (i) granted and (ii) declined in each of the last five years.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Applications for visit visas are considered against Appendix V of the Immigration Rules and on a case by case basis. Detailed information on how UK Visas and Immigration makes decisions on visitor cases is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visit-guidance.

Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_02_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019-data-tables.

Please note that the large majority of US nationals coming to the UK as visitors do not require an entry clearance visa, as shown in the Immigration Rules at (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules).


Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for a decision on visitor visa application from (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens in each of the last five years.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Information on performance against service standards for UKVI international operations is published in the Migration transparency data, the latest publication of which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-operations-transparency-data-may-2019.

These indicate that the large majority of straightforward non-settlement visas (the large majority of which are visitor visas), 98.7%, are completed within the service standard of 15 working days.


Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance targets his Department has put in place for the time taken to make a decision on a visitor visa application form (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Under our published customer service standards we aim to process straightforward non-settlement applications within 15 working days.

The information for the latest quarter available is published online.


Data on entry clearance visa processing times, including the percentage and number of visas that are processed within service standards, is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).


Written Question
Airguns
Tuesday 2nd July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2019 to Written Question 230648, Airguns: Reviews, when his Department plans to publish its response to the review on the regulation of air weapons which was launched on 10 October 2017.

Answered by Nick Hurd

We intend to publish our conclusions to the review of air weapons regulation as soon as possible, alongside a consultation on firearms safety issues to which the Government committed during the passage of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence
Monday 17th June 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability will meet with the Charity Retail Association to discuss the extent of violence and abuse in the charity retail sector.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence
Monday 17th June 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to ensure that the views of charity retailers are represented on the National Retail Crime Steering Group.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence
Monday 17th June 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability is taking to ensure her investigation into violence and abuse toward shop staff takes into account the views and experiences of charity shop volunteers.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence
Monday 17th June 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability has made of the extent of (a) violence towards and (b) abuse of shop staff and volunteers in the charity retail sector.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.


Written Question
Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme
Thursday 16th May 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was allocated to (a) individual police forces in England and Wales, (b) individual government departments, (c) individual local authorities and (d) other bodies through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme in each year since 2010.

Answered by Ben Wallace

Data on asset recovery is published annually, the latest published figures are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.

The Home Office runs the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). With over 250 agencies participating in the Scheme, it would take disproportionate time and resource to provide a detailed breakdown of these individual payments.

The amounts recovered in respect of confiscation orders, together with amounts paid from this amount in compensation is provided in the attached table. This information was taken from the live database, JARD (Joint Asset Recovery Database) on 9 May 2019.

There are no immediate plans for changing the distribution allocations in the ARIS, but the Government keeps it under review. The upcoming Asset Recovery Action Plan will make wider recommendations to improve the use and effectiveness of powers and practice in this area.


Written Question
Confiscation Orders
Thursday 16th May 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money has accrued to the public purse in confiscation orders; and how much of that money has been allocated in compensation to victims of crime in each year since 2010.

Answered by Ben Wallace

Data on asset recovery is published annually, the latest published figures are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.

The Home Office runs the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). With over 250 agencies participating in the Scheme, it would take disproportionate time and resource to provide a detailed breakdown of these individual payments.

The amounts recovered in respect of confiscation orders, together with amounts paid from this amount in compensation is provided in the attached table. This information was taken from the live database, JARD (Joint Asset Recovery Database) on 9 May 2019.

There are no immediate plans for changing the distribution allocations in the ARIS, but the Government keeps it under review. The upcoming Asset Recovery Action Plan will make wider recommendations to improve the use and effectiveness of powers and practice in this area.