Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the EU Settlement Scheme, what her Department's outreach and engagement strategy is to ensure (a) care workers and (b) other key workers from the EU in sectors with low pay and precarious employment arrangements are (i) reached, (ii) made aware of the scheme, and (iii)supported to apply.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Over five million applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), and over 4.5 million grants of status have been made, delivering on the government’s promise to secure the rights of millions of Europeans in UK law for years to come.
A comprehensive range of communications activity has been delivered to date to increase awareness of the EUSS across sectors and audience demographics including EEA and Swiss national key workers and those working in the social care sector.
Communications activity includes extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, a refresh of EUSS promotional materials, and an extensive new wave of targeted UK advertising on social media, website banners, catch up TV and radio, launched earlier this month, to ensure EEA and Swiss citizens are aware of the scheme and supported to apply.
To support applicants the Home Office has provided up to £17million in grant funding to a network of 72 organisations that provide bespoke support to vulnerable and hard to reach EU citizens and their family members eligible to apply to EUSS. We recently announced a further £4.5 million of funding to the 72 organisations to continue the support services beyond the 30 June 2021 deadline.
Communications to reach eligible workers via their employer have been ongoing since the scheme’s launch with hundreds of engagement events delivered alongside the provision of an employer toolkit, equipping organisations with the information required to support their staff. This has included a bespoke event for NHS employers, and with a number of regional strategic migration and enterprise partnerships.
NHS employers, Scottish Social services and Wales Social care also sit on EUSS advisory groups.
Workers in the social care sector were given early access under the pilot phases of the scheme and we have provided extensive outreach and support to the sector. We continue to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care, and Local Authorities to provide support and materials to eligible individuals working in the sector.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2020 to Question 92027 on Immigration Rules: Sleeping Rough, when the Government plans to publish the guidance on the Immigration Rule changes published on 22 October 2020 which make rough sleeping grounds for refusing or cancelling a person’s permission to be in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Guidance on the operation of the new rough sleeping rule is currently being finalised and will be made available on GOV.UK as soon as possible. Until then, we will not refuse or cancel a person's permission to stay in the UK on grounds of rough sleeping.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to release guidance on the new Immigration Rules that make rough sleeping grounds for cancelling or refusing permission to be in the UK which are due to be enforced from 1 December 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The new Immigration Rules make provision for the refusal or cancellation of permission to stay in the UK on the basis of rough sleeping. The new rule will apply on a discretionary basis to non-EEA nationals from 1 December 2020 and to newly arriving EEA nationals from 1 January 2021. The provision will be used sparingly and only where individuals have repeatedly refused support offers, such as accommodation, and are engaged in persistent anti-social behaviour.
Guidance will be provided for decision-makers to make clear the circumstances in which permission may be cancelled or refused, and this will also be available on GOV.UK when the new provision comes into force.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding additional to the Prevent programme her Department has allocated to charities working to tackle online extremism in communities and build community resilience.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office has provided a wide range of funding and support to civil society organisations to counter extremism. As of May 2020, the Home Office, through the Building a Stronger Britain Together (BSBT) Programme has awarded £8.8m of grant funding to support 252 counter extremism projects.
In addition to grant funding, the programme has awarded 118 packages of In-Kind support to organisations to expand their capabilities in delivering communications aligned to BSBT outcomes. Support includes training, creating social media campaign and website support.