Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has plans to remove the fee for changing the marital name on a passport.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are no current plans to remove the fee for the change to marital name on passports. This service incurs the same cost as all other standard renewal passports and undertakes the same levels of security checks so removing the fee would mean that cost burden would fall to other passport applicants.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is the Government's policy to increase the level of (a) fines and (b) sentences for people transporting illegal immigrants to the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are no plans to increase the penalty for the criminal offence of facilitating the unlawful entry of a person into the UK from the current maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to combat youth antisocial behaviour.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police and local authorities with a range of flexible powers that they can use to tackle and prevent anti-social behaviour, including to combat anti-social behaviour by young people. To support local agencies decide when and how to use these powers, the Home Office refreshed its statutory guidance for frontline practitioners on the use of the statutory powers in December 2017.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of police officers after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We reviewed the changing and increasingly complex demands on the police. We are proposing a funding settlement that will provide total funding of up to £14 billion for 2019-20 in England and Wales, an increase of up to £970m compared to 2018/19, including precept, pensions funding and national investment. Funding for the police in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.
It is for Chief Constables in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commis-sioners as part of their forward planning to determine the amount of police officers they will require to help them deal with any emerging pressures.
The Government is already supporting the police sector to respond to pres-sures arising from the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. We have provided £2.4 million to the National Chiefs’ Police Council and have also paid £845k to Kent Police for their European Union Exit planning.
We are engaging closely with the police sector in relation to planning and funding pressures in relation to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress his Department has made in its Windrush scheme: historical review of removals and detentions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee on 21 August, outlining the initial findings of the Historical Review of removals and detentions. The review found that the total number of individuals identified who have been removed and/or detained by the Home Office since 2002, and who have something on their file which indicates they may have been in the UK before 1 January 1973, is 164.
Of these we identified 18 individuals who stayed in the UK permanently and who are the people we consider most likely to have suffered the most detriment because their right to be in the UK was not recognised and where the de-partment is most likely to have acted wrongfully in removing or detaining them. Eleven of these left the UK voluntarily and seven were detained.
Work on cases involving criminality, as well as individuals who were subject to proactive compliant environment sanctions, is ongoing. These figures will be provided to HASC upon completion of the work.
Our regular updates to HASC are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/correspondence-on-the-work-of-the-home-office-windrush
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many biometric residence permits were issued in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information you have requested regarding the total number of BRPs issued over the last three years is not included in statistics published by the Home Office.
However, the total number of grants of leave, by type of application, are available in published information at www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from (a) EU countries (b) Asia (c) North America were granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on grants of settlement (Indefinite leave to remain) to non-EEA nationals and issues of documents recognising initial and permanent resident rights to EU citizens (and their non-EU family members) to the year ending September 2018, are published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Settlement and EEA tables, latest edition of which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018
Information regarding EU citizens and their non-EU family members issued settled status during the two Private Beta phases of the EU Settlement Scheme is available at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/772139/EU_Settlement_Scheme_Private_Beta_2_Report.pdf
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to advise farmers on the risk of livestock theft.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government has ensured that, through the election of police and crime commissioners, communities across England and Wales, including those in rural areas, have a strong voice in determining how police resources are allocated to tackle the crimes that most matter to them. This includes the police providing engagement, advice and reassurance to rural communities through schemes such as Farm Watch or Country Watch.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland provides advice and information on their website about a number of issues, including livestock theft. Details can be found at:
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people had their visas to visit the UK revoked in 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not collate or publish the information requested.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what sums his Department received in payments for visa applications in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on visa and immigration income is published annually in The Home Office Annual Report and Accounts. Refer to links below for the last 3 years figures.
FY2017/18 – page 126:
FY2016/17 - page 117:
FY2015/16 - page 134:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539638/HO_AR_16_gov.pdf