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Written Question
Immigration: Applications
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether original copies of language certifications are required when applying for (a) citizenship and (b) settlement status.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Original copies of language certificates are not always required when applying for citizenship or settlement. Applicants required to take the Secure English Language Test must provide a unique reference number which the Home Office checks against a central database to verify the qualification. However, where there is insufficient evidence provided to verify that an applicant has passed an approved English language test, an original copy of a language certificate may be required.


Written Question
Visas: Families
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his timetable is for announcing further dates on which the minimum income threshold for family visas will increase.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Net Migration is simply too high. This is why we have set out a package of measures to reduce net migration including bring the Minimum Income Requirement for family visas is in line with the new minimum general salary threshold for Skilled Workers, which is £38,700.

We will raise the minimum income for family visas incrementally, in stages. We intend to lay the family Immigration Rules we intend to lay on 14 March which will set out that from 11 April, we will raise the threshold to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas.


Written Question
Visas: Ukraine
Friday 16th June 2023

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains her policy not to charge visa fees for Ukrainians visiting family members in the UK.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

In response to Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government created three bespoke Ukraine Schemes offering 36 months’ temporary sanctuary in the UK. These schemes are free to apply for and have no restriction to rights, access to benefits or services and have a health surcharge waiver. The Standard Visitor route is for anyone wanting to visit the UK for a temporary period, usually up to 6 months, for purposes such as tourism and visiting family and friends, with a fee charged.


Written Question
Speed Limits: Fines
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 110878 on Speed Limits: Fines, if she will make it her policy to allow people receiving speeding penalty charges related (a) dashboard camera, (b) CCTV and (c) helmet camera footage to review that footage before making the choice about whether to plead guilty or go to court.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions as to whether an offence may be being committed and the provision of any dashboard, CCTV and helmet camera footage in respect of a potential speeding offence is an operational matter for the police.

Before a possible prosecution the police will issue a conditional fixed penalty offer with evidence that can be relied upon at court. It is then a decision for the recipient to decide to accept this offer or to challenge this at court.


Written Question
Speed Limits: Fines
Tuesday 20th December 2022

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on the use of (a) dashboard camera, (b) CCTV and (c) helmet camera footage for speeding penalties; and whether a driver subject to a potential speeding penalty should be permitted to review the footage before making the choice about whether to plead guilty or go to court.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Unless it is unlawful for some other reason, the police can use any equipment they wish to help detect offences. How the police enforce road traffic law, including speeding offences, and the type of equipment they may use is an operational matter for the police.

However, equipment used by the police to capture evidence of speeding that can be prosecuted in court is type approved by government. This “Type Approval” process involves equipment being subject to rigorous field and laboratory testing to ensure the accuracy and reliability of their speed measurements and to prevent the possibility of spurious speed measurements being produced. This includes a requirement for primary and secondary speed measurement verification. Secondary legislation also prescribes how the camera will perform the speed measurement.

Type approval guarantees that a device is accurate, precise, reliable and consistent so that its evidence can be relied on. Evidence from a type approved device can therefore also reasonably be used to support the offer of a fixed penalty and will be available for use in a prosecution should the fixed penalty offer not be accepted. At this stage no devices described by the member have been submitted for Type Approval.

The provision of any dashboard, CCTV and helmet camera footage in respect of a potential speeding offence is an operational matter for the police.


Written Question
British Nationality: EU Nationals
Monday 14th December 2020

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people who have not applied for the EU Settlement Scheme and have instead applied for British Citizenship and (a) have or (b) have not received their citizenship by 30 June retain the right to remain.

Answered by Kevin Foster

People who have not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme but have applied for and are granted British citizenship will have the right of abode in the UK. If they were lawfully resident in the UK under EU law as an EEA citizen at the end of the transition period, they will continue to enjoy relevant rights under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements even if they did not obtain EU Settlement Scheme status before they were granted British citizenship.

Those who have not been granted British citizenship and have not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021 will not have the right to remain in the UK after that date. If there are reasonable grounds for the person missing the deadline to apply to the scheme, they will be given a further opportunity to apply.

A person who has applied for and not yet received British citizenship can ensure they are in the UK lawfully after 30 June 2021 by making a free of charge application to the EU Settlement Scheme by that date.


Written Question
Immigration: EU Nationals
Tuesday 8th December 2020

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether EU citizens with permanent residency status in the UK need to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme by June 2021.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Permanent residence is a status derived from EU law.

EU citizens with this status need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme for a UK immigration status by 30 June 2021 in order to continue living in the UK after that date.


Written Question
Police: North Norfolk
Tuesday 25th February 2020

Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 20,000 new police officers she plans to allocate to North Norfolk; and what her Department's timescale is for deploying additional police officers to North Norfolk.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Government is delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting 20,000 additional police officers over the next three years.

Norfolk Police has been allocated 67 officers in year one of the uplift, to be recruited by the end of March 2021. This is supported by an increase of up to £11.4m in 2020/21. Decisions on the allocation of officers for years two and three are yet to be taken.

Decisions on the deployment of officers within a force area are operational decisions for Chief Constables.