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.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many starts by region have been recorded for the youth offer as of 01 March 2024.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Youth Offer launched on the 20 September 2020 and provides support for 16–24-year-olds who are on Universal Credit to help them move into employment. It includes three elements:

• The Youth Employment Programme, which provides young people dedicated intensive Work Coach support in finding & applying for jobs, with additional assistance available for those who have recently begun their Universal Credit claim.
• Youth Hubs, which bring together in one location DWP services with local support provided by youth experts. This ensures that the needs of young people are matched to services that help them tackle barriers to employment.
• Youth Employability Coaches, who are focused on supporting young people furthest from the labour market overcome complex challenges so that they can move into work.

As of 01 March 2024, there have been 1,123,000 starts on the Youth Offer.

Starts by strand nationally:

Starts by strand and region:

Notes:

1. Eligible claimants who have recently begun their Universal Credit claim, and are actively searching for work, start in the Youth Employment Programme element of the Youth Offer. A Work Coach may later refer them to a Youth Hub, Youth Employability Coach or other employment support as appropriate based on their needs.
2. When a claimant starts on any of the three elements of the Youth Offer, this is recorded as a start on that element, as well as a start on the Youth Offer.
3. A claimant may take part in multiple elements of the Youth Offer. They may start any element of the Youth Offer multiple times. Each of these starts is recorded as a start on the Youth Offer.
4. Claimants do not take part in multiple elements of the Youth Offer simultaneously.
5. Data for Youth Hubs and Youth Employability Coaches is not available prior to April-21.
6. Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach data is produced from a manual process and although care is taken when processing and analysing Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach referrals, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which features manual data. Therefore, Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach figures are likely to underestimate the number of young people who have started at a Youth Hub and/or with a Youth Employability Coach.
7. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. Therefore, the individual elements in the table may not sum to the total figure.
8. Figures are subject to retrospective revision.
9. Youth Offer starts are categorised as “unknown” in cases where limited data is available.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2024 to Question 18307 on Immigration: Applications, whether pictures of language certificates can be used when applying for (a) citizenship and (b) settlement status.

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

Pictures of language certificates can be used when applying for citizenship and settlement status. The Home Office may request original documents if they are not satisfied that the documents provided are sufficient to demonstrate that English language requirements are met.

Found: Current membership Philip Dunne MP (Conservative, Ludlow ) (Chair) Duncan Baker MP (Conservative, North

Found: Current membership Philip Dunne MP (Conservative, Ludlow ) (Chair) Duncan Baker MP (Conservative, North

Found: Current membership Philip Dunne MP (Conservative, Ludlow ) (Chair) Duncan Baker MP (Conservative, North

Submit Evidence (by 29 Apr 2024)

The Environmental Audit Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the interaction of climate change and security issues and the UK Government’s approach to anticipating, preventing, and responding to the security threats posed by climate change.