Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has undertaken a recent review of international best practice in relation to the criminalisation of prostitution; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office has examined different legislative approaches to prostitution around the world, however, we have not yet seen unequivocal evidence that any approach is better at tackling harm and exploitation – and that remains our priority.
The Government recognises the strong arguments for commissioning a research project into the prevalence and nature of prostitution in England and Wales and believes that such an evidence base is vital prior to considering any further changes to policy and legislation.
The University of Bristol has been granted £150,000 to carry out this research.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2018 to Question 150775 on Asylum: LGBT People, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the experimental statistics on asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation; and whether his Department has plans to include those statistics in future regular statistical releases.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Home Office statisticians continue to review the quality of data on asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation in line with National Statistics protocols, and intend to update the published statistics in due course.
On top of this, guidance around the use of the sexual orientation identifier has been issued since 2013 and will be reviewed in due course as part of a wider review into asylum instructions.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2018 to Question 150775 on Asylum: LGBT People, which (a) stakeholders (b) organisations and (c) individuals his Department consulted on the new instruction on Gender Identity and Expression that will replace the instructions on Gender Identity and handling asylum claims where a Gender Recognition Certificate is presented.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office has actively sought the contributions of a wide range of stakeholders in developing its guidance on Gender Identity and Expression. These include Stonewall, the UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group and Asylum Aid, as well as legal experts including the Trans Equality Legal Initiative (TELI).
We expect to publish the new instruction later this year.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of LGBT people seeking asylum from persecution overseas were successful in their application; and whether he has any plans to review the guidelines of such applications.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In November, the Home Office published experimental statistics on asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation.
These statistics relate to the number of asylum claims where sexual orientation was raised as a basis, or part of the basis, of the claim, and refer to claims made between 1 July 2015 and 31 March 2017. The data do not indicate whether the individual seeking asylum actually had a particular sexual orientation, whether this was the sole basis for the claim, or whether this had any bearing on the outcome of the claim.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/asylum-claims-on-the-basis-of-sexual-orientation
We remain committed to improving the asylum process for those claiming asylum on the basis of their sexual or gender identity and decision-makers are provided with dedicated guidance on the management of such claims.
We are developing a new instruction on Gender Identity and Expression that will replace both the current instructions on Gender Identity and on handling asylum claims where a Gender Recognition Certificate is presented. We expect to be able to publish this instruction later this summer.
We are also committed to reviewing the asylum instruction on claims based on sexual orientation on a regular basis. We will progress this review in the near future.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to replicate in legislation the opinion of European Court of Justice ruling C-673/16 on same sex spousal rights after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, which implement EU free movement law in the UK, already recognise same-sex marriages and unmarried partnerships. This will be replicated in the eligibility rules for the EU Exit Settlement Scheme for those EU citizens and their family members arriving before the end of the implementation period. Existing non-EU immigration rules also recognise same-sex marriages and unmarried partnerships.
In terms of the post-Brexit immigration regime, we are considering the options for our future immigration system carefully. We are building a comprehensive picture of the needs and interests of all parts of the UK and intend to develop a system which works in the national interest. In doing so, we will provide for equal treatment of same-sex couples, as we do now and in line with our obligations under the Equalities Act 2010.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a separate stakeholder group to the Migration Advisory Committee with representatives from (a) the devolved administrations and (b) regional and city mayors.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has a UK-wide remit. On 27 July 2017, the Government commissioned the MAC to report on the impact on the UK labour market of the UK’s exit from the European Union and how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy. The commission specifically required the MAC to consider the impacts on different parts of the UK.
In taking evidence, the MAC has visited Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and every region of England.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has carried out modelling on potential changes in migration numbers caused by the savings and salary thresholds for spousal visa applications being raised or lowered.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The savings and salary thresholds for spousal visa applications are dictated by the minimum income requirement. It was set following advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee and considering the Policy Equality Statement published on 13 June 2012. In February 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the lawfulness of the minimum income requirement under the family Immigration Rules, including in terms of equalities impacts and in light of the published Policy Equality Statement.
Any future amendment to the minimum income requirement would be subject to thorough equality and impact analysis and a further Policy Equality Statement will be published.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to introduce a maximum waiting time for a reply to applications for indefinite leave to remain under the ten-year settlement route.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The current maximum waiting time for a straightforward application for indefinite leave to remain under the ten-year settlement route is six months, there are currently no plans to change this.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of Parliamentary cases received a response within the 20-working day service standard from the UK Visas and Immigration office at Festival Court in Glasgow in 2017.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Statistics on UKVI performance in answering written MP written enquiries within 20 working day target are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data
Final quarter statistics for 2017 are due to be published in February 2018.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the proportion of spousal visa applications which failed because the sponsoring spouse is unable to meet the salary and savings thresholds in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The specific information requested is not available in published statistics.
Information on the total number of entry clearance visa applications and resolved (i.e. grants, refusals, withdrawn and lapsed) cases, and the proportion of resolved cases that are either granted or refused, in the ‘Family: Partner’ category is published quarterly.
The most recent information can be found in the Home Office publication ‘Immigration Statistics, July – September 2017’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_01_q, available from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2017