Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the refund eligibility criteria for individuals who purchased the UKVCAS Super Priority Service but did not receive a decision on their visa application within 24 hours.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office’s published immigration and nationality refunds policy sets out the circumstances in which priority service fees will be refunded Immigration and nationality refunds policy (publishing.service.gov.uk).
The circumstances in which a refund of the fee paid to expedite an application through the Super Priority service will be made include where the applicant has taken necessary steps to complete their application, but the application has not been processed within the published timescales. A partial refund of the difference between the Super Priority and Priority fee can be considered if an application goes on to be processed under the published timescales for the Priority service.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources are being provided to support asylum seekers required to fill in the 11 page questionnaire in English and return it within 20 days.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Streamlined Asylum Process policy guidance was published on 23 February 2023 (Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). On the same day, questionnaires began to be sent out to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen to their most recently recorded correspondence address. These countries have been included in the streamlined asylum process on the basis of their high-grant rate of 95% or higher and over 100 grants in the year-ending September 2022 of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All questionnaires should be dispatched to eligible claimants by the end of March 2023.
The asylum claim questionnaires are in English as is generally the case for immigration paperwork across the Department. If necessary, claimants can utilise legal representatives, Non-Government Organisations and other support networks to help them respond to the questionnaire. For those who are unable to return the questionnaire within 20 working days, a reminder will be sent to the claimant allowing a further 10-working days to complete and return it to the Home Office. A further extension can be requested where the timeframe cannot be met, for example because the claimant has serious medical conditions which is impacting their ability to respond to the questionnaire.
The intention of these questionnaires is to enable claimants to provide any further information about their claims after their initial screening interview upon arrival.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his department plans to publish its response to the public sexual harassment consultation that closed on 1 September 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling public sexual harassment and as such on the 25th October, we were delighted to launch the second stage of our ‘Enough’ communications campaign. This new stage includes a range of new communications assets across television, social media, digital advertising and other channels, which look to advise and give bystanders practical tips on how they can safely take action to stop violence against women and girls.
We are grateful for all the responses received to the consultation on whether there should be a public sexual harassment offence, and Ministers will make clear their position on the issue as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to make public sexual harassment a criminal offence.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Sexual harassment in public places is an appalling practice, which this Government is committed to tackling. Women and girls have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.
As set out in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published last July, we have been looking carefully at where there may be gaps in existing law and how a specific offence for public sexual harassment could address those.
As a result of this work, last month we announced that by the summer recess we would launch a public consultation on whether there should be a new offence of public sexual harassment.
In the VAWG Strategy we also committed to non-legislative actions to help tackle this issue. Following this, in December the College of Policing published a new advice product for police officers, advising them about the preventative strategies and criminal offences which they can use to respond to reports of various different types of public sexual harassment. The Crown Prosecution Service will also soon be publishing an updated version of its legal guidance on public order offences, to include specific material on public sexual harassment.
In addition, on 1 March the Home Office launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign, which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and help create an atmosphere in which women and girls can report such crimes to the police with confidence.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the availability of potential legal routes to make public sexual harassment a crime.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Sexual harassment in public places is an appalling practice, which this Government is committed to tackling. Women and girls have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.
As set out in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published last July, we have been looking carefully at where there may be gaps in existing law and how a specific offence for public sexual harassment could address those.
As a result of this work, last month we announced that by the summer recess we would launch a public consultation on whether there should be a new offence of public sexual harassment.
In the VAWG Strategy we also committed to non-legislative actions to help tackle this issue. Following this, in December the College of Policing published a new advice product for police officers, advising them about the preventative strategies and criminal offences which they can use to respond to reports of various different types of public sexual harassment. The Crown Prosecution Service will also soon be publishing an updated version of its legal guidance on public order offences, to include specific material on public sexual harassment.
In addition, on 1 March the Home Office launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign, which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and help create an atmosphere in which women and girls can report such crimes to the police with confidence.
Asked by: Baroness Harman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests she has received from hon. Members on behalf of Afghan citizens who wish to come to the UK since 15 August 2021 as at the date of answering.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Since 15 August we have received 8978 emails and calls from hon. Members relating to Afghan citizens wishing to come to the UK.