Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long asylum seekers who have been granted section 95 status currently have to wait to receive an Aspen card.
Answered by Kevin Foster
When an asylum seeker in full-board initial accommodation (where there is Migrant Help physical presence) has been granted section 95 states an Aspen card will be issued within 4-6 working days. Where individuals are in other accommodation locations they will be sent Aspen cards by Royal Mail post, once issued.
We have undertaken improvement work to reduce the waiting time by introducing twice weekly reporting and ensuring prompt data sharing with Migrant Help.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many outstanding applications there are from Ukrainian nationals for visas to enter the UK outside of the Ukraine Sponsorship scheme and the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Applications from Ukraine nationals are being prioritised by UKVI.
Information on the number of visas granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme can be found in our published data on the GOV.UK webpage: Ukraine Family Scheme: application data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
To capture numbers beyond this data would require a manual trawl and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many outstanding applications there are from Ukrainian nationals for visas to enter the UK which were submitted before the Ukraine Family Scheme opened.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Statistical information regarding the number of Ukrainian nationals applying for UK visas prior to the launch of the UFS is regularly released by UKVI.
The latest published statistics can be found here: Immigration statistics, year ending December 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of eligible children in the care system who have not yet been granted settled status.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office continues to work closely with Local Authorities to monitor their progress in making and supporting applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) on behalf of eligible looked after children and care leavers.
The latest survey indicates that, as of 30 November 2021, of the 3,895 looked after children and care leavers identified by the survey as potentially eligible to apply, 3,705 applications to the EUSS had been received (95%). 2,840 (77%) of these applications had been decided, of which 2,245 (79%) had resulted in a grant of settled status and 420 (15%) in a grant of pre-settled status. The full survey can be found at:
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of incidents of identity theft relating to telecommunications and utility bills recorded by Action Fraud; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legislative powers to take steps in response to such cases.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is aware of the harms caused by identity theft and that criminals use false identities to commit and enable a range of offences.
The Office for National Statistics publish official statistics on the number of frauds reported to Action Fraud on a quarterly basis and the latest statistics can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2021.
However, the detailed information requested about how the fraud was committed is not held centrally. Whilst the theft of another person’s identity is often a pre-cursor to fraud, a recordable crime is committed a person’s identity is used by another individual to commit a criminal offence. Identity theft is not a separate offence in law and so it is not recorded as a distinct category.
There are currently no plans to introduce a new criminal offence of identity theft as existing legislation is in place to protect people’s personal data and prosecute those that commit crimes enabled by identity theft. These include the Fraud Act 2006, the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Identity Documents Act 2010 and the Data Protection Act 2018.
We believe that the most effective way of preventing identity theft is to improve the safety and security of the identity systems we use, particularly online. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently published draft “rules of the road” for governing the future use of digital identities. The new trust framework, including details of how to contribute to this work can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-digital-identity-and-attributes-trust-framework. We continue to encourage the public to report fraud to Action fraud.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the context of no eligible prize holders having applied for her Department's fast-track Global Talent visa in the first six months of that scheme, what steps she is taking to help ensure that the immigration system is accessible to talented (a) scientists, (b) academics and (c) creatives at all stages of their career.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We have a very generous immigration offer, which enables talented scientists, academics and creatives to come to the UK through a number of different routes, including Global Talent, Skilled Worker, Creative and Temporary Worker Government Authorised Exchange (GAE) routes.
The new Points-Based System is working well, attracting the skills the UK needs, as demonstrated by the latest Immigration Statistics year end September 2021. Issuance of work visas across all routes is up on both 2020 and 2019 (pre-pandemic). Since launch, last year, the Global Talent route has seen a significant increase in applicants compared to the predecessor route, despite the impact of travel cause by the pandemic. The number of visas granted on this route has continued to grow from 422 between its launch in February 2020 to year end September 2020, to 1,709 applicants for the year ending September 2021.
We work closely with the endorsing bodies for the route, which include the country’s leading science bodies, to develop the route to ensure it continues to meet the sector’s needs. We ensure that the route makes it as easy as possible for those top scientists and academics coming to the UK, which is why we introduced the Prestigious Prizes pathway for those at the pinnacle of their career.
This was always intended to be for a very small number of those who may already use the Global Talent route. The only difference from the main route is the removal of the need to obtain endorsement for holders of prestigious prizes. Where individuals do not hold one of these prizes they continue to be able to use the wider route, which I am pleased to say they are doing so in strong numbers.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on her plans to direct police forces to record violent crimes motivated by hostility to a person’s sex.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have asked police forces, on an experimental basis, to record and identify any crimes of violence against the person, including stalking and harassment, and sexual offences where the victim perceives it to have been motivated by a hostility based on their sex .
Each new data requirement incurs an administrative burden on the police and needs close engagement with forces to ensure data recording is accurate and consistent.
We are in consultation with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and forces on how to take this forward.