Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the application of the new asylum assessment rules under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This Government is committed to advancing the rights of individuals who are LGBT. The welfare and dignity of all claimants, including those who are LGBT, remains central to our decision-making processes.
One of the key objectives of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 is to increase the fairness and efficacy of our asylum system so that we can better protect and support those in genuine need of asylum. In September 2021, we published an Equality Impact Assessment for the policies being taken forward through the then Bill which included an assessment on potential impacts on people who may face persecution because of the protected characteristics of sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Refugee Family Reunion (under Part 11 Immigration Rules) have resulted in the granting of entry clearance to children under 18 and the refusal of entry clearance to female children over 18 from the same family (a) in total and (b) for families originating from (i) Syria, (ii) Afghanistan and (iii) Iran in the last two years for which records exist.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office is able to provide some of the information requested, but is unable to provide information on which applications are from members of the same family, as to obtain this would incur disproportionate cost.
The numbers of family reunion visas issued & refused in total and broken down by age group, gender and the specific nationalities requested is set out in the table below.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of landlord immigration checks on non-EEA residents trying to rent, who have entered the UK on temporary documents and are waiting for a biometric residence permit.
Answered by James Brokenshire
People with no right to be in the UK should not be able to rent homes and place people who are here legally at a disadvantage.
That is why the Immigration Act 2014 introduced landlords' right to rent checks. The first phase of the landlords’ scheme, which was launched in the Cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Sandwell, Dudley, and Walsall on 1 December 2014, is currently being evaluated.
The regulations enable migrants to demonstrate evidence of their right to rent a property using a range of specified documentation, and the Home Office is providing a responsive checking service for landlords to confirm a person’s right to rent where the individual has an outstanding immigration application or appeal.
People issued with a 30 day visa to enter the UK in advance of collecting their biometric residence permit will be able to evidence their right to rent using their short term visa, and the landlord will then need to conduct a follow-up check after 12 months, at which point the migrant will be able to evidence any continued lawful immigration status using their biometric residence permit (BRP).
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of landlord immigration checks in the private rented sector on landlords' willingness to rent.
Answered by James Brokenshire
People with no right to be in the UK should not be able to rent homes and place people who are here legally at a disadvantage.
That is why the Immigration Act 2014 introduced landlords' right to rent checks. The first phase of the landlords’ scheme, which was launched in the Cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Sandwell, Dudley, and Walsall on 1 December 2014, is currently being evaluated.
The regulations enable migrants to demonstrate evidence of their right to rent a property using a range of specified documentation, and the Home Office is providing a responsive checking service for landlords to confirm a person’s right to rent where the individual has an outstanding immigration application or appeal.
People issued with a 30 day visa to enter the UK in advance of collecting their biometric residence permit will be able to evidence their right to rent using their short term visa, and the landlord will then need to conduct a follow-up check after 12 months, at which point the migrant will be able to evidence any continued lawful immigration status using their biometric residence permit (BRP).
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on which occasions the Ethiopian government requested the return of Mr Andargachew Tsige to its jurisdiction since 2004; and what response was given to those requests.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As a matter of long standing policy and practice, the United Kingdom will neither confirm nor deny the existence of an extradition request made or received by this country before an arrest is made pursuant to the request.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the expected processing time is for a Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The current Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) service standard is to issue 88% of all Disclosures within 40 working days. Latest figures, relating to November 2014, show that the average time taken to process a DBS Disclosure application was 10.55 working days.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contributions the Government made to the Mare Nostrum rescue program before the decision to no longer support it.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Mare Nostrum is an Italian search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean. The UK has had no involvement in, and made no contributions to, the operation.
We continue to work with Italy and other EU Member States to address migratory pressures in the Mediterranean, for the sake of law abiding citizens and in the best interests of those tempted to make this dangerous journey. This includes providing support to Frontex, the EU external borders agency, and finding ways to address the causes of illegal migration and organised crime in countries of origin and transit.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what payments her Department makers to destination countries for visas allowing entry to people being deported from the UK to those countries.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We work closely with embassies from a wide range of countries to obtain travel
documents, rather than visas, to assist removal. We pay a small administrative
fee for these documents, which enable the removal of people who have no right
to be in the UK.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent changes have been made in the issuing of visa applications at the Visa Centre in Moscow.
Answered by James Brokenshire
In March 2014 the management of the UK's network of Russian visa application
centres passed from VFS Global to Teleperformance. We are offering a full visa
service in Russia and our global customer service standards continue to apply.
Teleperformance opened all 5 new Visa Application Centres in Russia on time in
March 2014. There was no break in service between the closure of the VFS
centres and the opening of Teleperformance centres. The new Visa Application
Centres are all fully functioning and there are appointments available at all
of them.