Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of pending applications to the EU Settlement Scheme are from applicants in Wales.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information of applications and concluded applications by UK country to 31 March 2021 are published in Tables EUSS_01 and EUSS_03_WAL of the quarterly EUSS statistics tables (EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has so far invested nearly £8 million in marketing campaigns to encourage eligible EEA nationals and their family members to apply to the EUSS, and provided grant funding of £22 million through to 30 September 2021 to a network of now 72 organisations across the UK working to help vulnerable groups to apply.
Plans have been shared with communication colleagues in the Devolved Administrations throughout to align and support respective efforts; and core assets have consistently been produced in Welsh translation and shared widely. We will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, community organisations and others to encourage remaining EEA nationals and their family members eligible for the EUSS to apply and secure their rights in the UK.
We have made clear we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications and have already published non-exhaustive guidance on what will be considered reasonable grounds for making one.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2020 to Question 71114, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the immigration rules to ensure that Welsh language skills are awarded equal points as English, including a date whereby final conclusions of that assessment will be published.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are continuing to explore the role of the Welsh language in our immigration system, reflecting its importance to both the communities where it is spoken and to the UK as a whole. Language skills are an important part of integration for those coming to work, study or settle in the UK.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 granting asylum seekers who are victims of modern slavery a minimum of one year of leave to remain in the UK to support their long term recovery.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK’s policy for confirmed victims of modern slavery is to consider granting discretionary leave to remain on a case-by-case basis, based on the individual’s circumstances. The published policy can be found on gov.uk Discretionary leave for victims of modern slavery casework guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk) and gives a number of examples in which a grant of discretionary leave is appropriate.
Confirmed victims of modern slavery who are also asylum seekers are eligible for a grant of leave under the same policy, but this usually only needs to be considered if the asylum claim is refused.
As part of the New Plan for Immigration announced on 24 March 2021, we are consulting on a proposal that confirmed victims with long-term recovery needs linked to their modern slavery exploitation can be considered for a grant of temporary leave to remain to assist their recovery. This builds on our end-to-end needs-based approach to supporting victims. We also make clear that temporary leave to remain may be available to victims who are helping the police with prosecutions and bringing their exploiters to justice.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of effect of the removal of all non-administrative costs from the child citizenship fee on her ability to discharge her duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office keeps all fees under review.
The Home Office has acknowledged the judgment given in the recent court case on child registration fees, where the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision the Home Office had not demonstrated compliance with its duties under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 in setting the child registration fee
A Section 55 assessment of the child registration fee is currently being carried out.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many eligible (a) adults, (b) children in Wales have applied unsuccessfully for UK citizenship as a result of being unable to pay the non-administrative costs of the citizenship fee since 2010.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on citizenship applications and grants at:
An incomplete payment is just one of a number of reasons which could lead to an application being rejected and included under the ‘rejected applications’ heading in Table 4.
The Home Office does not have accessible management information on applications rejected in Wales specifically, as a result of being unable to pay the non-administrative costs of citizenship fees. Fees are set according to section 68 of the Immigration Act 2014 and are set within parameters agreed by Parliament.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to publish its response to the key findings by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration from its site visits to Penally Camp and Napier Barracks, published on 8 March 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration announced an inspection of contingency asylum accommodation on 25 January 2021.
The department acknowledges the ICIBI’s decision to publish on 8 March the initial findings from site visits to Napier Barracks and Penally.
The ICIBI’s inspection continues and a full inspection report will follow.
The duration of the inspection is a matter for the ICIBI and upon its conclusion, following standard procedure set out in the UK Borders Act 2007, the Department will issue a formal response alongside the inspection report as it is laid before Parliament and published on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the key findings by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration from its site visits to Penally Camp and Napier Barracks, published on 8 March 2021, what recent assessment her Department has made its plans to extend planning permission at (a) Penally training camp and (b) Napier barracks.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration announced an inspection of contingency asylum accommodation on 25 January 2021.
The department acknowledges the ICIBI’s decision to publish on 8 March the initial findings from site visits to Napier Barracks and Penally.
The ICIBI’s inspection continues and a full inspection report will follow.
The duration of the inspection is a matter for the ICIBI and upon its conclusion, following standard procedure set out in the UK Borders Act 2007, the Department will issue a formal response alongside the inspection report as it is laid before Parliament and published on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the key findings by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration from its site visits to Penally Camp and Napier Barracks, published on 8 March 2021, what recent assessment her Department has made of the continued use of (a) Penally training camp and (b) Napier barracks as contingency asylum accommodation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration announced an inspection of contingency asylum accommodation on 25 January 2021.
The department acknowledges the ICIBI’s decision to publish on 8 March the initial findings from site visits to Napier Barracks and Penally.
The ICIBI’s inspection continues and a full inspection report will follow.
The duration of the inspection is a matter for the ICIBI and upon its conclusion, following standard procedure set out in the UK Borders Act 2007, the Department will issue a formal response alongside the inspection report as it is laid before Parliament and published on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the key findings of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration from its site visits to Penally Camp and Napier Barracks, published on 8 March 2021; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration announced an inspection of contingency asylum accommodation on 25 January 2021.
The department acknowledges the ICIBI’s decision to publish on 8 March the initial findings from site visits to Napier Barracks and Penally.
The ICIBI’s inspection continues and a full inspection report will follow.
The duration of the inspection is a matter for the ICIBI and upon its conclusion, following standard procedure set out in the UK Borders Act 2007, the Department will issue a formal response alongside the inspection report as it is laid before Parliament and published on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many confirmed cases of covid-19 there have been at the temporary accommodation site for asylum seekers at Penally training camp since September 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office secured use of the site for six months under emergency provisions within the Town and Country Planning regulations, Part 37 of which can be used for Crown emergency development. We are aware of the need for further planning consent for use of the site beyond March 2021.
Any further planning application will be made in line with the legal requirements and in consultation with the County Council local planning authority and other statutory bodies
There have been no confirmed cases of Covid at the Penally Training camp since September 2020.