Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 students applying for visa extensions in response to the duration of their courses being extended as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Home Office Migration Statistics do not capture the number of estimated student visa extension applications submitted in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
The Home Office does though publish data on the number of student visa extension applications submitted and how many of these have been granted. The data shows the year on year comparison. These can be found in our published statistics: Extensions tables
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to grant cost exemptions to students who need to extend their visas to complete their course in the UK as a result of the duration of their courses being extended due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We have no plans to exempt students from paying an application fee where they require further time to complete a course of study.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visas were granted to allow travellers to enter the UK from India since 1 April 2021, by type of visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Travel to the UK from India is currently subjective to extensive restrictions due to it being on the Red List, this includes a requirement to enter the Managed Quarantine Service on arrival in the UK.
Any proposed travel to the UK from India, including any which forms the basis of a visa application, will need to be in line with the prevailing health restrictions.
Information on numbers of people coming to the UK is routinely published as part of the quarterly and annual Immigration statistics.
We do not publish data on the number of visas issued by country, our published data is issued by nationality.
Data for Quarter 1 (January 2021 – March 2021) was published in the most recent data release but will not cover the period requested. Later publications will cover the period requested and can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2021
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many travellers have entered the UK from India since 1 April 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Travel to the UK from India is currently subjective to extensive restrictions due to it being on the Red List, this includes a requirement to enter the Managed Quarantine Service on arrival in the UK.
The Home Office regularly publishes migration statistics including number of visitors to the UK on gov.uk. The latest publication covers up to March 2021 and can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2021
Statistics covering the period including April 2021 will be published as part of the next Quarterly Update.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks are in place to ensure self-isolation at home is being carried out fully and correctly.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Self-isolation following a positive Covid test is one of the most important things we can do to help stop the spread of the virus and protect our friends and family, our community and the NHS. Following a report of non-compliance by a member of the public and if considered appropriate, the police are empowered to issue fixed penalty notices for failure to self-isolate.
Separate isolation requirements also apply to individuals returning to England from an amber-list country. Those self-isolating at home may receive daily phone calls from the Isolation Assurance and Compliance service (IAC), to ensure that they are complying with their duty to self-isolate.
Additionally, a service run by my department will through contractors carry out a number of in-person checks on amber-list arrivals to ensure compliance. The service has the capacity to deliver up to 10,000 checks a day.
If an individual is found to be non-compliant with their duty to self-isolate, then staff from the service may refer individuals to the case to the police who have the power to take law enforcement action and issue Fixed Penalty Notices.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the consultation on Preventing and tackling forced marriage, published 15 November 2018, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a placing a mandatory reporting duty of forced marriages upon safeguarding professionals.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK is a world-leader in the fight to end forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat it at home and abroad.
We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this practice is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. And in 2017 we introduced lifelong anonymity for victims of forced marriage to encourage more victims of this hidden crime to come forward.
We are considering our response to the public consultation. The consultation also sought views on how guidance on forced marriage could be improved and strengthened and we are updating our guidance products to reflect the findings.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require that knives sold in shops are kept locked in secure cabinets.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
During the passage of the Offensive Weapons Bill, we considered whether to make it a criminal offence for businesses to display a bladed product and whether shops should keep knives locked in secure cabinets. We concluded that we could achieve the same aim by working closely with retailers to ensure that knives cannot be easily stolen in order to circumvent age verification processes.
We continue to work with retailers, local authorities and the police to send a clear message that retailers have a responsibility to sell and display bladed articles in a responsible manner. The Government are encouraging much stronger voluntary action in relation to displays through the set of voluntary commitments with major retailers to prevent the underage sales of knives. These commit retailers to having robust measures in place to ensure age verification and both appropriate display and access to knives in stores. Retailers also act to ensure customers and staff are reminded that knives are age restricted products and that all staff receive regular training. Since March 2016, 19 major retailed have joined the agreement, with some stopping the sale of single knives in their stores altogether.
We are keeping this work under review and we will work with retailers within the framework of the voluntary agreement on sales of knives to include stronger voluntary action on displays once we commence some provisions in the Offensive Weapons Act which were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that parents can apply for a passport for their child in cases where they are unable to register the birth of that child due to the closure of birth registration services as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The absence of a birth certificate where they are unable to register the birth of that child does not prevent a passport application being submitted, however alternative evidence will need to be provided.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing new births to be registered over the phone where birth registry offices are closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In England and Wales, the relevant legislation does not allow for birth registrations to be completed by telephone.
The Government is considering options for how births can be registered during the situation, whilst respecting prevailing public health guidance and regulations.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to tackle the backlog of appointments to register new births when birth registry offices that are currently closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak reopen.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office are working with partners across government to develop recovery plans to register all births.