Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Gaza have arrived in the UK following a successful application for a family visa as a (a) spouse, (b) partner, (c) fiancé, (d) child, (e) parent, (f) relative providing care of a British citizen, (g) settled resident and (h) person with protection status since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of people in Gaza who are awaiting results of applications for family visas does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
Transparency data is however published quarterly on Gov.uk and includes data on the outcomes of visas issued on family routes, although this does not necessarily equate to entering the UK once granted leave.
The latest transparency data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in Gaza are awaiting results of applications for family visas as a (a) spouse, (b) partner, (c) fiancé, (d) child, (e) parent, (f) relative providing care of a British citizen, (g) settled resident and (h) person with protection status who applied (i) on or (ii) before 7 October 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of people in Gaza who are awaiting results of applications for family visas does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
Transparency data is however published quarterly on Gov.uk and includes data on the outcomes of visas issued on family routes, although this does not necessarily equate to entering the UK once granted leave.
The latest transparency data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme have been denied in each quarter since the scheme was launched.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information relating to the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claim outcomes which have either been rejected on the grounds of eligibility as they do not quality for consideration under the Scheme, or found to have zero entitlement to compensation following a full consideration, is included in Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data which is published regularly. The latest published data, covering the period up to November 2023, is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2023. The relevant page is WCS_04.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help provide reassurances to Sikhs on their (a) safety and (b) security in the context of recent steps taken by the Indian Government.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat it.
More broadly, we continue to look at tackling all forms of religious hatred. The department is currently seeking the views and perspectives of domestic and international experts in this field to explore how religious hatred is experienced by British communities today. This work will include anti-Sikh hatred
In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing up to £50.9 million to protect faith communities. This includes £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the new Protective Security for Mosques scheme and a scheme for Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million for the places of worship of other (non-Muslim and non-Jewish) faiths.
The Places of Worship Protective Security Funding (PoW) Scheme provides physical protective security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing to places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other (non-Muslim and non-Jewish) faiths that are particularly vulnerable to religiously or racially motivated hate crime in England and Wales.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2023 to Question 200418 on Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry, when he plans to update Parliament on progress in implementing the recommendations in the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, HC 720, published in October 2022.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government is driving forward work to deliver on the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse including by committing to introduce a new mandatory reporting duty in the Criminal Justice Bill, passing the Online Safety Act, and consulting on changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
The Home Secretary will provide a full update to Parliament on progress against all of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse early in the new year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the recommendations in the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in October 2022.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is continuing to drive forward commitments made in our response to the Independent Inquiry, published in May. We are making good progress, including recently concluding the mandatory reporting call for evidence. We will continue to engage with stakeholders and victims and survivors to ensure we are using all levers we can to tackle this horrific crime. The Home Secretary has also committed to providing an update on progress to Parliament in November.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) prevent the (i) misuse and (ii) unlawful use of force against people held in detention under immigration powers; and what steps she is taking to ensure that there is adequate (A) scrutiny of and (B) transparency on the use of force in such cases.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance. We will accept nothing but the highest standards from companies employed to manage the immigration removal estate.
Published guidance, and the training received by detainee custody officers (DCOs) makes it clear that physical force and restraint equipment should only be used after a thorough assessment of risk, and in consideration of each individual’s personal circumstances. Where restraints are used, they are removed at the earliest opportunity.
The Home Office reviews all reports resulting from a use of force to identify trends, ensure that techniques are used proportionally, are justified, and are used for the minimum period required.
All escort DCOs are fully trained in HOMES techniques (Home Office Manual for Escorting Safely) and custodial DCOs are trained in Control and Restraint (C&R). Quarterly transparency data on the number of use of force incidents using HOMES techniques and the number of use of force incidents where HOMES equipment was used can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-Q2-2023. The Home Office does not publish C&R data.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of (a) use, (b) misuse and (c) unlawful use of force have been recorded on the immigration detention estate in the last 12 months; and for what reason force was used in each incident.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance. We will accept nothing but the highest standards from companies employed to manage the immigration removal estate.
Published guidance, and the training received by detainee custody officers (DCOs) makes it clear that physical force and restraint equipment should only be used after a thorough assessment of risk, and in consideration of each individual’s personal circumstances. Where restraints are used, they are removed at the earliest opportunity.
The Home Office reviews all reports resulting from a use of force to identify trends, ensure that techniques are used proportionally, are justified, and are used for the minimum period required.
All escort DCOs are fully trained in HOMES techniques (Home Office Manual for Escorting Safely) and custodial DCOs are trained in Control and Restraint (C&R). Quarterly transparency data on the number of use of force incidents using HOMES techniques and the number of use of force incidents where HOMES equipment was used can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-Q2-2023. The Home Office does not publish C&R data.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with police forces on the sharing of data with the social media company Meta.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Secretary and Ministers hold regular meetings with policing colleagues to discuss a range of matters, which could include sharing of data.
The Home Office is unable to comment on any specific case or incident. However, as a matter of general practice, the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) sets out in their guidance how data should be shared by competent authorities, including law enforcement. This is available online at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/data-sharing-and-reuse-of-data-by-competent-authorities/
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral statement of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on Public Sector Pay of 13 July 2023, Official Report, column 525, when she plans to bring forward regulations to increase the immigration health surcharge.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We will lay regulations in the Autumn to amend the Immigration (Health Charge Order) 2015, in order to increase the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).