Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to require that passport applications are processed at the processing centre closest to the place of residence of the applicant.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Her Majesty’s Passport Office balances work across its processing centres to ensure it is managed as effectively as possible.
This is an essential part of meeting the unprecedented demand we have seen for passports at the present time.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of suspending all deportation flights to Iraq until it reviews its advice on avoiding all but essential travel to Iraq, including the Kurdistan region.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Each individual assessment is made against the background of any relevant caselaw and the latest available country information. Our position on Iraq is set out in the relevant country policy and information note on the gov.uk website.
Where someone establishes a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm in their country, they are normally granted protection and are not expected to return there. The Home Office only seeks to return those whose asylum claim have been unsuccessful. By definition, they do not need protection and not at risk on return.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s travel advice to British nationals is not the correct legal test for determining whether or not a person qualifies for international protection or whether to remove a foreign national with no right to remain in UK.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of her Department's advice on avoiding all but essential travel to Iraq, including the Kurdistan region, on her policies on the deportation of asylum seekers to that country.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Each individual assessment is made against the background of any relevant caselaw and the latest available country information. Our position on Iraq is set out in the relevant country policy and information note on the gov.uk website.
Where someone establishes a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm in their country, they are normally granted protection and are not expected to return there. The Home Office only seeks to return those whose asylum claim have been unsuccessful. By definition, they do not need protection and not at risk on return.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s travel advice to British nationals is not the correct legal test for determining whether or not a person qualifies for international protection or whether to remove a foreign national with no right to remain in UK.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Iraq have (a) applied for and (b) been granted asylum in the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and outcomes at initial decision by nationality are published in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of March 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of school leavers with limited leave to remain in each UK nation in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost due to a manual trawl required.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people under 18 who hold limited leave to remain status are resident in each of the nations of the UK; and what estimate she has made of the number of under 18s holding limited leave to remain who will be resident in each of the nations of the UK in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost as a manual trawl would have to take place.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 exempting people from African commonwealth countries, who are (a) taught in English throughout their education or (b) have English as an official language of their country from English language testing requirements for Home Office applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes a list of Majority English Speaking Countries (MESC) for immigration purposes. Immigration applicants who are nationals of those countries meet the English language requirement without having to provide further proof. For a country be included on the MESC list, the Home Office must have evidence over half the population in that country speak English as a first language.
If a country meets this criterion, it means it is more likely than not any individual applicant from that country can speak English with the level of fluency required to integrate in the UK, complete the course they are coming to study, or undertake the job they are coming to do.
The fact a country’s official language is English is not sufficient justification to include it on the MESC list, as this does not necessarily correlate with more than half of the population of the country speaking English as a first language. We do not currently have evidence any African commonwealth country meets the requirement to be included on the MESC list.
We do not have any plans to recognise secondary school-age qualifications taught outside of the UK as proof of English language ability, but there are a variety of methods applicants can use to meet the English language requirement instead. These include:
having a GCSE, A-level, Scottish National Qualification at level 4 or 5 or, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher, in English following education at a UK school begun when they were under-18.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether asylum seekers from Rwanda arriving in the UK on small boats will be sent to Rwanda to claim asylum under the terms of the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In line with our international obligations a Rwandan who fails their asylum claim or becomes a foreign national offender can be removed under the usual process.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people under 18 who hold limited-leave to remain are resident in each of the nations of the UK; and what estimate she has made of number of under 18s holding limited-leave to remain will be resident in each of the nations of the UK in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials in her Department had discussions with representatives of the UN High Commission for Refugees on the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership before its publication.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK Government works closely with UNHCR on a whole range of issues and as such the Home Office is in regular contact at all levels.
The UK/Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership was negotiation between two states.
Representatives from across Government have since met with the UNHCR regarding the partnership with further engagement also planned.