Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the administrative requirements on EU citizens with Settled Status to prove their status without physical documentation when accessing essential services.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We are enabling other government departments and public authorities to be able to automatically access immigration status information. Currently, this includes the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and NHS England and Wales.
The data made available is specific to the need of each department and contains only the necessary information to inform their decision making. By making data available in this way, we are reducing the number of occasions on which an individual has to prove their status in the UK. The Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Privacy Notice provides information about how we share data with other government departments.
When applying for banking services, all individuals are required to provide proof of their identity as part of anti-money laundering, regulatory ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) checks.
We have produced guidance for financial providers to help them understand the documents we issue, including eVisas, and how they can be used as proof of identity for the purposes of KYC checks. This can be found at:
As detailed in this guidance, financial institutions can check someone’s identity, using the online ‘View and Prove’ service at:
https://www.gov.uk/check-immigration-status.
This enables checks to be conducted without physical documents changing hands or the checker having to assess the authenticity of the documents and whether the person presenting it is the rightful holder.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's definition is of serious offences; and if she will provide a list of offences in that category.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The definition of “serious offences” varies by context. The term is defined differently in different pieces of legislation. For Example: Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 is titled “Serious Offences” and includes a list of offences which are relevant to the Court’s consideration of whether a Serious Crime Prevention Order should be imposed on a person. The Children and Young Persons Act 1969 defines a “serious offence” for the purposes of that legislation as “an offence punishable in the case of an adult with imprisonment for a term of two years or more”.
This Government is steadfast in its approach to tackling crime. We have recently published the Beating Crime Plan, which reaffirms our manifesto commitment to cutting crime, protecting the public and increasing public confidence in the criminal justice system. It sets out our strategy for protecting the law-abiding majority, swiftly bringing criminals to justice and managing offenders with rigour and discipline. The full Plan is available on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beating-crime-plan
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2021 to Question 41845 on Deportation: Jamaica and Zimbabwe, whether any of the people deported on the charter flight to (a) Zimbabwe on 21 July 2021 and (b) Jamaica on 11 August 2021 or any of those who were scheduled for deportation on those two flights but were not placed on the planes on the day were under the age of 12 when they came to the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to my response of 8 September 2021 (UIN: 41845).
We do not routinely comment on individual cases. As stated in my previous response, a person’s age upon arrival to the UK or their nationality are not automatic exceptions to deportation under the UK Borders Act 2007. These may be relevant factors when determining whether an exception applies and an Article 8 claim pursuant to the Immigration Rules. Those deported will have been provided with the opportunity to raise claims and all claims are fully considered and decided upon before deportation, including, where applicable, via the Courts. I will continue to remove dangerous criminals and those with no rights to be in the UK from the country.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of appointing a Wildlife and Rural Crime Coordinator for England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to driving down both wildlife and rural crime. To help deliver this, we provide funding for the police’s National Wildlife Crime Unit and fully support the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Rural Affairs Strategy, which supports safer rural communities and provides a better rural focus in policing. Delivery of the Strategy is supported by the Government’s recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers over the next three years to ensure that the public are protected against crime, including rural crime.
It is the responsibility of Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, who understand the priorities of their communities, to ensure that resources, including these new officers, are deployed accordingly.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on how dual UK and EU citizens travelling on EU member states' passports to the UK should prove their UK citizenship.
Answered by Kevin Foster
British citizens, including those with dual citizenship, have a right of abode in the UK and do not require leave to enter.
Where the passenger presents a non-British passport and claims to be British, but does not hold any evidence of their citizenship, the officer will conduct all relevant checks to satisfy themselves the passenger is British
Dual nationals, including those who are EU citizens, who are eligible to use e-gates, will be able to enter via the e-gates without being routinely examined by an immigration officer.
We recommend all dual nationals, including EU citizens, travel on their British passport or with evidence or their British citizenship to minimise any potential delay at the border or when commencing their journey
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to enable dual UK and EU citizens to travel to the UK on an EU member state passport without having to further prove their UK citizenship.
Answered by Kevin Foster
British citizens have a right of abode in the UK and do not require leave to enter.
Border Force Officers examine all arriving passengers to establish whether they are British citizens, whether they require leave to enter or if they are exempt from immigration control.
Where the passenger claims to be British, but does not hold any evidence of British citizenship, the officer will conduct all relevant checks to satisfy themselves the passenger is British
When dual nationals who are eligible to use e-gates travel to the UK, they will enter via the e-gates without being examined by an immigration officer.
We recommend all dual nationals, including EU citizens, travel on their British passport or with evidence or their British citizenship to minimise any potential delay at the border or when commencing their journey.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any of those people deported on the charter flight to (a) Zimbabwe on 21 July 2021 and (b) Jamaica on 11 August 2021 or any of those who were scheduled for deportation on those two flights but were not placed on the planes on the day were under the age of 12 when they came to the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is fully committed to discharging the obligation under the UK Borders Act 2007, which is that a non-British citizen convicted of an offence in the UK and sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment and to whom an exception does not apply is deported from the UK. A person’s age upon arrival to the UK or their nationality are not exceptions to automatic deportation, but may be relevant factors in considering whether an exception applies.
The length of time a person has lived in the UK, as well as the strength of their social, cultural and family ties to the UK, are factors considered when determining any Article 8 claim and whether there are very compelling circumstances which satisfy the requirements of the Immigration Rules. A foreign criminal is given the opportunity to make submissions as to why they should not be deported and all claims raised are fully considered and decided upon before deportation, including, where applicable, via the Courts.
We only return those with no legal right to remain in the UK, including foreign national offenders. Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable, the Courts deem it is safe to do so.
Our priority will always be to keep our communities safe and since January 2019 we have removed 8,441 foreign criminals.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the view and prove immigration status telephone line has charged callers inquiring about any aspect of their Settled Status or application for Settled Status (a) on average per day since that line opened, (b) in each of the last 30 days and (c) in total since that line opened.
Answered by Kevin Foster
EU citizens seeking support via the Support Resolution Centre can do so for free. The SRC has helped millions of people with their applications and continues to do so every day.
We identified a technical error on 20 July which meant a very small percentage of customers calling the UKVI Resolution Centre may have been charged. This technical issue was resolved by 17:00 on 20 July.
We are currently working with the supplier to identify any customers who were charged incorrectly and arrange refunds for these customers.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees have come to the UK through the UK Resettlement Scheme in each month since February 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK Resettlement Scheme commenced in March 2021, immediately following the successful completion of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. The UK Resettlement Scheme continues to successfully resettle refugees, as local authority and community sponsor capacity allows, and as we recover from the pandemic.
Statistics under the scheme are published through official statistics at quarterly intervals. The next set of statistics will be published in July and will include the number of people resettled since March. These are available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 12 March 2021 to Question 165514 on Migrants: Detainees, on what date she plans to publish the Action Access evaluation report.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Action Access and they have appointed the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to independently evaluate the pilot. NatCen will be publishing the evaluation on their website.