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 make it easier for care workers to secure visas to work in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have made and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of the Health and Care visa last August made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals – including Senior Care Workers - and their dependants to secure their visa.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has also extended the visas of over 10,000 key, frontline regulated health and care professionals, and their eligible family members. Details of the free extension, including the eligible occupations can be found at www.gov.uk/coronavirus-health-worker-visa-extension.
In response to issues raised during the Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020, the Government will shortly commission an independent review of the impact of ending free movement on the care sector. This will be published in due course. Yet UK Immigration policy should not be viewed as an alternative to offering hard working care workers the type of rewarding packages and career development opportunities common in other sectors, especially at a time when many UK based workers may be looking for new opportunities as a result of the economic impacts of the global pandemic.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the end of free movement on the social care workforce.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have made and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of the Health and Care visa last August made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals – including Senior Care Workers - and their dependants to secure their visa.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has also extended the visas of over 10,000 key, frontline regulated health and care professionals, and their eligible family members. Details of the free extension, including the eligible occupations can be found at www.gov.uk/coronavirus-health-worker-visa-extension.
In response to issues raised during the Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020, the Government will shortly commission an independent review of the impact of ending free movement on the care sector. This will be published in due course. Yet UK Immigration policy should not be viewed as an alternative to offering hard working care workers the type of rewarding packages and career development opportunities common in other sectors, especially at a time when many UK based workers may be looking for new opportunities as a result of the economic impacts of the global pandemic.
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 10 June 2021 to Question 11536, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than 12 months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information shows the total number of concluded applications to the EU Settlement scheme was 5.27 million up to 31 May 2021 out of a number of 5.61 million applications received.
The latest figures can be found on the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’ web page available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics
Applications concluded by month and decision type are published in the detailed quarterly release which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-march-2021
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. It usually takes around 5 working days for completed applications to be processed, but it can take longer if the Home Office needs to request more information, for example: if the applicant has submitted a paper application or if the applicant has a relevant criminal record, including pending prosecutions.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available at:
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 10 June 2021 to Question 11535, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than six months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information shows the total number of concluded applications to the EU Settlement scheme was 5.27 million up to 31 May 2021 out of a number of 5.61 million applications received.
The latest figures can be found on the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’ web page available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics
Applications concluded by month and decision type are published in the detailed quarterly release which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-march-2021
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. It usually takes around 5 working days for completed applications to be processed, but it can take longer if the Home Office needs to request more information, for example: if the applicant has submitted a paper application or if the applicant has a relevant criminal record, including pending prosecutions.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available at:
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 10 June 2021 to Question 11534, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than three months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information shows the total number of concluded applications to the EU Settlement scheme was 5.27 million up to 31 May 2021 out of a number of 5.61 million applications received.
The latest figures can be found on the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’ web page available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics
Applications concluded by month and decision type are published in the detailed quarterly release which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-march-2021
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. It usually takes around 5 working days for completed applications to be processed, but it can take longer if the Home Office needs to request more information, for example: if the applicant has submitted a paper application or if the applicant has a relevant criminal record, including pending prosecutions.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available at:
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than twelve months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. Complete applications are usually processed in around five working days.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available here:
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than six months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. Complete applications are usually processed in around five working days.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available here:
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the EU Settlement Scheme have waited more than three months for a decision as at 1 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as expeditiously as possible. Complete applications are usually processed in around five working days.
More information about processing times for applications under the scheme is available here:
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 ensure that no EU citizen who has lived in the UK for more than the five years required for Settled Status and is unable to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by the 30 June 2021 deadline because they were not aware of that scheme and deadline or did not realise they were required to apply will lose their status and rights.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office has received more than 5.4 million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme to 30 April 2021. Our focus remains on encouraging those EU citizens and their family members eligible for the scheme who have yet to apply to do so before the 30 June 2021 deadline for those resident in the UK by the end of the transition period.
We recently launched another marketing campaign for this purpose, bringing to £7.9 million our investment in such activity. The campaign highlights the significant support in applying to the scheme available to those who need it, including from the network of now 72 organisations across the UK, grant funded by the Home Office with £22 million to help vulnerable people apply.
In line with the Citizens’ Rights Agreements, we have made clear where a person eligible for status under the scheme has reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June 2021 deadline, they will be given a further opportunity to apply. The non-exhaustive guidance on reasonable grounds for submitting a late application we published on 1 April 2021 includes where there are compelling practical or compassionate reasons why a person may have been unaware of the requirement to apply to the scheme by the deadline or may have failed to do so.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the New Plan for Immigration's evidential annex.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
A consultation process is underway, from which we hope to draw further insights and evidence to inform our thinking. As is routine, an impact assessment will be published alongside the introduction of any Bill.