Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to provide evidence to Ukrainian nationals that their Seasonal Worker visa has been extended to 31 December 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ukrainian nationals in this position will be provided with a biometric residency permit which will display details of their extended right to be in the UK under this scheme.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the guidance on Reporting and Offender Management Version 4.0, published on 6 May 2022, was amended to include the current guidance on Accompanied Reporting.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The purpose of reporting is to ensure those without leave to remain in the UK and illegal entrants remain in close contact with the Home Office. A reporting requirement of bail is used to enable case progression, interviews, offers of voluntary departure and travel document applications to be conducted to support removal actions. A person on a reporting regime will be considered for a variety of methods to report including in person within a Centre or a combination of telephone reporting, digital bail or electronic monitoring.
There has been no change to the current guidance on accompanied reporting. It remains at the discretion of the ROM manager and all representations will be considered. This was present in v1 issued 2017 and has not been amended since:
Accompanied reporting
The reporting centre manager has discretion as to whether a person reporting may have someone accompany them, such as a legal representative, a support or charity organisation worker, or volunteer. Where the person reporting is vulnerable, or where they are reporting for the first time, are typical examples of when assistance is requested.
You should not consider accompanied reporting to be routine, but it can be permitted in exceptional cases where specific requests are made to the reporting centre manager. A person accompanying the reporting person must only be allowed into the waiting area, you must not permit them to intervene on the person’s behalf at the counter.
A change in the new guidance is new asylum applicants will not be required to report until a negative decision is made on their application, unless exceptional circumstances apply, for example the applicant is also a foreign national offender (FNO), a restricted access case or a TCU case, these will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of not permitting volunteers to accompany refugees and asylum seekers when attending reporting centres except in exceptional cases on (a) immigration compliance and (b) wellbeing of those reporting.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The purpose of reporting is to ensure those without leave to remain in the UK and illegal entrants remain in close contact with the Home Office. A reporting requirement of bail is used to enable case progression, interviews, offers of voluntary departure and travel document applications to be conducted to support removal actions. A person on a reporting regime will be considered for a variety of methods to report including in person within a Centre or a combination of telephone reporting, digital bail or electronic monitoring.
There has been no change to the current guidance on accompanied reporting. It remains at the discretion of the ROM manager and all representations will be considered. This was present in v1 issued 2017 and has not been amended since:
Accompanied reporting
The reporting centre manager has discretion as to whether a person reporting may have someone accompany them, such as a legal representative, a support or charity organisation worker, or volunteer. Where the person reporting is vulnerable, or where they are reporting for the first time, are typical examples of when assistance is requested.
You should not consider accompanied reporting to be routine, but it can be permitted in exceptional cases where specific requests are made to the reporting centre manager. A person accompanying the reporting person must only be allowed into the waiting area, you must not permit them to intervene on the person’s behalf at the counter.
A change in the new guidance is new asylum applicants will not be required to report until a negative decision is made on their application, unless exceptional circumstances apply, for example the applicant is also a foreign national offender (FNO), a restricted access case or a TCU case, these will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
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 24 March 2021 to Question 172093 on Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, what further progress she has made in her discussions with the Department for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of amending the Misuse of Drugs Act to allow paramedic advanced practitioners working in hospital settings to prescribe medication they can administer in the community.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs provided advice to Ministers on the prescribing and administration of specified controlled drugs by paramedics in October 2019.
As set out in the response to Question 172093, the Home Office is working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to consider the advice. The Government intends to respond publicly to the ACMD in the near future.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the conditions are for Ukrainians in the UK on (a) family visas and (b) the Homes for Ukraine Scheme regarding leaving the UK and returning; and whether there are restrictions regarding their leave and visa conditions such as those in the UK on Tier 2 and Tier 4 visas.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ukrainians in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine Scheme are not subject to conditions linked to leaving and returning to the UK. Successful applicants are granted three years’ leave to remain, and can work and access public services during this time.