Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will respond to the correspondence of 11 March 2022 from the hon. Member for Glenrothes on routes to settlement for Afghan refugees, reference PG5604.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office received the Member’s correspondence on 3 March 2022 and responded on 8 March 2022.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the average time taken for a standard spouse visa to be processed.
Answered by Kevin Foster
the Home Office would only be able to get the data via a manual trawl which would be at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the availability of priority applications for spousal visas for applicants in South Africa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
From mid-March 2022, UKVI temporarily suspended Priority and Super Priority visa services for new marriage applications in order to redeploy resource to process applications made under the in response to the humanitarian crisis arising from the invasion of Ukraine.
We will keep this under review and reintroduce the priority service when possible.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Security Industry Authority on the potential merits of extending current licences for those who have been unable to work or been limited in working during the covid-19 pandemic, to allow more time to renew their licence in response to the recent changes to the renewal process.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Following the changes to mandatory training for Door Supervisors and Security Guards in April and October 2021, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) confirmed there continues to be record high numbers of licence holders, indicating a healthy throughput of labour into the private security industry.
To prepare for the introduction of these changes, the SIA worked closely with the industry to develop the new training requirements, following a public consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders over a period of years.
In recognition of the impact of Covid-19, the SIA delayed introducing the changes to allow the industry and training providers more time to prepare for the changes.
The SIA is responsible for ensuring that all licence holders are ‘fit and proper’ persons and have the required skillset and level of training suitable for their chosen sector, via checks made upon application. It would not therefore be appropriate on public safety grounds, to extend licences, without those licence holders being subject to the mandatory checks and training required at application and renewal.
The SIA works closely with the private security industry and with training providers to develop flexible and accessible licence-linked training for all current and prospective licence-holders across the UK. However, the SIA does not have the powers to deliver the training nor to determine the costs, scheduling, and availability of the courses being offered, this is the responsibility of the training providers.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the communication of changes regarding mandatory training to Security Industry Authority licence holders by the Security Industry Authority.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Following the changes to mandatory training for Door Supervisors and Security Guards in April and October 2021, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) confirmed there continues to be record high numbers of licence holders, indicating a healthy throughput of labour into the private security industry.
To prepare for the introduction of these changes, the SIA worked closely with the industry to develop the new training requirements, following a public consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders over a period of years.
In recognition of the impact of Covid-19, the SIA delayed introducing the changes to allow the industry and training providers more time to prepare for the changes.
The SIA is responsible for ensuring that all licence holders are ‘fit and proper’ persons and have the required skillset and level of training suitable for their chosen sector, via checks made upon application. It would not therefore be appropriate on public safety grounds, to extend licences, without those licence holders being subject to the mandatory checks and training required at application and renewal.
The SIA works closely with the private security industry and with training providers to develop flexible and accessible licence-linked training for all current and prospective licence-holders across the UK. However, the SIA does not have the powers to deliver the training nor to determine the costs, scheduling, and availability of the courses being offered, this is the responsibility of the training providers.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the accessibility of training providers in Scotland for the Security Industry Authority's mandatory training.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Following the changes to mandatory training for Door Supervisors and Security Guards in April and October 2021, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) confirmed there continues to be record high numbers of licence holders, indicating a healthy throughput of labour into the private security industry.
To prepare for the introduction of these changes, the SIA worked closely with the industry to develop the new training requirements, following a public consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders over a period of years.
In recognition of the impact of Covid-19, the SIA delayed introducing the changes to allow the industry and training providers more time to prepare for the changes.
The SIA is responsible for ensuring that all licence holders are ‘fit and proper’ persons and have the required skillset and level of training suitable for their chosen sector, via checks made upon application. It would not therefore be appropriate on public safety grounds, to extend licences, without those licence holders being subject to the mandatory checks and training required at application and renewal.
The SIA works closely with the private security industry and with training providers to develop flexible and accessible licence-linked training for all current and prospective licence-holders across the UK. However, the SIA does not have the powers to deliver the training nor to determine the costs, scheduling, and availability of the courses being offered, this is the responsibility of the training providers.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) on the recent implementation of mandatory training and the (a) associated costs and (b) availability of that training for applicants when renewing SIA licences.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Following the changes to mandatory training for Door Supervisors and Security Guards in April and October 2021, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) confirmed there continues to be record high numbers of licence holders, indicating a healthy throughput of labour into the private security industry.
To prepare for the introduction of these changes, the SIA worked closely with the industry to develop the new training requirements, following a public consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders over a period of years.
In recognition of the impact of Covid-19, the SIA delayed introducing the changes to allow the industry and training providers more time to prepare for the changes.
The SIA is responsible for ensuring that all licence holders are ‘fit and proper’ persons and have the required skillset and level of training suitable for their chosen sector, via checks made upon application. It would not therefore be appropriate on public safety grounds, to extend licences, without those licence holders being subject to the mandatory checks and training required at application and renewal.
The SIA works closely with the private security industry and with training providers to develop flexible and accessible licence-linked training for all current and prospective licence-holders across the UK. However, the SIA does not have the powers to deliver the training nor to determine the costs, scheduling, and availability of the courses being offered, this is the responsibility of the training providers.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when people with outstanding Turkish Businessperson visa applications will receive a decision on their application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We received a significant increase in Turkish ECAA overseas applications before the route closed. Caseworking teams in UKVI continue to process ECAA applications and are focused on resolving them as quickly as possible.
At times, we may identify further information which is required in individual applications and need to contact applicants for this.
Some applications also require additional checks to be undertaken by the Home Office which may cause delays pending these essential checks being undertaken.