Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the decision making (a) methodology and (b) criteria are for cases referred to the UK Visas and Immigration Chief Casework Unit.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) for individual cases referred to the Chief Caseworker Unit is 14 days.
The Chief Caseworker Unit’s purpose is to put the customer at the centre of what we do. The unit receives referrals that seek additional support in their decision making. The unit will help overcome barriers to effective decision making, using discretionary and ethical consideration as appropriate. The centralised position of the unit can identify potential cross cutting issues and so will act as an interface with partners/policy and operational areas to develop longer term and sustainable solutions.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for her Department to make decisions on applications for family visas (a) made on the basis of the applicant's private life and (b) in total in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Our data base does not differentiate between the different routes within the family provisions of the immigration Rules.
If a customer is currently applying on private life grounds, there are no service standard processing times for these applications. However, we are informing customers on the UKVI website, on average, the wait time for a decision for such applications is currently 11 months. Please see the link to the UKVI website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-decision-waiting-times-applications-inside-the-uk#switch-to-or-extend-a-family-visa
The Home Office is working to reduce this timeframe.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are employed in the UK Visas and Immigration MP's correspondence team.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There are 106 people employed in UK Visas and Immigration’s MPs correspondence team.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the average waiting time for asylum applicants to receive an interview in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is unable to state what the average waiting time is for an asylum interview in each of the last 12 months because this information is not held in a reportable format, not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics: List of tables - GOV.UK (List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long it takes on average for her Department to make a decision on an application for a super priority visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Information on our immigration routes with service standards and whether they have been processed against these standards is available as part of our transparency data and can be found at: Visas and Citizenship data: Q1 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many super priority visa service applications have exceeded her Department's target timeframe for a response.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Information on our immigration routes with service standards and whether they have been processed against these standards is available as part of our transparency data and can be found at: Visas and Citizenship data: Q1 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect members of the Pakistani diaspora in the UK who have been accused of blasphemy from potential vigilantism.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and we have a robust legislative framework to respond to it. We are clear that the cowards who commit these hateful attacks should feel the full force of the law.
The Government will always protect people’s legitimate rights – for example, to free speech and to practise their religion within the law – but we cannot and will not shy away from challenging cultures and practices that are harmful to individuals, restrict their rights or hold them back from making the most of the opportunities of living in modern Britain.
We encourage all victims of crime to report these to the police so they can be properly investigated, and perpetrators can be brought to justice.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of Metropolitan Police stop and search practices on Black and ethnic minority communities.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government supports the fair use of stop and search. It is a vital tool to target violent crime and protect communities.
No one should be subject to stop and search because of their race and numerous safeguards including statutory codes of practice, body-worn video and extensive publicly available data collection exist to prevent this.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help build trust with Muslim communities and to work with faith leaders in eradicating extremism.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government remains determined to promote British values actively, working in partnership and alongside all communities to demonstrate what we have in common as the best defence against extremists who would seek to divide us.
We will not tolerate those who spread divisive and harmful narratives. We are committed to tackling those who spread views of any ideology that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society, and that radicalise others into terrorism.
Our work to counter radicalisation through Prevent works best when it is delivered in partnership with communities and civil society, including faith institutions. We also work with our delivery partners to facilitate a comprehensive programme of engagement events aimed at local communities around the country. This programme invites members of the public to learn more about Prevent and also discuss and offer their views on Prevent.
In addition, Sara Khan has been appointed by the Prime Minister as the government’s Independent Adviser for Social Cohesion and Resilience, as part of government action to tackle extremism in our communities.
She will hear from both victims of extremism and those on the frontline working to combat it – from teachers to faith leaders to local councils – to understand and ultimately counteract its effects.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to provide financial support for visa fees to people in receipt of personal independence payments and universal credit.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office provides exceptions to the need to pay application fees in a number of specific circumstances to ensure the Home Office’s immigration and nationality fee structure complies with international obligations and wider government policy.
Fee waivers are available on affordability grounds where the payment of a fee would be incompatible with an applicant’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Detailed guidance can be found via the following link:
Fee waiver - casework guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)
The Home Office keeps fees for immigration and nationality applications under review and ensures they are within the parameters agreed with HM Treasury and Parliament.