Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have had their British citizenship revoked since the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into effect.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 amends provisions concerning the requirement to give notice before making a deprivation order. The power to deprive an individual of British citizenship is provided by section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981.
The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with powers to deprive a person of citizenship status on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds, or where a person obtained citizenship by means of fraud, false representation or concealment of material fact.
Detail on the numbers of deprivation orders made are published in reports which appear on the gov.uk website.
(see the Government Transparency Reports: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers, & an immigration statistics report dated 23 February 2023).
The latest HMG Counter-Terrorism Disruptive Powers Report 2021 lists conduct which the Government considers may mean that it is ‘conducive to the public good’ to deprive.
Reflecting the serious nature of the power, every decision to deprive an individual on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds, is taken personally by the Home Secretary. Those decisions are made following careful consideration of advice from officials and lawyers and in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Each case is assessed individually, and every decision comes with a right of appeal.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which local authorities are housing (a) refugees and (b) asylum seekers in hotels as of 7 November 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The Home Office also publishes data on asylum seekers and refugees in accommodation in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ Immigration statistics, year ending June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). We do not differentiate between hotels and other types of initial accommodation. Data is published on a quarterly basis, the latest information was published 23 September 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) her international counterparts to help protect religious communities from hate crime during times of violence in the Middle East.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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.
This Government is committed to tackling hate crime and to protect religious communities. We have provided security measures for places of worship across to help protect them and the communities that use them from harm, including at times of increased tension. Through the Places of Worship scheme and the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, we have delivered funding to help protect faith communities from targeted hate crime, including through a range of security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarm systems, and fencing.
The police regularly review events and potential threats to ensure everything is being done to protect all our communities from terrorism, hate crime and the impact of public protest.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support people seeking safe refuge in the UK from countries surrounding Ukraine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We have opened two new visa routes to assist those seeking safety in the UK: the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine Scheme. The latest guidance on these routes can be found at:
www.gov.uk/guidance/support-for-family-members-of-british-nationals-in-ukraine-and-ukrainian-nationals-in-ukraine-and-the-uk.
We have continued to adapt the visa process to ensure we keep pace with the rapidly shifting situation on the ground, whilst also maintaining vital security checks.
Since 15 March, Ukrainians with valid passports have been able to get permission to come to the UK online from wherever they are, rather than going to a Visa Application Centre (VAC) before travelling to the UK.
For those without passports, capacity at our VACs in neighbouring countries has been increased to 13,000 appointments per week. We have also opened temporary locations in temporary locations in Lviv, Rzeszow and Arras.
We are working to process visas as quickly as possible. We have surged staff to our VACs across Europe meaning we are processing over 1,000 applications a day as a minimum, and UKVI staff are working seven days a week to process applications.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects her Department to complete the validation of data on the number of refunds to NHS and social care workers of the immigration health surcharge that have been successfully completed.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The work to validate data is ongoing and we aim to complete this early in 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2021 to Question 78504, how many people have received refunds of the immigration health surcharge in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The requested information is not published data or held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the data her Department holds on all crime committed (a) in relation to and (b) involving fireworks.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes information on notifiable offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
Offences committed in relation to and involving fireworks are not included in the list of notifiable offences and so no information is held centrally by the Home Office.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had has with the Minister for Women and Equalities on her Department's plans to mark Anti Bullying Week 2021.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Home Office is running a series of events across the week in order to mark Anti Bullying Week 2021.
Events include:
Tackling Bullying Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) - ‘One Year On: One Kind Word’
‘Shared action, learning and insight’ Hear from colleagues across the Department on their BHD work
Meet the People Committee on BHD Working Group members - Hear from strategic leaders on how they are tackling BHD Hosted by Co-Chair of People Committee on BHD Working Group
This week also marks a year since the introduction of the department’s Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) Programme.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will increase the number of Afghan refugees the UK will accept from the current 5,000.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has committed to welcoming around 5,000 people in the first year of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, and up to 20,000 in total. This is one of the most ambitious resettlement schemes in our country’s history.
It is important that we resettle people safely and provide appropriate support including with healthcare, education, jobs and housing. When considering the number of people we resettle, it is right that we take into account the capacity of local communities to provide this support. We would urge the Honourable Members to encourage Local Authorities to come forward with offers of support.
A policy statement covering further details of the Scheme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Bedfordshire Police on tackling anti-social use of fireworks.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There have not been recent discussions between the Home Secretary and Bedfordshire Constabulary regarding anti-social use of fireworks, however the Home Office maintains regular engagement with policing partners on a range of issues of crime and anti-social behaviour. The Government takes the issues associated with the sale and use of fireworks seriously. There is a comprehensive regulatory framework already in place for fireworks that controls the sale, availability and use of fireworks, as well as setting a curfew and noise limit. Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally, or misused.
Local authorities and the police have powers to tackle the misuse of fireworks, where it arises. This includes a range of flexible tools and powers available to local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (‘the 2014 Act’). Local areas decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the circumstances and specific local concerns.
It is for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, as operational leaders and elected local representatives, to decide how best to respond to individual crimes and local priorities.