Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an estimate of the potential impact of her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, on the number of student visas issued.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Provisional estimates on the potential impact on future student visa demand are published in the Technical Annex accompanying the Immigration White Paper: restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-technical-annex.pdf
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people on the Skilled Worker visa have had their employment extended beyond their 26th birthday with pay meeting the standard salary threshold for the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing age stratification in the Skilled Worker visa minimum salary criteria.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under review, and recently published a white Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform of salary requirements and a wide range of other areas.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure the safety of girls and young women in public places.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Ensuring the safety of women and girls in public spaces is a top priority for this Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. That means working to tackle threats to women’s safety in all areas of their lives, including in public places.
Through our Safer Streets Mission, we are driving action across Government to achieve this. We are spearheading a cross-Government approach to preventing and tackling VAWG through the Safer Streets Mission Board, and this includes looking at what action we can take to make public spaces safer for women and girls.
We know that public sexual harassment often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women and girls, feeling unsafe on our streets. That is why tackling it is an important part of our mission and will be addressed in the forthcoming cross-government VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the graduate route visa scheme on economic growth.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In May 2024 the Home Office published Analysis of migrants use of the Graduate route - GOV.UK which explores Graduate earnings and employment.
This was published alongside The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) rapid review of the Graduate route: Graduate route: rapid review - GOV.UK.
The 2023 Changes to the Student route and consequential changes to work routes Impact Assessment provides macroeconomic and labour market impacts of the Student and Graduate routes. 2023 changes to the student route and consequential changes to work routes: impact assessment.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the proportion of applicants to the Graduate Visa scheme that are fraudulent.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The specific information requested is not held.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the graduate route visa scheme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We keep all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to limit the sale of kitchen knives to those with round tips.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Nothing is off the table when it comes to tackling the scourge of serious violence and saving young lives, and we always keep the law and practice in this area under close review.
We are taking action to tackle the illegal sale of knives online which is why last October, the Home Secretary commissioned Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to carry out a comprehensive review into the online sale and delivery of knives.
We have already announced that the Government intends to strengthen age verification controls and checks for all online sellers of knives at the point of purchase and on delivery, and the Government will set out next steps for strengthening the controls and processes around the online sale and delivery of knives in due course.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to take steps with the Scottish government to help tackle destitution experienced by migrants in Scotland.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Migrants with permission under certain family or private life routes can apply for ‘change of conditions’ support where they are destitute, at risk of imminent destitution or if there are reasons relating to the welfare of a relevant child.
For all other immigration routes, if there are particularly compelling circumstances why leaving the UK is not possible, discretion can be used to consider if the circumstances justify provision of public support.
Regardless of immigration status, local authorities are able to provide basic safety net support if it is established there is a risk to the wellbeing of a child or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.