Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guarantees are in place to ensure that workers on the horticultural Seasonal Worker visa are (a) transferred to a different Scheme Operator and (b) supported to access work in the event that the Scheme Operator who sponsored their UK visa has their sponsorship revoked.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Scheme Operators are required to have a clear employer transfer pathway in place as a condition of holding their sponsor licence, including transparent criteria for making a transfer request and a process for considering such requests. The Scheme Operators must not normally refuse requests to change employers and may only do so where there are significant reasons preventing a transfer, for example the imminent expiry of a worker’s visa. This is set out in published Home Office guidance, available at: Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor a seasonal worker - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In the event that a Scheme Operator for the Seasonal Worker routes became unlicensed for any reason, the Home Office will consider each case on its own merits and tailor its response accordingly.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa have access to employment law remedies; what information his Department provides to workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa on their rights in the workplace; and how many workers who were issued a horticultural seasonal worker visa for the UK received redress following a complaint about violations of their rights in the workplace in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.
As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.
The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.
The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.
The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many workers who entered the UK on the horticultural Seasonal Worker visa worked for fewer than 20 weeks, in the most latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.
As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.
The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.
The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.
The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total budget of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority was in each financial year since 2010-11.
Answered by Laura Farris
Allocation of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority’s (GLAA) annual budget has been the responsibility of the Home Office since April 2014. Prior to this, the budget was held by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Home Office does not have readily available access to information on total budgets covering the period of 2010-2014 when it was held by DEFRA.
Accordingly, the total GLAA budget in each financial year since its transfer to the Home Office in 2014 is presented in the following table:
Year | Total Budget (£Ms) |
2014-2015 | £1.61 |
2015-2016 | £1.97 |
2016-2017 | £5.60 |
2017-2018 | £7.66 |
2018-2019 | £6.70 |
2019-2020 | £6.70 |
2020-2021 | £6.75 |
2021-2022 | £7.12 |
2022-2023 | £6.62 |
2023-2024 | £7.77 |
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release entitled PM meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium, published by the Prime Minister's office on 23 January 2024, when he expects to finalise the UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement; and if he will publish that agreement as soon as it is finalised.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Negotiations on the draft UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement are nearing completion. Once finalised and signed by both parties, the agreement will be published as a Command Paper and laid before Parliament with an Explanatory Memorandum in accordance with normal parliamentary procedures.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 56(d) of the judgement of 28 November 2023 of Mr. Justice Chamberlain, in the case of R (on the application of Kent County Council) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023], whether he plans to commence the provisions of the 2023 Act.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Illegal Migration Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act seeks to ensure the only way to come to the UK for protection will be through safe and legal routes and will take power out of the hands of the criminal gangs and protect vulnerable people, including children.
Following the High Court ECPAT judgment and Supreme Court judgment on Rwanda, the Government is carefully reflecting on commencement of the powers in the Act, including those relating to the accommodation and transfer of unaccompanied children.
These powers have not yet been commenced and a decision will be made in due course. The Act does not change a local authority’s statutory obligations to children from the date of arrival and that the best place for an unaccompanied child is in the care of a local authority. This is something the Government was consistently clear about during the Illegal Migration Act’s passage through Parliament.
We are working at pace with Kent County Council, other government departments and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied asylum seeking children urgently and sustainably.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Department for Education on using migrant labour to fill teaching vacancies.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government regularly discusses workforce planning in the education sectors, and how to use the immigration system appropriately – in conjunction with resident labour.
A range of teaching professions can use the Points Based System, provided they meet the requirements of the visa route they apply for.
Teaching professions on the national pay scales (see table 2 at - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-skilled-occupations) will be exempt from the forthcoming changes to salary requirements in the Skilled Worker route.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has had discussions with commercial airlines on the potential provision of flights between the UK and Rwanda for the purposes of relocating asylum seekers in line with (a) the Migration and Economic Development Partnership and (b) the UK-Rwanda treaty on provision of an asylum partnership.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
We have robust plans in place for future flights and have carried out discussions with a range of companies. These discussions are commercially sensitive and therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on them.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have had their asylum claims (a) removed and (b) withdrawn from the legacy asylum backlog and then gone on to submit new asylum claims.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The number of people who have had their asylum claims removed and withdrawn from the legacy asylum backlog can be found in the quarterly immigration statistics at Asy_10b: asylum-summary-sep-2023-tables, however we are not able to provide the numbers of those who have gone on to have either a new fresh asylum claim accepted and/or have raised a further submission as this information is not published.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Rwanda on the number of Home Office officials that will be sent to help Rwanda upgrade its asylum processing capabilities.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We have been working at pace with the Government of Rwanda to help strengthen the operation of their asylum system. We will continue to progress this, in light of the Supreme Court judgment, and a range of options for further support are being considered. Conversations between governments remain confidential.