Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and in what proportion of cases he has (a) excused the biometric enrolment process and (b) predetermined the application for people applying for entry clearance to the UK from Sudan since April 2003.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on the number of applications that are excused from the biometric enrolment process and those that are pre-determined due to applicants undertaking unsafe journeys.
Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the current UK immigration system to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. They enable comprehensive checks to be made against immigration and criminality records to identify those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, immigration controls, or are likely to breach our laws if they are allowed to come to the UK.
The threshold in the unsafe journeys guidance for excusing the requirement to attend a visa application centre is deliberately set at a high-level because of the need to protect the integrity of the UK border. If we do not know about a person's identity we are less able to assess the risks they may pose to the public. This is why we would only excuse applicants from being required to attend a visa application centre to enrol their biometrics in circumstances that are so compelling as to be exceptional.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people accused by Educational Testing Service of cheating in its Test of English for International Communication have received compensation from the Government; and how much has been paid out in that compensation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many real time information disputes were raised by Universal Credit claimants in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 3 January 2024 from the Rt hon. Member for East Ham, reference ST114629.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice takes the handling of correspondence very seriously. The Right Honourable Member’s correspondence was initially sent to the incorrect address. After liaising with his office, the Ministry of Justice correspondence team is now handling the request as per our usual processes. A response will be provided by 1 March 2024.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to assess the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund into the next financial year.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government continues to keep all of its existing policies and programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 11 January 2024 from the Rt hon. Member for East Ham, reference ST102443.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I apologise for the delay in responding to the Rt Hon Member's correspondence. The department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Honourable Members. A response to the Rt Hon Member’s letter issued on 8 February 2024. I look forward to meeting him shortly to discuss these matters in more detail.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of support provided to asylum seekers on levels of poverty among asylum seekers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of destitute asylum seekers. Support is usually provided in the form accommodation and a weekly allowance. Additional support is also available to pregnant women, young children, and individuals who have exceptional needs over and above those of the average supported asylum seeker or their dependants.
The level of the allowance is reviewed each year to ensure it covers an individual's “essential living needs”. Full details of the items that are considered essential are set out in reports on gov.uk. Following the 2023 review, allowances have increased for many supported individuals including pregnant women and young children.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve pancreatic cancer outcomes in East Ham constituency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is delivering a range of interventions that are expected to increase early diagnosis and improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer across England, including the East Ham constituency. This includes: providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk to identify lesions before they develop into cancer and diagnose cancers sooner; creating new pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types; and increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.
To increase early diagnosis, NHS England are implementing non-symptom specific pathways (NSS) for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations of non-specific symptoms, to receive the right tests at the right time. There are currently 113 NSS pathways live with the aim to have full national coverage by 2025.
NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer, the aim of which is to provide regular and timely evidence to cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022 and a scoping exercise in consultation with key stakeholders has taken place to shape the direction of the audit. The first report is expected in October 2024.
In addition, the Getting It Right First Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight actions National Health Service providers need to take to improve services, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Q338 of the evidence given by the Minister for Pensions on 10 January 2024, HC144, what the (a) scope of and (b) timeline for the extensive piece of work he has commissioned on indexation of pre-1997 savings from pension contributions is; and whether he plans to publish the findings of this work.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
While all pensions legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to amend the Pension Protection Fund rules on pre-97 indexation of pension contributions. The evidence given by the Minister for Pensions, on 10 January 2024, was clear that these are complex issues which will need careful consideration. DWP will continue to consider this issue, determining the scope and taking the time required for full consideration. There is no intention of publishing this advice.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Selective Comprehensives 2024, published by the Sutton Trust on 11 January 2024, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the school admissions code.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The School Admissions Code sets the requirements for admission arrangements for all mainstream, state-funded schools. It requires admission arrangements to be fair, clear and objective, and contains various provisions to ensure that children from low-income backgrounds are not unfairly disadvantaged in the admissions system.
The department keeps the provisions of the Code under review to ensure they continue to remain fit for purpose.