Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the public interest benefit of the continued imprisonment of Julian Assange; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Mr Assange is currently held on remand in relation to an extradition request from the United States. It is entirely a matter for the courts whether a person should be granted bail or remanded in custody in these circumstances.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure child refugees with family in the UK are able to access flights to enter the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK remains fully committed to meeting our obligations under the Dublin III Regulation. Despite covid-19 restrictions the UK remains ready to accept transfers under Dublin whenever Member States are in a position to make those arrangements.
The Dublin Regulation makes it very clear that once a take charge request has been accepted for an unaccompanied child, the transfer is the responsibility of the requesting State. We are continuing to liaise with our counterparts in Member States so that we can effect transfers as soon as it is safe and practical to do so.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who have been granted a visa to enter the UK but are not able to travel during that period because of the covid-19 pandemic are able to enter the UK once those travel restrictions are lifted without needing to reapply for a further visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government recognises that travel plans have been and may continue to be severely disrupted.
This is one of a number of issues the Home Office is working through and we are taking a pragmatic approach to ensure individuals are not penalised as a result of issues arising from the covid-19 pandemic which are beyond their control
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Question 281780 tabled on 24 July 2019 on Asylum: Scotland, what assessment she has made of the (a) financial and (b) other barriers faced by asylum seekers that are resident in Scotland required to attend Home Office appointments in England as part of their asylum application.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As part of the asylum process, asylum seekers are expected to attend Home Office appointments such as screening interviews and substantive asylum interviews.
Individuals receiving asylum support are provided with travel cards, or are reimbursed accordingly, to ensure they can attend their Home Office appointments without financial detriment.
As part of the registration process, no provision is made for funding in advance of the registration. If an asylum seeker is destitute or vulnerable, they can present themselves to Migrant Help who may assist with access to travel.
We are committed to ensuring that asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay. Asylum Operations are currently exploring several initiatives to improve the asylum application process to provide a better service to claimants.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Question 281779 on Asylum: Scotland, how many asylum seekers resident in Scotland have been required to attend Home Office appointments in England as part of their asylum application; on how many occasions those applicants did not attend those appointments; and how many asylum seekers that failed to attend a Home Office appointment in England when they were resident in Scotland had their asylum application refused in each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office does not routinely publish data to answer this question.
Whilst we hold data on the current addresses of asylum claimants, data on how many asylum seekers resident in Scotland have been required to attend Home Office appointments in England as part of their asylum application; on how many occasions those applicants did not attend those appointments; and how many asylum seekers that failed to attend a Home Office appointment in England when they were resident in Scotland had their asylum application refused in each of the last five calendar years, could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
The Home Office does routinely publish data on the number of applications for asylum refused in the UK in each of the last five years, broken down by nationality, in its quarterly Immigration Statistics release, the latest release published on 22nd August 2019.
Latest edition available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2019/list-of-tables
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2019 to Question 272140 on Right of Abode: Veterans, when her Department plans to make a decision on whether to grant right of abode to former British-Hong Kong servicemen.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, that was introduced in 1990 and ran until 1 July 1997, a limited number of Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who were settled in Hong Kong could apply to register as a British citizen.
We are giving careful consideration to representations made on behalf of those former Hong Kong Military Service Corps personnel who were unable to obtain citizenship through the selection scheme.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Thames Valley Police made an application for special grant funding for the costs of policing the wedding between Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.
Answered by Nick Hurd
No formal application has been received from the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner in respect of this event. However an unusual number of major events have taken place in the police force area this year and we are working with the force to understand the implications. Typically, applications for Special Grant funding are made after an event has taken place, when a full assessment of the costs can be made.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visitor visa applications were received by UK Visas and Immigration in each of the last five years by country; and what proportion of those applications were refused by country.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Applications for visit visas are considered against Appendix V of the Immigration Rules and on a case by case basis. Detailed information on how UK Visas and Immigration makes decisions on visitor cases is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visit-guidance.
Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_02_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to Question 142891, tabled on 10 May 2018, by the hon. Member for Edinburgh East; and what proportion of named day questions his Department has not answered by the due date in the last 12 months.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UIN 142891 was responded to on the 14th June 2018.
The latest departmental figures on response rate to parliamentary questions is published by the Procedure Committee, the latest publication can be found here:
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visa applicants seeking to join a family member in the UK had a DNA test to evidence their relationship to that family member in each year for which information is available; and how many of those DNA tests proved that the relationship between the visa applicant and their family member living in the UK was as they claimed it to be.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not available in Home Office published statistics. DNA tests are not required and if the applicant chooses to submit one it will be considered along with the other evidence submitted to support a visa application.