Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much revenue the health surcharge for migrants generated in each year from 2018 to 2022 inclusive.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) income data is published annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Please note that the IHS figure is made up of both Retained Income and Consolidated Funds. The IHS amounts for financial years from 2018 to 2022 inclusive are as follows:
- 2017/18: £240,483,000
- 2018/19: £297,927,000
- 2019/20: £597,677,000
- 2020/21: £480,822,000
- 2021/22: £1,423,284,000
- 2022/23: £1,706,112,000
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum applications and (b) other applications for leave to remain were awaiting a decision as of 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on immigration applications in the following releases:
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4137 on Child Trust Fund: Walsall South, what assessment he has made of the reasons for which Child Trust Funds have not been claimed.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
There could be several reasons why matured Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts have not been accessed by those who are entitled to the funds. The National Audit Office in its report titled Investigation into Child Trust Funds published in March 2023 (www.nao.org.uk/reports/investigation-into-child-trust-funds/) considers some of these.
Primary responsibility for communicating with account holders and their registered contact (usually a parent) lies with the CTF account providers. The government is committed to helping people identify and access the savings they are entitled to and continues to explore new routes to reunite young people with their matured CTFs.
HMRC actively engages with the industry, other government departments, organisations such as the Money and Pensions Service, and youth focused charities to raise awareness of CTFs amongst young people. HMRC also issues a range of communications and provides resources for key intermediaries such as the University and Colleges Admissions Service, who have greater influence and visibility amongst the CTF audience.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he last met his French counterpart to discuss the matter of illegal migration to the UK by boats crossing the English Channel.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Secretary spoke to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on 21 December and during this conversation they discussed the ongoing joint efforts by the UK and French governments to stop small boat crossings of the English Channel.
The Home Secretary and Minister Darmanin have agreed to meet in the coming weeks to continue this discussion. Officials from across the Home Office engage regularly with French counterparts to continue to monitor our progress in stopping small boats, and our close cooperation with France led to a 36% reduction in small boat arrivals last year.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were waiting for a hearing date in the first tier immigration tribunal as of 1 December 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) that are waiting for a hearing date, as at 30 September 2023, is 24,085.
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on a quarterly basis. The latest set of data available covers the period up to 30 September 2023. Data provided in answer to this question is a sub-set of the published caseload data.
Published statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of trends in the level of pharmacy students in Walsall South constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places over the next five years, sets out the ambition to increase training places for pharmacists across England by nearly 50% to around 5,000 by 2031/32, and to grow the number of pharmacy technicians. Increasing training places will increase the number of pharmacy students, including those choosing to study in schools of pharmacy in proximity to Walsall South constituency.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of Child Trust Fund accounts (a) created and (b) claimed by 18-21 year olds in Walsall South constituency.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on Child Trust Funds are available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2023
A geographical and age breakdown of the data for open accounts and matured accounts that have been claimed could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities on the potential merits of using sections (a) 20 and (b) 29 of the Equalities Act 2010 to increase access at railway stations for (i) disabled travellers and (ii) parents with prams.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are continuing to support the Access for All programme which has delivered over 230 accessible stations so far, with another 70 stations in various stages of development or construction and hope to announce further stations that will benefit from accessibility improvements in due course. The rail industry is already subject to the Equality Act 2010 and under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled passengers to access services. Network Rail is also subject to the provisions of the Public Sector Equality Duty. In addition, whenever the industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure they must comply with current accessibility standards or face possible enforcement action by the Office of Rail and Road.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities on expanding accessible infrastructure at railway stations for (a) disabled travellers and (b) parents with prams.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are continuing to support the Access for All programme which has delivered over 230 accessible stations so far, with another 70 stations in various stages of development or construction and hope to announce further stations that will benefit from accessibility improvements in due course. The rail industry is already subject to the Equality Act 2010 and under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled passengers to access services. Network Rail is also subject to the provisions of the Public Sector Equality Duty. In addition, whenever the industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure they must comply with current accessibility standards or face possible enforcement action by the Office of Rail and Road.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on foreign nationals convicted of attempted murder.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This Government puts the rights of the British public before those of criminals, and we are clear that foreign criminals should be deported from the UK wherever it is legal and practical to do so.
Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s ECHR rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention. Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable, the Courts deem it is safe to do so. Each individual assessment is made against the background of any relevant caselaw and the latest available country information.