Asked by: Warinder Juss (Labour - Wolverhampton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of missing children in the West Midlands; and what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of Black and Asian missing children.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice, issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations, including missing children.
The Government recognises the need for an effective multi-agency response to missing person investigations. To this end, the Home Office and Department for Education have been supporting the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons in the development of a ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. This framework outlines good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
The Home Office has also funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion.
Asked by: Warinder Juss (Labour - Wolverhampton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of her Department taking over the sponsorship of migrant care staff visas from employers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May, announced proposed reforms in a number of areas ,including social care visas and visa sponsorship, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Warinder Juss (Labour - Wolverhampton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a geographical based income threshold for family visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We must ensure that the Family Immigration Rules maintain the balance between respecting the right to family life and protecting the economic wellbeing of the UK. Any change must be underpinned by a solid evidence base and form part of a system that is fair, clear and consistent. To achieve this the Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules.
The MAC is an independent body and their review will be robust and transparent. It is expected the MAC will issue their report in the Summer. We will carefully consider the MAC's recommendations before making any further changes.
His Majesty's Government is not considering a regional visa scheme.