Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November to Question 93420, which casework areas will need to be transited to Atlas in order to provide further information about the number of people given Leave to Remain with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Although almost all application types are on Atlas, some more complex operational areas like Family & Human Rights, Settlement, Nationality and Asylum have legacy CID (Case Information Database) cases. These must be completed before those operational areas can move across to Atlas. In addition, there is some core IT functionality which must be delivered in Atlas and some MI reporting capability to be delivered by the Immigration Platform Technologies Programme in order to enable Atlas to become the caseworking system of record in 2023. At this point, the new MI reporting capability would include those granted Leave to Remain with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on (a) women, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) disabled people, (d) single parents and (e) women with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government understands that people are worried about the cost of living challenges ahead.
That’s why the government has announced support worth £26 billion for 2023-24, designed to target the most vulnerable households. The Energy Price Guarantee will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24. This is in addition to benefits uprating, which is worth £11 billion to working age households and people with disabilities. The support includes £1 billion of new funding to enable a further twelve-month extension to the Household Support Fund, which helps Local Authorities assist those who might otherwise fall through the cracks.
Support is already in place to support households this winter. In addition to the Energy Price Guarantee, the government has announced £37 billion of support for the cost of living in 2022-23.
The Treasury carefully considers the equality impacts of the individual measures announced at fiscal events on those sharing protected characteristics, including gender, ethnicity and disability – in line with both its legal obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and its strong commitment to equality issues.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of21 November to Question 87716 on Immigration: ICT, when she expects the Atlas caseworking system to provide further information on numbers of applicants having the No Recourse to Public Funds condition attached to their Leave to Remain.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Whilst the majority of in-country immigration casework is now carried out through Atlas, remaining areas will complete their transition to Atlas in 2023, after which time it will be possible to explore what further information can be produced using the new system.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure all schools are aware of the extension of the right to free school meals to children in all families subject to the 'no recourse to public funds' rule.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The permanent extension of free school meal (FSM) eligibility to families with no recourse to public funds has been in place since the start of the 2021/22 summer term. The department updated its FSM guidance page at that time to reflect this change. The current guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities.
On 20 April 2022, an article on the expansion of FSM eligibility was included in the Education and Skills Funding Agency Update, which was emailed to academies and local authorities directly. The article can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-20-april-2022.
On 26 April 2022, the department issued a notice to all schools and local authorities through its sector bulletin that this change had come into effect.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2021 to Question 187268 on Immigration: EU Nationals, which of the following bodies have the capability to conduct system to system checks of immigration status: (a) NHS Scotland, (b) Health and Social Care (HSC) in Northern Ireland, (c) the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, (d) the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and v(e) local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland (d) and Local Authorities in England, Wales and Scotland (e) administering benefits on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions are able to conduct system to system checks. The process was established as part of the deployment of an Application Programming Interface (API) to the Department for Work and Pensions.
NHS Scotland (a), Health and Social Care (HSC) in Northern Ireland (b) and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (e) do not have the capability to conduct system to system checks.
Work is underway to expand the Recourse to Public Funds API to Local Authorities who are members of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) Connect network.
We would be pleased to work with any government department, agency or public body to implement similar checking services to support their statutory duties. Those organisations who do not wish to establish APIs will be able to use the Home Office’s online status services to confirm an EU national’s immigration status.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on (a) women, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) disabled people, (d) single parents and (e) women with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The government understands that families across the UK are worried about the cost of living, and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials. That is why the government has announced £37 billion of support for the cost of living this financial year, with most support going to those that need it most, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
We have taken decisive action to support millions of households and businesses with rising energy costs this winter through the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. In addition to the Energy Price Guarantee, millions of the most vulnerable households will receive £1200 of support this year through the £400 EBSS, £150 Council Tax rebate and one-off £650 Cost of Living Payment for those on means-tested benefits, with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.
Over the summer, a number of meetings and focus groups have taken place to hear disabled people's experiences in relation to the rising cost of living. Alongside this officials from the Disability Unit continue to engage with stakeholders to build the evidence base on how cost of living is impacting disabled people. This information will feed into the government’s response.
With regards to those without recourse to public funds, there are strong and important safeguards in place to ensure vulnerable migrants who are destitute and have community care needs, including issues relating to human rights or where the wellbeing of children is in question, can receive support.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds, who have made the necessary national insurance contributions, are in receipt of contributory benefits including (1) contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, (2) statutory sick pay, and (3) state pension.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Department does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds will be able to access this winter as part of (1) the £11.7 billion Energy Bills Support Scheme, and (2) the wider £37 billion cost of living assistance package for consumers.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The cost-of-living package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year. This means that eight million low-income households will get £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400 through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear it will continue to do so from now until April next year.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme is open to all domestic electricity customers, with additional support to eight million low-income households, irrespective of their No Recourse to Public Funds condition.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications for the Healthy Start payment have been made from applicants with No Recourse to Public Funds with British children; and how many beneficiaries are currently in receipt of payments.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has received 44 fully completed applications for the Healthy Start payment which meet the eligibility criteria for the temporary extension to the Healthy Start scheme. There are currently 31 beneficiaries in receipt of payments from the temporary extension to the Healthy Start scheme.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the ‘exhaust all options’ approach, as outlined in the Rough Sleeping Strategy, includes supporting individuals to have their No Recourse to Public Funds conditions lifted through a ‘change of condition’ application.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We recognise that rough sleepers with restricted eligibility for homelessness assistance, including individuals with a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition, face particular challenges moving away from the streets. The Rough Sleeping Strategy committed to building on our expectation that local authorities exhaust all options to support this group.
This may include supporting individuals with leave under the family and human rights routes who are destitute, at risk of destitution, the welfare of their child is at risk due to their low income or there are other exceptional financial circumstances, to apply, for free, to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a 'change of conditions' application to the Home Office.