Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department’s policy to notify successful applicants that they have been issued with an eVisa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
All applicants issued with an eVisa as evidence of their immigration status receive a written notification, either via email or post, once their immigration application has been successful, and their immigration permission granted. This notification confirms that the person has been issued an eVisa as evidence of their immigration status. It also includes information on what an eVisa is, and how to access and use it.
Immigration status holders who are not making an application but who take action to create a UKVI account to access their existing eVisa receive a notification via email once they complete the UKVI account creation process, confirming they can access their eVisa.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of Electronic Travel Authorisation exemptions for tourists travelling from Dublin to Northern Ireland for one week or less.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The introduction of ETAs is a significant change to our migration and border system, affecting a cohort of travellers who have previously been able to travel without making any prior application to the Home Office.
To ensure that the requirement is fully understood by eligible nationals, including visitors to Northern Ireland from Ireland, we have been working with a wide range of partners so that ETAs are not seen as a barrier to cross-border tourism on the island of Ireland.
This includes developing specific ETA comms for Northern Ireland in conjunction with umbrella organisations for the Northern Irish and Irish tourism industries, and individual members of those organisations.
We have also worked closely with the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government since the inception of the ETA policy. ETAs are crucial in delivering the Government’s commitment to strengthening the security of the UK border and the Common Travel Area. The ETA application is quick and light-touch, and many applications are decided within minutes.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) the (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) Ireland tourism industry and (b) other stakeholders on the introduction of Electronic Travel Authorisations.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The introduction of ETAs is a significant change to our migration and border system, affecting a cohort of travellers who have previously been able to travel without making any prior application to the Home Office.
To ensure that the requirement is fully understood by eligible nationals, including visitors to Northern Ireland from Ireland, we have been working with a wide range of partners so that ETAs are not seen as a barrier to cross-border tourism on the island of Ireland.
This includes developing specific ETA comms for Northern Ireland in conjunction with umbrella organisations for the Northern Irish and Irish tourism industries, and individual members of those organisations.
We have also worked closely with the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government since the inception of the ETA policy. ETAs are crucial in delivering the Government’s commitment to strengthening the security of the UK border and the Common Travel Area. The ETA application is quick and light-touch, and many applications are decided within minutes.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Electronic Travel Authorisations on (a) tourism and (b) the economy in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The introduction of ETAs is a significant change to our migration and border system, affecting a cohort of travellers who have previously been able to travel without making any prior application to the Home Office.
To ensure that the requirement is fully understood by eligible nationals, including visitors to Northern Ireland from Ireland, we have been working with a wide range of partners so that ETAs are not seen as a barrier to cross-border tourism on the island of Ireland.
This includes developing specific ETA comms for Northern Ireland in conjunction with umbrella organisations for the Northern Irish and Irish tourism industries, and individual members of those organisations.
We have also worked closely with the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government since the inception of the ETA policy. ETAs are crucial in delivering the Government’s commitment to strengthening the security of the UK border and the Common Travel Area. The ETA application is quick and light-touch, and many applications are decided within minutes.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has held with the (a) Northern Ireland Executive and (b) Irish Government on the introduction of Electronic Travel Authorisations.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The introduction of ETAs is a significant change to our migration and border system, affecting a cohort of travellers who have previously been able to travel without making any prior application to the Home Office.
To ensure that the requirement is fully understood by eligible nationals, including visitors to Northern Ireland from Ireland, we have been working with a wide range of partners so that ETAs are not seen as a barrier to cross-border tourism on the island of Ireland.
This includes developing specific ETA comms for Northern Ireland in conjunction with umbrella organisations for the Northern Irish and Irish tourism industries, and individual members of those organisations.
We have also worked closely with the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government since the inception of the ETA policy. ETAs are crucial in delivering the Government’s commitment to strengthening the security of the UK border and the Common Travel Area. The ETA application is quick and light-touch, and many applications are decided within minutes.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle organised immigration crime.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since entering office, we have already launched the Border Security Command (BSC), led by Martin Hewitt CBE QPM, with £150m invested over this financial year and next.
The Border Security Command will act as the system leader across HMG leveraging functions across policy, operations, international engagement and uplifted capabilities to tackle organised immigration crime, driven by outcome focussed, system-wide plans.
Since the establishment of the Border Security Command, successes against organised immigration crime include:
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps with City of London Police to improve (a) the (i) support services and (ii) reporting tools available to victims of fraud and (b) the quality of intelligence on fraud provided to police forces.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are replacing the current Action Fraud service with a new improved service. The new service will have an upgraded call centre and a new user-friendly, accessible website for reporting fraud, offering simpler pathways to support and guidance. The service will also offer a new data and intelligence platform to speed up the analysis and dissemination of reports to police forces for investigation.
Victims will also get better updates on the progress of their report and there will be faster identification of the most vulnerable victims to receive enhanced support, including through the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU).
The aim of NECVCU is for victims to feel safe and more confident following contact, whilst assisting them to cope and recover from the crime and significantly reduce the likelihood of repeat victimisation. Since its inception in 2018, NECVCU has supported 440,994 victims of fraud and since January 2021, NECVCU has also helped victims recover £3,685,201.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks of Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, the national police lead on hunting, that he is "very happy" with claims of two-tier policing of hunts in favour of saboteurs, and how they intend to respond.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
National portfolio leads are a matter for the NPCC.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 October 2024 to Question 7443 on Trade Unions: Subversion, whether the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme will regulate foreign actors seeking to (a) lobby and (b) influence trade unions.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The scheme’s political influence tier seeks to increase transparency of foreign power influence over the core aspects of the UK’s democracy, including elections, political party proceedings, parliamentarians and decisions of the Government, but is limited in scope to ensure its proportionality.
However, where a foreign power is specified under the enhanced tier, those acting at the direction of that foreign power to carry out a broad range of activities will be required to register. This could include activities involving lobbying of, or influence over, trade unions.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports were revoked due to links to terrorist activity in each month since January 2023.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since the beginning of 2023, one British passport has been revoked due to links to terrorist activity. This occurred in January 2024.