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Written Question
Migrants: Domestic Abuse
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing migrant victims of domestic abuse to access support from (a) police and (b) statutory services.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

Victims are entitled to access services under the Victims Code regardless of their resident status, including support services. They are rightly able to access statutory services irrespective of their immigration status and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. As an example, the statutory guidance for the Duty to Provide Safe Accommodation under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act is clear that this provision is for all victims of domestic abuse, including migrant survivors with insecure immigration status.

The government has kept the range of support under review and have made recent changes.

We allocated up to £5.6 million from April 2021 until March 2025 for the Support for Migrant Victim Scheme, which provides a support net for migrant victims of abuse with no recourse to public funds. And we have expanded access to the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) to partners of workers or students, giving 3 months recourse to public funds whilst they potentially apply for an appropriate immigration status or return to their country of origin if it is safe for them to do so.


Written Question
Asylum: Hotels
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of hotel use for asylum seekers on community cohesion in Oldham; and when he plans to end the use of temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Asylum hotels were only ever a temporary measure, in response to an unprecedented spike in small boat arrivals and the statutory requirement to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The Government has always been clear that they are an inappropriate form of accommodation and that we must stop using them as soon as possible.

Wherever hotels are used, the Home Office works in partnership with local authorities and other statutory partners, including through multi-agency forum (MAF) meetings. These consider, amongst other things, community cohesion issues.

We will have closed 100 hotels by the end of March. We continue to work with our providers on closing further hotels across the estate and will write to local authorities and MPs when a decision to close a site has been made.


Written Question
Brook House Immigration Removal Centre: Domestic Visits
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on (a) how many occasions and (b) which dates (i) he and (ii) Ministers in his Department have visited Brook House Immigration Removal Centre since 9 September 2017.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

Brook House Immigration Removal Centre has been visited by four Home Office Ministers from 2018-24.

18 January 2018 – Immigration Minister

30 June 2022 – Lords Minister of State

28 August 2022 – Minister for Illegal Migration

5 February 2024 – Minister for Countering Illegal Migration


Written Question
Fire and Rescue Services
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are revising the Fire National Framework for England to embed the reforms set out in the Government Response to the White Paper. The Framework sets priorities and objectives for Fire and Rescue Authorities in England in connection with the discharge of their functions. We are engaging partners to shape our proposals and key themes.

We intend to launch a public consultation on the revisions later this year.


Written Question
Home Office: Legal Costs
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in his Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the form requested. More generally, I would refer the honourable Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2024, Official Report, PQ 17709 Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Cols. 1901-1904. Ministers: Legal Costs - Hansard - UK Parliament.


Written Question
Fire and Rescue Services
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on (a) how many occasions and (b) what dates he has intervened in a fire and rescue authority under section 22 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 since 2010.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Fire policy transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government to the Home Office on 5 January 2016. Since then, there have been no formal interventions in the operations of a fire and rescue authority by the Secretary of State in England under section 22 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. We do not hold any information for the period prior to the machinery of government changes.


Written Question
Fire Prevention: Departmental Coordination
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to coordinate activity across Government in order to improve the UK’s preparedness for extreme wildfire events.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office are the lead Government Department for Wildfire Response and own the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) wildfire risk.

This Wildfire Framework outlines the work being undertaken to improve the UK’s preparedness for wildfires in England. The Home Office works closely with other departments and key stakeholders including Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities to mitigate the risk of wildfire.

The Home Office have committed to scoping a wildfire strategy and action plan by mid 2024, with support from Defra and its agencies. This commitment is outlined in the third National Adaptation Plan.

The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.


Written Question
Fire Regulations: Holiday Accommodation
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of (a) compliance with fire regulations by providers of small paying guest accommodation and (b) the numbers of fire assessors to ensure that compliance.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) is the main piece of fire safety legislation that applies to all non-domestic premises in England and Wales. The FSO places a legal duty on Responsible Persons (RPs) to undertake a fire risk assessment and put in place a suitable set of fire safety precautions to ensure the safety of those who use the premises.

Fire and Rescue Authorities are the main enforcement body for the FSO. Each FRA is required to deliver an independent annual risk-based inspection programme to check the compliance of premises in their area.


Written Question
Police Stations: Chesterfield
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what improvements he plans to make to the Police estate in Chesterfield constituency until 2029.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Derbyshire’s funding will be up to £244.8m in 2024/25, an increase of up to £15.4m when compared to 2023/24.

It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.


Written Question
Fire and Rescue Services: Staff
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times since 26 October 2022 the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire has met (a) current and (b) former firefighters who have experienced bullying, discrimination or sexual harassment at work.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire has prioritised engagement with the sector on integrity matters. This has included Chief Fire Officers, Fire and Rescue Authority Chairs, His Majesty’s Inspectorate, the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Local Government Association and representative groups such as the Fire Brigades Union. In addition to regularly meeting frontline firefighters and police officers when visiting fire and police stations.

He will continue to meet with sector leaders to hear first-hand on these issues.

The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire has corresponded with both current and former staff in fire and rescue services, who have raised concerns regarding bullying, harassment, and discrimination.

The Home Office will continue to call for action to ensure fire and rescue services are welcoming, respectful workplaces that enable all individuals who work in them to thrive.