Baroness Lawlor

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 repeals assimilated law (formerly known as retained EU law), replacing it with rules set by financial services regulators, operating within a framework set by government and Parliament. This repeal is subject to commencement by the Treasury.

As of July 2024, 350 instruments relating to financial services have been replaced – 45% of the total number of instruments. HM Treasury has made or laid instruments to replace assimilated law in areas including Solvency II, the Prospectus Regime, Data Reporting Service Providers, and Securitisation.

The independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England have operational independence of monetary policy, so the Government rightly does not comment on the conduct of monetary policy.

The MPC regularly monitors money growth and the quantity of money in developing monetary policy, as confirmed by the Governor to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee in February 2024.

The Bank publishes a quarterly Monetary Policy Report which sets out the economic analysis and inflation projections that the MPC uses to make its interest rate decisions. The latest report, published in May 2024, includes an assessment of recent developments in broad money.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum on gov.uk as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum is published in table Asy_D01 of the Asylum detailed datasets. In the five years up to the end of March 2024, 333,282 people claimed asylum (including main applicants and dependants). Individuals must be in the country to apply for asylum; some will apply immediately upon arrival, but others may be in the country for a period of time before applying.

It is not possible to estimate precisely what proportion of migrants claim asylum in the UK. However, ONS estimate that in the last 5 years, 4.82 million people immigrated to the UK for 12 months or more. This includes EU, non-EU and British nationals. It will not include people who arrive irregularly and do not claim asylum, nor short-term migrants (i.e. those coming to the UK for less than 12 months).

Table: Sponsored study visas by visa routes, applicant type, and course level

There were 3,646,179 visas granted on routes that typically enable migrants to come to the UK ‘long-term’¹ between Q2 2021 and Q1 2024, with sponsored study (both for main applicants and dependants) representing 45% of these.

Footnotes:

1. To distinguish ‘migrants’ from people coming to the UK short-term, the data excludes visitor, transit, short-term study, and temporary worker visas (except Youth Mobility Scheme). The figure includes visas that typically enable a migrant to come to the UK for a year or more. However, some may be for less than a year. Not everyone issued a visa will arrive or stay in the UK for the entire period allowed by their visa. This total will also exclude those who do not require a visa to come to the UK (for example those with Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme).
2. ‘Other and unknown’ refers to pre-sessional English language courses and visas with courses unable to be identified.

Departures from the UK are recorded for most journeys. However, there are instances in which a departure may not be recorded, for example those who travel via the Common Travel Area. Those who do remain in the UK after their permission has expired will be considered as overstayers and will be liable for detention and enforced removal.