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Written Question
Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill
Friday 16th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the explanatory memorandum on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill’s compliance with Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way it does in the rest of the UK. This is set out on the face of the Bill, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter. There is nothing in the Windsor Framework that affects that. The Bill does not engage the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including the rights chapter – those rights seek to address longstanding and specific issues relating to Northern Ireland’s past and do not extend to matters engaged by the bill. The Government remains fully committed to that Agreement in all its parts.

I have written to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in relation to this. The letter will be published in the House Library in due course.

To provide further reassurance on these points, the published factsheet on this Bill has been updated to reflect this: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill
Friday 16th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill conforms with the requirements of Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way it does in the rest of the UK. This is set out on the face of the Bill, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter. There is nothing in the Windsor Framework that affects that. The Bill does not engage the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including the rights chapter – those rights seek to address longstanding and specific issues relating to Northern Ireland’s past and do not extend to matters engaged by the bill. The Government remains fully committed to that Agreement in all its parts.

I have written to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in relation to this. The letter will be published in the House Library in due course.

To provide further reassurance on these points, the published factsheet on this Bill has been updated to reflect this: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
European Convention on Human Rights: Northern Ireland
Friday 16th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill does not undermine the UK's duty to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into the law of Northern Ireland, including facilitating both (1) direct access to the courts, and (2) remedies for breaches of the Convention.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way it does in the rest of the UK. This is set out on the face of the Bill, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter. There is nothing in the Windsor Framework that affects that. The Bill does not engage the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including the rights chapter – those rights seek to address longstanding and specific issues relating to Northern Ireland’s past and do not extend to matters engaged by the bill. The Government remains fully committed to that Agreement in all its parts.

I have written to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in relation to this. The letter will be published in the House Library in due course.

To provide further reassurance on these points, the published factsheet on this Bill has been updated to reflect this: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Belfast Agreement: Human Rights
Friday 16th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill does not undermine their commitments under the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way it does in the rest of the UK. This is set out on the face of the Bill, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter. There is nothing in the Windsor Framework that affects that. The Bill does not engage the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including the rights chapter – those rights seek to address longstanding and specific issues relating to Northern Ireland’s past and do not extend to matters engaged by the bill. The Government remains fully committed to that Agreement in all its parts.

I have written to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in relation to this. The letter will be published in the House Library in due course.

To provide further reassurance on these points, the published factsheet on this Bill has been updated to reflect this: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Human Rights Act 1998
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 to deliver their policy to remove certain migrants to Rwanda.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We are not repealing the Human Rights Act 1998. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill introduced on 7 December 2023 disapplies the relevant sections of the Human Rights Act 1998 from the key parts of the Bill. This is set out in Clause 3.


Written Question
Asylum: Rwanda
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their policy to remove certain migrants to Rwanda on the Good Friday Agreement.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland in the same way as it does in the rest of the United Kingdom. This is explicit on the face of the Bill and will always be the case, reflecting that immigration policy is a UK-wide matter. The rights chapter of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement does not affect any clause within the Bill in any way.


Written Question
Skilled Workers: Visas
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for Skilled Worker visas from (1) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, and (2) 1 April 2023 to 31 May 2023; and of these, how many were for operatives in the fishing industry who work within the 12 nautical miles off the coast of the UK.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Data on the number of Skilled Worker applications are published in table Vis_D01 of the Managed migration datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest data relates up to Q1 2023 (January to March).

Some of the SOC codes for use in the nautical sector aren’t specifically for fishing so the information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Visas
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for transit visas from (1) 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2023, and (2) 1 April 2023 to 31 May 2023; and of these, how many were for operatives in the fishing industry who work (a) within the 12 nautical miles off the coast of the UK, and (2) for international waters.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Home Office publishes data on transit visa applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on transit applications is published in table Vis_D01 of the Entry clearance detailed dataset of the quarterly publication. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q1 2023.

The Home Office does not record the reasons for the transit visa in a reportable format and to obtain the information requested could not be done without disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Visas: Fisheries
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for using skilled workers visas for those who wish to work offshore in the fishing industry in the UK.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Government’s longstanding position has been that foreign nationals need permission to work in UK waters and that transit visas, designed to cater for those intending to simply travel through UK waters, have never been an appropriate visa to use to work on a long-term basis in the UK.

The fishing sector is well catered for under the points-based-system, with a range of fishing roles eligible for the Skilled Worker visa. The sector have been able to access the Skilled Worker visa since April 2021 and we have offered a generous package of support to assist the industry.

Government expects the sector to be moving to full compliance with the immigration system as soon as possible, and to assist in this, a generous package of support has been provided, including enhanced visa support, adding some fishing occupations to the Shortage Occupation List this summer and engagement with the sector to drive up their usage of the skilled worker visa. Government encourages the sector to take up this generous package of support.


Written Question
Visas: Fisheries
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of transit visas for fishing operatives.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Government’s longstanding position has been that foreign nationals need permission to work in UK waters and that transit visas, designed to cater for those intending to simply travel through UK waters, have never been an appropriate visa to use to work on a long-term basis in the UK.

The fishing sector is well catered for under the points-based-system, with a range of fishing roles eligible for the Skilled Worker visa. The sector have been able to access the Skilled Worker visa since April 2021 and we have offered a generous package of support to assist the industry.

Government expects the sector to be moving to full compliance with the immigration system as soon as possible, and to assist in this, a generous package of support has been provided, including enhanced visa support, adding some fishing occupations to the Shortage Occupation List this summer and engagement with the sector to drive up their usage of the skilled worker visa. Government encourages the sector to take up this generous package of support.