Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government since the Girl Summit in July 2014 on the issue of prosecution for cases of female genital mutilation; and what specific actions have taken place as a result.
Answered by Lord Bates
Scottish Ministers have been consulted on the implementation of the commitments agreed at the Girl Summit where they impact upon Scotland. This has included discussions on measures to strengthen law enforcement on female genital mutilation(FGM) with a particular focus on some of the legal barriers in cases of FGM.
As a result the Scottish Parliament's consent is being sought for the provisions on extra territorial jurisdiction in clause 67(2) of the Serious Crime Bill amending both the FGM Act 2003 and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government concerning implementing the commitments agreed and announced by United Kingdom Ministers at the Girl Summit held in London in July.
Answered by Lord Bates
Scottish Ministers have been consulted on the implementation of the commitments agreed at the Girl Summit where they impact upon Scotland. This has included discussions on measures to strengthen law enforcement on female genital mutilation(FGM) with a particular focus on some of the legal barriers in cases of FGM.
As a result the Scottish Parliament's consent is being sought for the provisions on extra territorial jurisdiction in clause 67(2) of the Serious Crime Bill amending both the FGM Act 2003 and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government concerning the relationship between the Modern Slavery Bill and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill announced by the First Minister of Scotland on 26 November.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK Government works closely with all devolved administrations to ensure the UK delivers a coordinated response to modern slavery. The Scottish Government is represented on the Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group on Modern Slavery, which leads this work. We have worked closely with the Scottish Government on the development of the Scottish Trafficking and Exploitation Bill, as well as the development of the Modern Slavery Bill, to ensure that legislation across the UK is coherent and effective.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of wealth or assets a citizen of Malawi has to have in order to be granted a visa to visit the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
The applicant must satisfy the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) that they meet the requirements of the immigration rules. The immigration rules apply to all non-EU nationals. For most visit visa categories, there are is no requirement to have specific levels of wealth or assets in order to be granted a visa. The ECO is required to make an overall assessment of the application which takes into consideration the personal circumstances of the applicant, and the ability of any sponsor to support them whilst in the UK. Affluence is not a specific consideration. Amongst other considerations, the ECO assess the overall genuineness of the applicant, whether they are likely to leave the UK at the end of their visit, whether they are able to be maintained and accommodated without recourse to working or taking public funds. In Points Based System categories (covering work and study categories) and Family Migration routes (covering applications to join family in the UK), there are specified financial requirements. These are set out in the immigration rules, which are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications for visas, broken down by month, were received from citizens of Malawi in (1) 2013, and (2) 2014 to date; and how many of those applications were rejected.
Answered by Lord Bates
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Number of Malawian visa applications from January 2013 to June 2014
Year | Month | Applications | Refused |
2013 | January | 103 | 20 |
February | 154 | 31 | |
March | 159 | 24 | |
April | 187 | 28 | |
May | 198 | 26 | |
June | 241 | 40 | |
July | 232 | 24 | |
August | 200 | 33 | |
September | 226 | 34 | |
October | 170 | 31 | |
November | 175 | 22 | |
December | 115 | 18 | |
2014 | January | 79 | 10 |
February | 80 | 9 | |
March | 83 | 11 | |
April | 96 | 12 | |
May | 177 | 16 | |
June | 256 | 26 | |
Total | 2,931 | 415 |
The statistics provided are the latest available. Source: Home Office Performance Reporting and Analysis Unit.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the main reasons why applications for visas from citizens of Malawi are rejected, broken down by category; and what proportion of the total number of such visas rejected each of those reasons represents.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Home Office does not record data on its systems which would provide an answer to this question.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they require a citizen of Malawi to provide in order to be granted a visa to visit the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
The applicant must satisfy the Entry Clearance Officer that they meet the requirements of the immigration rules. The immigration rules apply to all non-EU nationals. For most visit visa categories, there are no requirements to provide specific evidence. In Points Based System categories (covering work and study categories) and Family Migration routes (covering applications to join family in the UK), there are specified evidential requirements. These are set out in the immigration rules, which are published at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules.v