Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given, if any, to including provisions in the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill for a separate short-stay visa category.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The forthcoming Immigration Bill will lay the foundation for a new immigration system which welcomes the people the country needs.
The Government is considering the design of the future immigration system and will outline plans shortly.
Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the joint All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report by the APPG for Africa, the APPG for Diaspora, Development and Migration and the APPG for Malawi Visa problems for African visitors to the UK, published on 16 July, in particular its findings in regard to the level of refusals of short-term visitor visa applications from Africa.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Officials will review the findings of the report and the Immigration Minister will respond on it in due course.
Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_02_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019-data-tables
Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make it mandatory for emergency vehicles and motorcycles to use auditory warnings as well as flashing lights when travelling on the wrong side of any road.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Emergency service drivers are empowered to use certain road traffic exemption in the course of their duties. Decisions on when to exercise these exemptions is an operational matter.
In the Government’s response to “The Law Guidance and Training Governing Police Pursuits” consultation we committed to undertaking a review of existing emergency service exemptions to traffic law to ensure that they are appropriate. Part of the review will consider how emergency services use exemptions safely.
Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many reported credit card frauds there were in each of the last available three years; and what was the total sum involved.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office collects quarterly fraud data, including banking and credit card industry fraud data, from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).
These data are published by the ONS on a quarterly basis. The latest data are for year to June 2017 and are available in Table A5 at the link below: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables
Published tables for earlier quarters are also available at the above link.
Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in order to welcome tourists to Scotland and the North of England, they plan to instruct the Border Agency to reduce its processing time of vehicles at Newcastle arriving off the ferry from Amsterdam.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Border Force has carried out a significant transformation programme at Port of Tyne to improve border security and customer service. Joint investment with the port operator in new infrastructure has significantly reduced passenger processing times and the port operator has confirmed a noticeable improvement compared to previous years.
Asked by: Lord Steel of Aikwood (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Scotland Malawi Partnership's statement that it has lost confidence in the handling of visa applications for Malawi citizens visiting Scotland; and what steps they plan to take in response.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office has an established dialogue with the Scotland Malawi Partnership, and UK Visas and Immigration have been in direct correspondence with them in relation to the specific issues raised in their recent statement.