Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to include entry-level permanent roles in the (a) agricultural and (b) horticultural sectors in the points-based immigration system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A range of agricultural and horticultural occupations are already eligible for the Skilled Worker route including farmers, growers, market gardeners and poultry processors. However, the Government has no plans to introduce a general immigration route allowing recruitment at or near the minimum wage with relatively short or no work-based training requirements.
Investment and development of the UK’s domestic labour force should take priority, rather than seeing cheaper migrant labour as the solution to recruitment difficulties. Those businesses facing recruitment issues should therefore engage with the Department for Work and Pensions in the first instance about the support they can provide.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to introduce visas for people seeking permanent entry-level roles in the (a) agricultural and (b) horticultural sectors.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A range of agricultural and horticultural occupations are already eligible for the Skilled Worker route including farmers, growers, market gardeners and poultry processors. However, the Government has no plans to introduce a general immigration route allowing recruitment at or near the minimum wage with relatively short or no work-based training requirements.
Investment and development of the UK’s domestic labour force should take priority, rather than seeing cheaper migrant labour as the solution to recruitment difficulties. Those businesses facing recruitment issues should therefore engage with the Department for Work and Pensions in the first instance about the support they can provide.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has beyond sobriety tagging to tackle alcohol consumption in the context of the link between alcohol consumption and violent crime.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is committed to reducing alcohol-related crime and ensuring that swift action is taken to tackle alcohol-related offending. We have given powers to relevant authorities to tackle alcohol-related crime and harms. For example, we have placed cumulative impact policies on a statutory footing and have given new powers to immigration officers to tackle illegal working in licensed premises.
The Government recognises that alcohol continues to be one of the six main drivers of crime in the United Kingdom. We have focused on improving local intelligence, establishing effective partnerships and equipping the police and local authorities with the right powers to take effective action against alcohol related-crime and harms in the night-time economy. The Government continues to work closely with partners to tackle alcohol related crime.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2022 to Question 27594 on Public Sector: Crimes of Violence, when the economic impact assessment for the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will be published.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The economic impact assessment for the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish an (a) economic and (b) equality impact assessment of section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 introduces a statutory aggravating factor for assaults committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public.
The public facing nature of the victim’s role will therefore be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences. This will send a very strong signal that assaults of this kind are totally unacceptable. This Government wants to ensure those who are serving the public can feel protected from abuse when working. The provision commenced on 28 June 2022.
The economic impact assessment for the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will be published in due course. An equality impact assessment was published on introduction of the Bill. There are no plans to update the assessment.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason some covid-19-related offences were recordable; and in what circumstances those offences would need to be disclosed.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Recordable offences are offences in England and Wales where the police must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer (PNC). Non-recordable offences do not carry the risk of a custodial sentence. All coronavirus breaches were non-recordable summary offences which did not come with prison sentences. They were only punishable by fines. These offences were therefore unlikely to be recorded on the PNC. However, there may have been cases where a non-recordable offence could be recorded on the PNC if there was a conviction of both a recordable and non-recordable offence at the same time.
Under the coronavirus regulations, Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) enabled individuals to discharge their liability to prosecution for an offence by payment of a fixed penalty. However, failure to pay the notice could mean someone was later prosecuted, and subject to a summary conviction. Individuals convicted for a covid related offence would generally not have their conviction recorded on the PNC as Covid offences were non- recordable.
Non-recordable offences are held locally by the police and may be recorded on the Police National Database (PND) which is a separate system from the PNC, and include details of people who may have been questioned by police but not charged. Where individuals have their Covid offence recorded this conviction may be disclosed on a DBS certificate, subject to the type of certificate and whether the conviction is spent/unspent and/or protected. Once a conviction or caution is considered to be spent, it is usually not necessary for an individual to declare it to prospective employers when applying for a job, and it would not be disclosed on a basic criminal record certificate.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the asylum seeker cap for local authority areas will continue to be applied when seeking accommodation for refugees (a) from Ukraine and (b) not from Ukraine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There are no limits on the number of refugees (those who have been granted asylum or humanitarian protection) which a Local Authority can house if appropriate accommodation can be identified.
We continue to encourage all local authorities to work with us to support providing accommodation in their areas for those who are resettled or claim asylum in the UK.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which external stakeholders his Department plans to consult as part of the upcoming review and update of statutory guidance for local authorities on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department for Education (DfE) publishes guidance for local authorities on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, which can be found at:
The department is committed to updating this guidance in due course, and will carry out a public consultation which will be available to all external stakeholders when it does so.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with local authorities that are at or nearing the cap for accommodating refugees about future placements; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There are no limits on the number of refugees (those who have been granted asylum or humanitarian protection) that a Local Authority can house.
In relation to supported asylum seekers, who are awaiting the outcome of their asylum claim, then the Home Office would not normally disperse people above the ratio of 1:200. We are working with the Home Office Local Government Chief Executive group to ensure a more equitable distribution of asylum seekers across the whole of the UK.
We continue to encourage all local authorities to work with us to support providing accommodation in their areas for those who are resettled or claim asylum in the UK.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to change the Common Travel Area arrangements with Ireland; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK Government is firmly committed to maintaining the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, and the reciprocal rights and privileges it provides to British and Irish citizens. This is an objective shared by all CTA members.
There is a high level of cooperation between all CTA members to ensure we are taking all the necessary measures to protect and secure the CTA.