Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employers held visa sponsorship licences in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes the latest register of worker and temporary worker licensed sponsors at: Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) This is a live document that is continually updated.
Data that has been updated quarterly since 2014 and includes the number of valid sponsor licences, can be found at: Sponsorship transparency data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The number of organisations annually on the register of sponsors can also be found under Sponsorship Summary Tables at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the conformity of adding Georgia to the list of Safe States with the duties laid out in section 80AA(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 on LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In order to inform ministerial decision making on whether to add India and Georgia to the list of Safe States in section 80AA of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (NIAA 2002), we made an assessment of the general situation in both countries, using evidence from a wide range of reliable sources in order to do so. This was in line with the requirements at section 80AA(3) and 80AA(4) of the NIAA 2002 (as inserted by section 59(3)(3) and 59(3)(4) of the Illegal Migration Act 2023).
Through considering country information and each country’s respect for the rule of law and human rights, we assessed that both countries met the criteria. Further information on the situation for LGBT people in Georgia and India is contained within our published Country Policy and Information Notes, available on Gov.Uk.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the conformity of adding India to the list of Safe States with the duties laid out in section 80AA(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 on LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In order to inform ministerial decision making on whether to add India and Georgia to the list of Safe States in section 80AA of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (NIAA 2002), we made an assessment of the general situation in both countries, using evidence from a wide range of reliable sources in order to do so. This was in line with the requirements at section 80AA(3) and 80AA(4) of the NIAA 2002 (as inserted by section 59(3)(3) and 59(3)(4) of the Illegal Migration Act 2023).
Through considering country information and each country’s respect for the rule of law and human rights, we assessed that both countries met the criteria. Further information on the situation for LGBT people in Georgia and India is contained within our published Country Policy and Information Notes, available on Gov.Uk.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many holders of physical biometric residence permits have been given access to an online UK Visas and Immigration account.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Over 5m customers currently hold a UKVI account which they use to view their status, update a variety of personal information and share their immigration status with checking parties. The majority of account holders have digital-only evidence of their immigration status, however a proportion also have a biometric residence permit or card.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his target is for the number of online UK Visas and Immigration accounts to be registered for holders of physical biometric residence permits by the end of June 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A number of our Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) application routes already provide customers with a UKVI account, through which they can view their immigration status, update a variety of personal information and share their status with checking parties.
We are delivering the ability for existing leave holders and new flow applicants to create a UKVI account from April 2024. From this point we will begin contacting customers directly via email where possible, and will utilise a range of additional communication channels to inform customers of the need to take action to create an account before their BRP cards expire at the end of 2024. We will closely monitor take up of account creation to assess the effectiveness of our communications.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2023 to Question 195180 on asylum applications, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications of (a) conducting shorter asylum interviews and (b) removing asylum interviews on the accuracy of decision making.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Once a claimant has been interviewed, asylum decision-makers carefully consider their protection needs by assessing all the evidence provided, in light of published country information guidance.
We have taken immediate action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system. This includes simplifying guidance and streamlining processes. We have also introduced shorter, focussed interviews, making the interview process more efficient.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2023 to Question 195180 on Asylum: Applications, what recent progress her Department has made on establishing an online portal for (a) document exchange and (b) providing updates on the status of asylum claims.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
An early version of a portal has been tested.
The initial release focusses on the download element of document exchange, with future releases allowing for document upload. In time the portal will enable asylum seekers to access real time updates on their case.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2023 to Question 191605 on Asylum: Staff, what steps her Department has taken to (a) streamline, (b) digitalise and (c) simplify the asylum processing system.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are accelerating decision-making and rapidly speeding up asylum processing times. We are driving productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes shorter, more focussed interviews; removing unnecessary interviews; making guidance simpler and more accessible; dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded; targeted training; and recruiting extra decision makers.
Another way in which we will achieve that is via the Streamlined Asylum Process which is centred around accelerating the processing of manifestly well-founded asylum claims.
We have developed existing and new technology to help build on recent improvements such as digital interviewing and move away from a paper-based system. We are also developing digital tools to support case working, including appointment booking, case prioritisation, allocation tools and a document exchange portal.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether the planned increase in the number of asylum decision-makers to 2,500 by September 2023 will enable her Department to clear all legacy asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There is currently work underway to redesign the training of Asylum decision makers. The current plan will see the initial training reduced from 9 to 2-3 weeks with further training given as the decision maker progresses.
As of 01 May 2023, there are 1,280 full time equivalent (FTE) Asylum Decision Makers. This information is published online: Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note that this data is provisional and includes the number of asylum decision makers employed from the beginning of each month from August 2019 to May 2023.
The latest Home Office statistics show asylum decisions are up in the year ending March 2023, with a 35% increase in asylum decisions from the previous year which may be in part due to the increase in the number of asylum decision makers employed by the Home Office.
We are on track to clear the legacy asylum backlog by the end of 2023.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2023 to Question 191605 on Asylum: staff, what progress she has made on recruiting asylum decision makers to take their number to 2500 by September 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There is currently work underway to redesign the training of Asylum decision makers. The current plan will see the initial training reduced from 9 to 2-3 weeks with further training given as the decision maker progresses.
As of 01 May 2023, there are 1,280 full time equivalent (FTE) Asylum Decision Makers. This information is published online: Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note that this data is provisional and includes the number of asylum decision makers employed from the beginning of each month from August 2019 to May 2023.
The latest Home Office statistics show asylum decisions are up in the year ending March 2023, with a 35% increase in asylum decisions from the previous year which may be in part due to the increase in the number of asylum decision makers employed by the Home Office.
We are on track to clear the legacy asylum backlog by the end of 2023.