Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and the special cases applications, how many applications were from (a) current or past locally employed UK government staff, (b) private companies implementing UK government funded programmes, (c) NGOs and non-profit organisations implementing UK government funded programmes, (d) Afghan government partners, (e) Afghan media and civil society organisations, and (f) other categories that the Government recognised.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Afghan relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was launched on 1 April 2021. Since this date, around 7,000 former Afghan locally employed staff and their families have been relocated to the UK, including those relocated as part of HMG’s evacuation from Afghanistan.
The specific information requested is not held in a published format and to gather it would require a disproportionate cost.
The Home Office does publish quarterly updates on immigration statistics. Information relating to arrivals under ARAP will be published in these statistics in due course. The most recent published migration statistics can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics
Guidance relating to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have submitted an application to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme including applicants and their family members between 1 April and 14 September 2021; and how many and what proportion of those applications have been (a) accepted, (b) rejected and (c) received but not yet processed.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Afghan relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was launched on 1 April 2021. Since this date, around 7,000 former Afghan locally employed staff and their families have been relocated to the UK, including those relocated as part of HMG’s evacuation from Afghanistan.
The specific information requested is not held in a published format and to gather it would require a disproportionate cost.
The Home Office does publish quarterly updates on immigration statistics. Information relating to arrivals under ARAP will be published in these statistics in due course. The most recent published migration statistics can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics
Guidance relating to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has allocated funding to the University of Huddersfield for the provision of that university's PhD in human rights; and whether that PhD course is planned to be reserved for Bahraini nationals.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not provide funding to the University of Huddersfield for the provision of a PhD in human rights in Bahrain and therefore holds no information on the detail of any courses.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the meeting of 25 May 2021 between the Rt Hon Member for Witham and the Bahraini Minister of Interior, whether her Department held discussions with the University of Huddersfield on the establishment of a PhD in human rights.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The government is committed to supporting Bahrain as it continues to make important security, police and justice reforms. We will continue to work closely together to promote security and stability in the Gulf region and across the world. This support includes work between a range of organisations including police forces, government and academic institutions.
The Home Office has not discussed a PhD in human rights with the University of Huddersfield and this did not form part of the Home Secretary’s meeting with the Bahraini Minister of Interior.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the destitution of some highly skilled migrants without indefinite leave to remain who have not been issued with immigration bail letters granting them the right to work or benefit from Section 3C leave.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2021 to Question 157144 on Emergency Services Network: Strathconon, for what reason the activation of extended area service sites cannot be accelerated on sites where both the passive infrastructure and electricity are already in place.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We expect the contract for connecting all 292 EAS masts to the network to be awarded in Autumn 2021. We do need to follow government procurement processes fully in this award and are unable to accelerate this aspect of the process. Each site has to be individually designed, with planning approval granted, built and then integrated into the EE/ESN network. By default, EAS masts are in the most remote and rural areas of the country, situated in difficult terrain and with accessibility issues. After the award of the contract we anticipate that a survey of each site will result in activation timelines varying depending on the work involved. We will then complete the physical work to connect the mast to the network and, separately, activate the mast. Although we cannot give firm dates for the final activation of masts at this stage, we expect this work to commence in 2022 and complete towards the end 2024.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department took to establish mechanisms to receive tax return data of Highly Skilled Tier 1 (General) Migrants from HMRC for indefinite leave to remain decisions.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office and HMRC have an agreed sharing protocol.
Section 40 of the UK Borders Act 2007 provides a statutory gateway to allow HMRC to share data with the Home Office for immigration and nationality functions as set out in the legislation.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason her Department has limited the scope of its partnership with the Scottish Government to deliver sites that were formerly part of the Extended Area Service programme under the Scottish 4G Infill Programme; and what plans her Department has to expand the scope of that partnership.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The EAS sites are principally built to support the emergency services, however where possible HO will collaborate with the Scottish 4G Infill Programme and other government initiatives such as the Shared Rural Network, the scope of this collaboration extends to all 292 EAS masts. There are currently 18 SFT sites where Home Office are utilising as part of a site share. These 18 sites meet the ESN coverage requirements and we continue to assess viability of other sites which meet both HO and Scottish 4G Infill Programme criteria.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2020 to Question 71074, on Emergency Services Network: Strathconon, if she will take steps to allocate funding to extended area services sites across Argyll and Bute as soon as possible.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Funding has been allocated to sites across Argyll and Bute, we expect to commence works to activate these sites in 2022 and complete towards the end 2024.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will set out a timetable for the activation of all Emergency Services Network sites.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The contract for connecting all 292 EAS masts to the network (backhaul link) has not yet been awarded to a supplier. We expect this contract to be awarded in Autumn 2021. Following the award of this contract the work to deliver the links can take several months before connecting the mast to the network and, separately, activating the mast. Although we cannot give firm dates for the final activation of masts at this stage, we expect this to commence in 2022 and complete towards the end 2024.