Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Palestinian children have entered the UK for medical treatment since October 2023; and what steps her Department plans to take to increase the number of Palestinian children able to receive medical treatment in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information requested on visas is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The UK has supported an initiative by Project Pure Hope to bring a small number of children from Gaza to the UK for privately funded specialist care. On 1 May, the Minister for the Middle East announced that two children have arrived in the UK to begin treatment. The Government also announced a £7.5m package of support to bolster vital medical care in Gaza and the region, which includes additional funding for UK-Med, WHO Egypt and the OCHA OPTs Humanitarian Fund.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) the police, (b) local authorities and (c) other authorities on removing covers from illicitly-covered licence plates in public spaces to help enforce existing legislation and regulations; and whether she has received representations on the risk of criminal damage complaints if authorities remove coverings.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Disguising a vehicle’s identity is an offence and should be reported to the police to be investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts.
The Home Office has not issued any specific guidance on the removal of covers from licence plates.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to help facilitate access to the UK for Palestinian family members of UK nationals in (a) Egypt and (b) Gaza.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Immediate family members of British citizens, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa can apply under one of the existing family visa routes. There are no plans to create a bespoke family reunion scheme at this stage.
Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa
We will accept applications, which would normally have to be made in the country where the person is living, at any of the UK’s Visa Application Centres.
Visa Application Centres are open and operating in Egypt, in both Cairo and Alexandria, and Amman in Jordan. Application centres are also open and operating in Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.
The FCDO is also providing consular assistance to those with British nationality, or dual nationality including British, who are in Gaza or who have left Gaza to a third country. Dual national British-Palestinians are not required to make a visa application as they have the right of abode in the UK. Our embassy staff are ready to provide support as appropriate.