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Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Tuesday 9th November 2021

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of Afghan Christians who have settled in the UK following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

It is not possible to give an estimate of the number of Afghan Christians settled in the UK following the Taliban’s return to power because details of an individual’s religious beliefs are not routinely captured by the Home Office.


Written Question
Visas: Applications
Thursday 18th March 2021

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the priority service for visa applications will be reinstated.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Priority Visa services are currently available in some locations overseas, but availability will differ by territory depending on Covid restrictions in place in a specific area at any one time. If available, customers are able to purchase these services when booking an appointment at a visa application centre.

Super Priority and Priority services have also been reinstated in the UK for Work and Study routes, including applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain. It is anticipated these services for Marriage and Settlement routes in the UK will be reinstated by the end of March 2021.


Written Question
Email: Fraud
Friday 12th March 2021

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it an offence to send a scamming email to a vulnerable person.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Direct marketing, including spam emails, are regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) which is enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the independent data protection regulator. PECR regulates unsolicited marketing emails and specifies organisations must only send these to individuals who have agreed to receive them, except where there is a clearly defined customer relationship.

The ICO has the powers to impose civil monetary penalties of up to £500,000 for serious contraventions of the PECR. In cases where a clear and serious breach of the legislation has taken place, the ICO will take direct action and/or enforcement action.

In a situation where someone sends a scam email with the intention of defrauding another person, this conduct is already likely to constitute an offence under the Fraud Act 2006.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Fines
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of covid-related fines issued by the police have been collected.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Home Office does not hold this data.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council publishes monthly fixed penalty notice statistics and crime trends and the latest analysis can be found here: https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/crime-trends-and-penalty-notices-issued-under-covid-regulations-update

This shows in total, 42,675 fixed penalty notices were recorded as having been issued in England and Wales under coronavirus regulations between 27 March 2020 and 17 January 2021.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Protective Clothing
Monday 11th January 2021

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fines have been issued to people for refusing to wear a facemask in an indoor setting in each of the last six months.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

In its most recent published statistics, the National Police Chiefs’ Council reported on 30 November that 641 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued between 15 June and 16 November for breaches of the Face Coverings Regulations across England and Wales. Of these FPNs:

  • 169 were issued against the regulations concerning wearing a face covering on public transport, across twelve forces (including British Transport Police in England and Wales).
  • 472 were issued against regulations concerning the wearing a face covering in a relevant place, such as a retail setting, across thirty-two forces (including British Transport Police in England and Wales).

The latest statistics published by NPCC can be found here:

https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/more-fixed-penalty-notices-issued-since-national-coronavirus-restrictions-were-reintroduced-with-crime-9-per-cent-lower-than-last-year


Written Question
Refugees: Resettlement
Monday 21st December 2020

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on resettling refugee families under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme; and how many people she plans to settle under that scheme in the next 12 months.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. These can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

To access the number of refugees resettled, access the latest statistical release using the link above, then “data tables”, “asylum and resettlement” and select either the summary or detailed resettlement tables. The latest set of figures were released on 26 November 2020.

We have been working closely with key domestic and international stakeholders on plans to safely resume UK resettlement arrivals against the backdrop of unprecedented restrictions and pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of this work the UK has restarted UK resettlement arrivals to fulfil our commitment of resettling 20,000 refugees affected by the conflict in Syria under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and we are working closely with partners to deliver this commitment.

Decisions regarding resettlement beyond the completion of this scheme are yet to be made and will need to take account of the impact of COVID-19 and the ongoing pressures on the asylum system.