Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of Hezbollah's potential involvement in the illegal drug trade in the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Investigations into the activities of proscribed organisations are an operational matter for the police and intelligence agencies. It would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were granted refugee status in each year since 2010 broken down by local authority allocation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of the initial decisions made on asylum applications and the number of refugees resettled by local authority through one of the UK’s resettlement schemes are published in tables Asy_D02 and Res_D01 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets; breakdowns by year are available. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest published statistics relate to data up to the end of June 2021.
Please note the Home Office does not publish local authority breakdowns on asylum applications as the asylum system operates on a national level. Additionally, when an individual is granted refugee status they are no longer required to inform the Home Office of their address and are free to move around the UK.
Additionally, the Home Office publishes further data on asylum and resettlement in the asylum and resettlement summary tables. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to use the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office currently has no plans to use the NHS Test and Trace database system itself.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has allocated any financial or other resources from her Department's budget to investigate potential future uses by her Department of the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office has not allocated any financial or other resources for this purpose.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on future uses of the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Use of the Test and Trace system is discussed periodically at cross departmental meetings as part of the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to review the immigration rules in relation to the medical research sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government values the contribution which migrants makes to the medical research sector.
There are generous provisions for PhD-level occupations, which include medical researchers. These occupations have higher priority when allocating monthly places within the Tier 2 cap. We have also exempted these occupations from the £35,000 earnings threshold for settlement applications and exempted them from the Immigration Skills Charge.
The Government is committed to developing a future borders and immigration system that will cater for all sectors of the UK, including for those who make a very valuable contribution to our research sector.
Proposals in the White Paper published in December provide a platform for further discussion. The Home Office has launched engagement over 2019 with a wide range of stakeholders across the UK.