Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the rules laid in Parliament on 12 March 2025 on care workers, how many social care workers have (a) been removed from the UK and (b) had their visas cancelled as a result of their sponsor losing their licence since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested 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.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the rules laid in Parliament on 12 March 2025 regarding social care, how a social care provider can prove that they have tried to recruit domestically before seeking to sponsor new recruits from overseas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office will publish guidance for sponsors in line with the new rules coming into effect on 9 April.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the judgement in case UI-2024-005295 issued in the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber on 13 January 2025, whether her Department has plans to appeal the judgement.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases or legal proceedings in which it is a participant.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will accelerate deportations of (a) foreign national offenders and (b) illegal immigrants.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We pledged to deliver the highest rate of removals since 2018 and this has been surpassed, with a surge in returns activity since the election leading to nearly 19,000 people with no right to be in the UK being removed in the first six months this government was in office.
That included 5,074 enforced returns of people with no legal right to remain in the UK, up 24% compared with the same period 12 months prior, and the removal of 2,925 foreign national offenders (FNOs) – a 21% increase on the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).
As part of the above, bespoke charter flights have removed immigration offenders to countries around the world, including 4 of the biggest returns flights in the UK’s history, carrying more than 800 people in total.
This ramp-up reverses the decline in removals seen over the past 10 years and, as part of the government’s Plan for Change, is working to fix the foundations of a broken immigration system.
Further details on this government’s returns activity since 5 July can be found here: Returns from the UK since 5 July 2024 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to proscribe drug cartels as terrorist organisations.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The criteria for proscribing an organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, and the Governments approach to commenting on those decisions remain exactly the same as they were when the Rt Hon Member was a Home Office Minister.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the Italian Government decision to use naval ships to transport migrants to Albania.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Italian navy has competence for the transfer of migrants rescued in international waters to the centres in Albania run by the Italian government.
As part of this Government’s expansion of international cooperation in the fight against Organised Immigration Crime, we constantly monitor the impact of the methods, techniques and technology that other partner nations and agencies are employing in that fight.
The UK government is monitoring the Italian government implementation of their deal with Albania as an innovative approach to manage migration flows.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will use sanctions including visa penalties on countries that do not cooperate with the removal of their nationals.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Where cooperation with countries on returns falls below the levels expected, and where appropriate, we stand ready to use all levers available to us to encourage cooperation, including the power to impose visa penalties.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will instruct the Southport public inquiry to make an assessment of the adequacy of public communications by the Government in the aftermath of those murders.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are moving swiftly to set up the inquiry.
We will consult the families and other interested parties on its scope to ensure all critical issues are addressed while remaining manageable and sensitive to the needs of those most affected.
We will announce further details about the inquiry in due course.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of % December 2024 to Question 16739 on Employment, what proportion of the increase in employment level is due to net immigration.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for producing forecasts of the UK economy. The OBR’s latest forecasts, including detail of its forecasts of employment and net migration, are set out in the OBR’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, available on the OBR’s website.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been spent on the CONNECT computer software since its introduction by the Metropolitan Police on (a) further development of the software, (b) training including (i) accommodation, (ii) travel, (iii) classrooms, (iv) trainers and (v)overtime incurred by officers), (c) internal IT services to resolve CONNECT issues including ConnectHub, (d) shifts covered by officers to support staff with CONNECT, (e) initial purchase fees and installation, (f) other costs and (g) in total.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police forces and Policing and Crime Commissioners are responsible for their procurement and commercial strategies for Records Management Systems.
Each force is responsible for evaluating the performance of their Record Management System in line with those strategies and their local requirements.
It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on the individual performance of one supplier in relation to the factors mentioned.