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Written Question
Immigration
Thursday 27th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to increase processing times for applications to extend limited leave to remain; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

UK Visas and Immigration are currently operating within their global customer service standards across all of the main legal migration routes for customers who make an entry clearance application from overseas and for applications made inside the UK.

Details of current performance against these customer service standards are updated regularly and can be found at:

Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Written Question
Immigration
Thursday 27th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applied for indefinite leave to remain after completing the 10-year route to settlement based on their family or private life since 2012.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Immigration
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who are expected to apply for indefinite leave to remain after completing the ten-year route based on their family or private life in the next five years.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The data requested is not available in a reportable format.


Written Question
Immigration
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the 10-year route to settlement on levels of integration in the period since 2012; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Those who meet all eligibility and specified evidential requirements of the Family Immigration Rules, will be granted on a five-year route to settlement (granted in two periods of 30 months, with a third application for indefinite leave to remain). Those who cannot or do not meet these requirements, or seek to rely on their private life, will instead have a longer route to settlement: 10 years (granted in four periods of 30 months, with a fifth application for indefinite leave to remain). This reflects our obligations under Article 8 of the ECHR.

The 10 year route, provides additional time for those applicants to better integrate into British society by being able to achieve an appropriate knowledge of the English language which, in turn, will enable them to obtain employment and take a full and active part in their community.

We are in the process of simplifying the immigration system, including the ten-year routes to settlement. As part of this simplification the impact of existing policies will be taken into account


Written Question
Immigration: Applications
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of a fee waiver for applications for indefinite leave to remain.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The right to stay indefinitely is one of the most valuable entitlements offered for those seeking to enter or remain in the UK, and it is right that the fee should be higher than most for migrants staying temporarily in the UK.

A grant of indefinite leave to remain is not necessary to enable people to remain in the UK on the basis of their Article 8 or other ECHR rights, as these can be met through a grant of limited leave to remain. The provision of an affordability-based waiver for limited leave on family and private life routes allows an individual or family to remain here lawfully, and to then apply for settlement and pay the fee when the funds become available. As such, there are no plans to waive the fee for indefinite leave to remain.


Written Question
Immigration
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are waiting for the outcome of an application for further leave to remain; and how many and what proportion of those people have limited leave to remain on the 10-year route to settlement on the basis of their family or private lives.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

We do not currently hold any information regarding the proportion of these people who might have limited leave to remain in the UK and are consequently awaiting a decision on a visa extension application are on the ten-year route to settlement.


Written Question
Slavery
Wednesday 20th July 2022

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of eligible organisations under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 have successfully complied with their obligation to report annually on the steps taken to prevent modern slavery in each year since that Act was introduced.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on steps taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

Compliance with section 54 is high. In 2019, the Home Office contracted the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) to undertake an audit of compliance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The audit was concluded in January 2020 with data accurate up to this point. The high-level findings of this audit were published on 17 September 2020 in the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s annual report (available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-anti-slavery-commissioners-annual-report-2019-to-2020).

To further drive compliance with section 54, the Government response to the Transparency in Supply Chains consultation, published on 22 September 2020, committed to taking forwards an ambitious package of measures to strengthen the Act’s transparency legislation, including:

  • Extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more;
  • Mandating the specific reporting topics statements must cover;
  • Requiring organisations to publish their statement on the new Government registry

The Government has also committed to introduce financial penalties for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. These measures require primary legislation and, as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we intend to legislate in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill.

In addition, in March 2021, the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to radically enhance transparency by bringing together modern slavery statements on a single platform. The registry will provide a key tool for Government and others to monitor and drive compliance with section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We have been encouraged by use of the registry. Since launch, over 8,300 modern slavery statements covering over 27,800 organisations have been submitted on a voluntary basis.


Written Question
Slavery
Tuesday 19th July 2022

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the requirements of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to public sector organisations.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government is committed to continuously strengthening our approach to modern slavery and building on the world-leading legislation introduced in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In 2018, the Home Office commissioned an Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act to understand where the Act has worked well and where it could be more effective.

As part of its response, the Home Office conducted a public consultation on potential changes to the Modern Slavery Act’s transparency legislation which included a question on extending requirements to public sector organisations; 98% of respondents responded positively to this question, including 100% of public sector respondents.

The government response to the Transparency in Supply Chains consultation announced that we will introduce legislation to require public sector organisations with a budget of £36 million or more to report on how they prevent and address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chain. As announced in the Queens Speech, we intend to bring this measure forward in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill.

Many public sector organisations are already publishing modern slavery statements voluntarily, but this new duty will ensure parity between private and public sector organisations.


Written Question
Slavery
Thursday 14th July 2022

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 8 March 2022 to Question 133959 on Slavery, when she plans to introduce financial penalties for organisations that fail to meet their statutory obligations with regards to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The landmark transparency provisions contained in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 made the UK the first country in the world to require businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

To enhance the impact of transparency and accelerate action to prevent modern slavery, the Government committed to strengthening the reporting requirements contained in section 54 and introduce new measures including financial penalties for organisations that fail to meet their statutory obligation to publish modern slavery statements.

These measures require primary legislation and we intend to legislate in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill.


Written Question
Police: Cardiff
Thursday 7th February 2019

Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will ensure that Cardiff is allocated a level of funding which is adequate for the policing of a capital city and a seat of government.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The proposed funding settlement we announced last week increases funding for the policing system by up to £970 million, including pensions funding and council tax precept. For South Wales Police, this could mean an increase in total cash funding of up to £19 million to £290 million in 2019/20 if the Police and Crime Commissioner chooses to increase precept by two pounds a month.


I recently met with the South Wales PCC and Chief Constable, and discussed the issue of capital city-related demand. We will consider issues around longer term funding in the round at the next Spending Review.