Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on how his Department can take steps to help tackle labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's policies on tackling labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the immigration health surcharge for people who already (a) work and (b) pay taxes in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government has no plans to remove the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for temporary migrants who work and pay taxes in the UK.
It is right those granted temporary immigration permission for more than six months should contribute to the sustainability of our NHS. Having paid the IHS, temporary migrants can access the NHS as soon as they arrive in the UK and will only be charged for services that a permanent resident would also pay for, such as prescription charges in England.
Although some temporary migrants will pay tax and National Insurance contributions after they start work in the UK, they will not on average have made the same financial contribution to the NHS which most UK nationals and permanent residents have made, or will make, over the course of their working lives. It is an individual’s immigration status, not their tax and National Insurance contributions, which governs their access to the NHS.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of extending visas for people resident in the UK on Ukrainian sponsorship schemes (a) indefinitely and (b) beyond 18 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
To provide certainty about the future of the Ukraine visa schemes, on 18 February we announced that existing Ukraine scheme visa holders will be able to apply for permission to remain in the UK for an additional 18 months under a new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme set to open in early 2025 (before the first UKR scheme visas start to expire in March 2025).
We keep our Ukraine schemes under consistent review in line with the ongoing war, engaging closely with other Government departments, the Ukrainian government and our counterparts globally, including governments within Europe who are hosting Ukrainians under the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (or similar).
The Ukrainian government have been clear about their strong desire for the future repatriation of its citizens to help rebuild Ukraine when it is safe to do so. It is important that our approach respects these wishes and therefore our offer of sanctuary remains temporary in nature and does not lead to settlement in the UK.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a breakdown breakdown by religion of National Crime Agency (a) officers and (b) civilian staff based in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
It is the policy of successive UK governments not to comment on matters of intelligence and national security; this includes information relating to the NCA's workforce in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with the Northern Ireland administration on the (a) social, (b) physical and (c) mental health needs of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers that we support is of paramount importance to the Home Office. The Asylum Accommodation Support Contract (AASC) Statement of Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. Full details of our policies: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2018-1112/AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf.
The Home Office continues to engage with Northern Ireland government departments to progress agreements to ensure continued delivery for service users in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration entitled An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation for asylum seeking families with children in Northern Ireland, published on 29 February 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders Immigration has identified several areas for improvement and made 5 recommendations. The Home Office has fully accepted two and partially accepted three recommendations.
Work is already underway to take forward the recommendations in this report to ensure that we continue to meet not only our statutory obligations in Northern Ireland, but also to support the delivery of the Home Office’s broader aims in the UK, in response to the findings.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) National Crime Agency officers and (b) civilian staff members based in Northern Ireland are (i) former Royal Ulster Constabulary, (ii) Police Service of Northern Ireland officers and (iii) civilian workers.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The National Crime Agency does not hold this information.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the exemption from immigration rules for seasonal workers in the perishable food industry extends to those in the fish processing sector.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government operates no exemption from Immigration Rules for seasonal workers in the perishable food industry. Within the Immigration Rules, the Government operates the Seasonal Worker route which allows up to 45,000 workers to come to the UK for up to six months to pick both edible and ornamental crops (e.g. fruit and flower picking). The route also enables up to 2,000 poultry to come to the UK in the run up to Christmas. The Seasonal Worker route is specifically designed to support the UK horticulture and poultry sectors – both sectors which typically require higher volumes of labour, for relatively short-term periods of time, in line with seasonal production peaks. The route is not designed to support non-seasonal roles, operating on a year-round basis, such as fish processing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has considered the potential merits of extending visas issued under the (a) Ukraine Family Scheme, (b) Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and (c) the Ukraine Extension Scheme; and whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of such schemes on Government provision for (i) housing, (ii) education and (iii) employment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are mindful that permission will start to expire, for the first arrivals under our Ukrainian schemes, from March 2025, and their need for certainty beyond that point to help them to plan ahead. We are keeping the need for a possible extension of permission to remain for those who are here on our Ukraine schemes under consistent review in line with the ongoing war.
The Government is providing funding to councils at a rate of £10,500 per person for guests who arrived before 1 January 2023 and £5,900 for guests who arrived after 1 January 2023 under the Homes for Ukraine scheme to enable them to provide support to families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities. The Government is also providing £150 million of new UK-wide funding in the 2023/24 financial year to local authorities and devolved governments to help support Ukrainian guests move into their own homes and reduce the risk of homelessness.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are also working across government to identify other ways to unblock barriers, helping Ukrainians access employment, commensurate with their skill set, liaising with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In addition, the Government announced £11.5 million in the Spring Budget 2023 to fund intensive English language courses and employment support for up to 10,000 eligible individuals (across the UK) under the three humanitarian Ukraine visa schemes.