Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Response to the Pre Action Protocol letter of from Wilson Solicitors LLP of 18 February, whether she intends to amend guidance for Home Office caseworkers on the Good character requirement, last updated 13 February.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is longstanding Home Office policy not to comment on individual cases.
The British Nationality Act 1981 is clear that it is for the Home Secretary to determine the good character policy. There is no definition of good character in primary legislation, nor is there statutory guidance as to how this should be interpreted or defined. Changes to the good character policy are at the discretion of the Home Secretary.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 providing additional resource to the priority service for processing Indefinite Leave to Remain applications on the BNO route for Hong Kongers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Priority Visa Service for BNO (British National Overseas) Indefinite Leave to Remain applications was introduced on 8 September 2023. Straightforward applications are processed within 5 days of biometric enrolment. Sufficient resource is allocated to ensure this target is met.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the resale of stolen mobile phones.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes. This includes work to disrupt the resale of stolen phones, including exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and working with the police to better understand the routes used to sell stolen phones.
The Home Office continues to regularly engage with the police and other stakeholders to progress work to tackle this criminality and the Home Secretary will reconvene this group shortly to agree further actions.
In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications for naturalisation as a British citizen took longer than the six month service standard in the latest reporting period for which data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passports-and-citizenship-data-q4-2024.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for new-born out of country passport applications.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development 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
The published processing guidance for children by country of application is identical for all persons applying from that country who are under 16 years old.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to notify eligible Ukrainians on the Ukrainian Permission Extension scheme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
To promote and raise awareness of the Ukraine Permission Extention scheme, the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), alongside trusted partners, have run 9 community outreach events in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. The department also engaged directly with stakeholders who have close links to the Ukrainian diaspora in the UK.
This is supported by online guidance published on Gov.uk.
We continue to explore further engagement opportunities where applicable.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for passports for children born outside the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development 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
Where no further information is required, His Majesty's Passport Office advises that British passport applications from the UK will normally take around three weeks. This includes applications for children, whether they were born in the UK or overseas.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing DBS checks that are portable for an individual applicant rather than an organisation.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A DBS certificate is sent directly to the applicant only. Where an individual applies for another role within the same workforce which is eligible and requires the same type of DBS check, they may use their existing certificate if the employer is content to accept it. In this context, it is the employer’s decision whether to use an existing certificate or to request a new one.
The DBS Update Service, launched in June 2013, supports the portability of an individual’s certificate by ensuring the information is up to date. Once an individual joins the Update Service, they are able to keep their certificate up to date by giving employers permission to check if anything has changed on their certificate, as long as the role is in the same workforce and eligible for the same level of check as the existing certificate.
The Update service allows existing and new employers to undertake instant online checking of DBS certificates with the individual’s consent, thus saving time and money. The applicant would only need to obtain a new certificate in cases where there has been a change in recorded information, or in cases where they need to apply for a different type of criminal record check. The Update Service is free to use for volunteers and costs £16 a year for paid employees.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14690 on Fire and Rescue Services: Standards, what progress was made in establishing national standards for Fire and Rescue services at the first meeting of the Ministerial Advisory Group held in December.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The inaugural meeting of the ministerial advisory group for fire and rescue service reform was the first in a series of meetings that will take place quarterly. One of the group’s key aims is delivery of the manifesto commitment to work with all stakeholders in the fire and rescue sector to inform policy, including the establishment of national standards. This will form a core part of our work programme, alongside the Government’s other priorities for meaningful reform of the sector.
This will build on the work that the Fire Standards Board has already taken forward in publishing 19 different standards for the sector. These cover a range of topics relating to operational management, leadership and ethics.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Home Office case reference MPAM/1253692/25, what steps is taking to expedite the resolution of a technical error on her Department's systems which is preventing the processing of skilled workers visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The issue raised relates to an individual case and the enrolment of data to the Home Office. It does not relate to a systemic issue with our I.T systems.
We are taking steps to resolve the issues surrounding the individual case and will respond with further details directly to the Honourable Member.