Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people born after 1 January 1983 are required to provide a valid passport when giving notice of marriage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Every person who gives notice to marry or to form a civil partnership in England and Wales must provide evidence of their given name, surname, date of birth, and nationality. A valid passport or another specified document can be used as evidence of nationality.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will set a target date for British National (Overseas) passport holders to be able to use eGates at the UK border.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government regularly reviews eGate eligibility for all nationals arriving in the UK, including British National (Overseas) passport holders.
In the New Plan for Immigration, the Government set out our ambition to digitise the border. To deliver this we aim to increase the use of eGates at the border by those currently eligible and investigate options to extend eGate eligibility to those unable to use them. Any shorter-term changes need to be balanced against the impact these have on delivering the longer-term ambition.
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 he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the report entitled The Prevent duty and its chilling effect on human rights published by Amnesty International in November 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Prevent plays a vital role in tackling radicalisation, seeking to intervene early where somebody is at risk of becoming a terrorist or supporting terrorism. Participation in Prevent does not result in a criminal record.
Sir William Shawcross carried out an Independent Review of Prevent, which was published on 8 February 2023. Government accepted all 34 recommendations.
We have now implemented 30 of the recommendations within one year of publication, and we are making rapid progress on delivering the remaining four.
Prevent is entirely compatible with human rights. It is a key part of the UK’s Counter Terrorism Strategy, and it is right that we continue to keep the public safe.
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 he is taking to make Statutory Declaration of Acknowledgement of Parentage forms easily available to parents.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The forms are available online at www.gov.uk
Statutory declaration of acknowledgement of parentage form - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The forms are also available in paper form from any register office in England and Wales.
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 work visas were (a) applied for, (b) granted and (c) refused by job type in each financial year from 2019-20.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on sponsored work entry clearance visas by occupation and industry in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on applications and grants are published in tables Occ_D01 and Occ_D02, respectively, of the Sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The data relates to between 2021 Q1 and 2023 Q3.
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 report entitled Evaluation of the Refugee and Migrant Advice Service’s Alternative to Detention Pilot, published on 23 August 2023, whether her Department plans to accept the 10 recommendations of the UNHCR.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are six recommendations for the Home Office in this evaluation report, which we have accepted either in full or partially as set out in the Home Office management response.
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 research by the National Centre for Social Research entitled Alternatives to detention: evaluation of second pilot, published on 23 August 2023, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of that research.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are six recommendations for the Home Office in the second pilot’s evaluation report, which have either been accepted in full or partially. Learning and insights from the pilot are set out in the published Home Office response which is included within the evaluation report.
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 introducing a school travel scheme to enable EU school groups to visit the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All visitors to the United Kingdom are expected to hold a valid passport and visa where necessary.
However, as part of an overall agreement on migration reached with France during the March summit between the Prime Minister and the French President, we have committed to easing travel between our two countries for schoolchildren on organised trips. Work is now under way to operationalise these arrangements.
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 has taken to protect Hong Kong human rights activists in the UK.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated. While it is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on security and intelligence matters, where we identify individuals at heightened risk, we are front footed in deploying protective security guidance and other measures as appropriate.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce is reviewing the UK’s approach to transnational repression to ensure we have a robust and joined up response across government and law enforcement.
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 Written Statement of 17 May 2023 HCWS779 on Animal Testing, how many of the time-limited licenses issued between 2019 and 2022 which permit the testing on animals of ingredients used in cosmetics production are valid.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
On 17 May 2023, the Government introduced a licensing ban on animal testing of chemicals exclusively intended as ingredients in cosmetics.
There are currently three live licences that authorise animal testing of chemicals used as ingredients in cosmetics.