Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Project Pegasus on the right to (a) privacy and (b) data protection.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pegasus is a unique private-public partnership that will radically improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders. This will include development of a new information sharing platform and training for retailers.
Pegasus is spearheaded by Katy Bourne, the Business Crime lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and is backed by the Home Office, 14 retailers and the National Business Crime Solution.
Pegasus will be funding the creation of a dedicated team of specialist analysts and intelligence officers to work within OPAL, the national policing team that oversees intelligence on serious organised acquisitive crime.
OPAL is responsible for the management of data and intelligence, as well as information sharing agreements set up with members of Pegasus.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to provide access to the passport photo database to police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The sharing of passport data with law enforcement agencies for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime is longstanding, and is provided for within His Majesty’s Passport Office’s Privacy Information Notice:
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs against travel to Russia would qualify as an insurmountable obstacle as set out in Ex.2 of the Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members, published on 25 February 2016.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The application of Section Ex. is fact sensitive, and consideration is on a case-by-case basis, considering a range of factors including, but not limited to, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advice.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure clarity on (a) new student visa rules which will affect international PhD students in Cambridge listed in their first year as Not at first registered and (b) the right of such students to bring their families on a student visa.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
For courses starting from 1 January 2024, students will only be able to bring dependants if they are on a PhD, other doctoral qualification, or a research-based higher degree, or in receipt of a full government scholarship. If a student is unsure of what level their course is, they should check with their sponsor or the course details on their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
Our guidance products are regularly updated to reflect changes to the immigration rules and such an update was published following the rules changes of 17 July 2023. The Home Office regularly engages with stakeholders regarding policy changes.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's visa application processing times for Sudanese nationals who have travelled to a third country and have applied to join family members in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Visa processing times for family migration applications are updated regularly on gov.uk.
Refugee family reunion visa processing is currently outside of service standard. We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications and are reviewing our processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to all our customers
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the end of fire appliance mobilising system collaboration between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority on fire safety in those areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requires each Fire and Rescue Authority to make arrangements for dealing with calls for help and for summoning personnel. How this is delivered is an operational decision, and one for the respective Chief Fire Officers who are both responsible and accountable to the public.
My officials are aware of the potential plans to end the current collaboration agreement between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Fire Authority and will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 applicants who have requested indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the grounds of long residency and have been able to access the super priority service between 1 January 2023 and 30 April 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department expects the report by Kings Arms Bedford on the second joint UNHCR Home Office Alternatives to Detention pilot project to be published.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UNHCR have appointed the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to independently evaluate this pilot. We expect them to publish their report soon.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the seasonal worker visas made available for workers for the poultry sector have been issued as of 7 December 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas granted are published in table Vis_D02 of the Entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar(opens in a new tab)’.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to in the Animals in Science Regulation Unit's annual report for 2021, what steps she is taking to help ensure that fish are not subjected to additional harms beyond those licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Animals used in science, including fish, are given protection under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). Work is only authorised after a rigorous assessment process through a three-tiered licensing system and the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement must be followed at all times.
The ASPA requires that each project licence holder ensures adherence to the severity limits as specified in their licence and observance of any other controls. If these constraints appear to have been, or are likely to be, breached, the holder shall ensure that the Regulator is notified as soon as possible.
Licensed establishments that use animals in scientific procedures are subject to both announced and unannounced inspections to assure compliance with the conditions of their licences under ASPA.