Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to Answer of 19 April to Question 151012, what steps his Department is taking to help increase local authorities' capacity to deal with safeguarding issues raised by applicants of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government will provide funding of £10,500 per person to local authorities to provide a range of support required.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2022 to Question 149188 on Homes for Ukraine Scheme, what specific support his Department has provided to local authorities to expand their capacity to implement safeguarding checks on sponsors applying for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Guidance is published via: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils. DLUHC meet regularly with representatives from local authorities.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to Answer of 19 April to Question 151014, if he will provide additional funding to local authorities to deal with the potential increase in homelessness from Ukrainians arriving on the Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Funding of £10,500 per person is provided to local authorities under the Homes for Ukraine scheme which includes funding for homelessness.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people in (a) the City of Hull and (b) Kingston upon Hull North have registered as sponsors under the Homes for Ukraine scheme as of 20 April 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Data for visas issued under the Homes for Ukraine scheme is at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-for-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-numbers-of-visa-applications .
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of people who will arrive in the city of Hull under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Ukraine Family scheme is managed by the Home Office. Data for the number of visas issued under the Homes for Ukraine scheme is at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-for-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-numbers-of-visa-applications.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much money the Government is providing to local authorities specifically to deal with the management of potential homelessness that may arise from the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the Family Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Guidance for local authority support can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils#role-of-councils.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will publish details of the entire process for the Homes for Ukraine scheme for the (a) applicant and (b) sponsor from the point of application.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Guidance for sponsors is available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-sponsor-guidance. Visa application guidance is managed by the Home Office and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-visa-under-the-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authorities are required to make different financial provision to refugees who arrive on the sponsorship scheme and refugees who arrive on the family visa scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Local authorities have a number of important functions in supporting the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Guidance for local authorities has been published here: www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Local Government Association's report that there have been 144 homeless applications from Ukrainian refugees to date, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are aware of all the residents in their area who have registered interest in the sponsorship scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Local authorities have access to information on those who have applied for visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions his Department has had with Facebook, about the Facebook groups that are being used to match Ukrainian refugees with UK households about (a) monitoring of these groups and (b) what steps they are taking to ensure that people trafficking gangs are not using these avenues to traffic Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The National Crime Agency works closely with social media companies as part of its Social Media Action Plan, to scope illicit content related to organised immigration crime.