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Written Question
Arms Trade: Russia
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps Border Force is taking to (a) identify and (b) detain people crossing the border who have been involved in the (i) funding and (ii) supply of munitions to Russia.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office’s priority is to deliver a safe and secure border and we will never compromise on this. Border Force maintain 100% checks for all scheduled arriving passengers into the UK.

We operate the Authority to Carry Scheme 2023 to prevent certain individuals from travelling to or from the UK when that is necessary in the public interest.


Written Question
Visas: Appeals
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the lack of an appeals process for Visitor Visa's on tourism numbers coming to the UK.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The department has not conducted an assessment of tourism numbers and appeals. When appeals for family visitors were abolished in 2013, the assessment was that the quicker and more cost-effective remedy for those refused was a fresh application, with judicial review available where necessary. These options are open to tourists, who therefore have no reason to be deterred by the lack of an appeal. In 2023, the number of visitor visas issued was up by 40% on 2022.

In 2014, the immigration appeals system was reserved for cases raising issues of fundamental rights, and in those rare cases where a visit engages human rights an appeal is still available.


Written Question
Forensic Science Regulator: Complaints
Monday 22nd January 2024

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the options available to people who wish to complain about the reasons for a compliance notice when the Forensic Science Regulator issue's them a notice.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Section 8 of the Forensic Science Regulator Act came into force on 2 October 2023 via statutory instrument, allowing a person issued with a compliance notice to appeal to the First Tier Tribunal if they feel a compliance notice has been wrongly issued. Since then, no compliance notices have been issued by the Regulator.

The Act only applies to forensic science activities conducted in England and Wales. Further assessment of the adequacy of the provisions would be covered by post-legislative scrutiny.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) the Linda Norgrove Foundation and (c) the Scottish Government on the potential merits of opening the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme to nursing students from Afghanistan.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

We remain committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan and so far, have brought around 24,600 individuals to the UK.

We continue to welcome individuals under all three pathways of the ACRS as set out in the policy statement and work with likeminded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans. Further information is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement-accessible-version

Beyond the first stage of Pathway 3, which is now closed to referrals, we will continue to work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk under the next stage. Further detail will be set out in due course.

Whilst the government maintains a generous resettlement offer, we must recognise that the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and difficult decisions have to be made on who will be prioritised for resettlement.


Written Question
Development Aid: Asylum
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the ONE Campaign entitled Getting a grip: How the Home Office should improve refugee and asylum seeker welfare and protect UK aid, published on 29 September 2023, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations of that report.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office is tackling the asylum legacy caseload so that people can receive a decision and exit the system, either by returning to their home country, or granting them asylum so they can begin to make a contribution to the UK. We have already met our commitment to increase the number of decision makers to 2,500. We will continue to increase the number of caseworkers to help clear the asylum backlog by the end of 2023. We are on track to clear the legacy backlog by the end of the year.

We are also improving the productivity, volumes, and speed of decision making so that people spend less time in asylum accommodation. We are streamlining and modernising the end-to-end process, with improved guidance, more focused and fewer interviews, enhancing use of digital technology, and we are introducing a more efficient approach to how claims are handled by decision makers. The aim is to clear initial asylum decisions relating to claims made before 28 June 2022, when the Nationality and Borders Act measures came into force, by the end of 2023.

The Home Office is committed to making every effort to reduce hotel use and limit the burden on the taxpayer. This is why we are delivering a range of alternative accommodation sites, maximising hotel space, operationalising the Illegal Migration Act and continuing our hard work to clear the asylum backlog by the end of the year.

In line with our response to the ICAI review, FCDO published the updated UK In-Donor Refugee Costs methodology report alongside our latest Statistics on International Development.

The full methodology report can be found here. Section 3 sets our the fit for purpose assessment and current data limitations.


Written Question
Visas: Health Professions
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many medical professionals working for the NHS moved from a study visa to a work visa in the last 12 months.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office does not publish data that would cover this request.


Written Question
Overseas Students: Afghanistan
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to support the top 20 nursing students from Afghanistan to continue their studies in the UK through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

As has been the practice under successive Governments, the Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.

We remain committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan and so far, have brought around 24,600 people impacted by the situation to the UK.

We continue to work with likeminded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans. We also continue to welcome individuals to the UK through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).


Written Question
Arrest Warrants: Hong Kong
Tuesday 5th September 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to support Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in the UK who have been issued arrest warrants and had bounties placed on them by the National Security Police of Hong Kong.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Government continually assesses potential threats in the UK, and takes protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.

DLUHC, Home Office and FCDO regularly engage with and attends events held by a wide range of British Nationals Overseas (BN(O)) community groups.

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.

We will not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and overseas. The UK will always defend the universal right to freedom of expression and stand up for those who are targeted.

We strongly object to the National Security Law that China has imposed on Hong Kong, including its extraterritorial reach, in breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. We call on Beijing to remove the National Security Law and for the Hong Kong authorities to end their targeting of those who stand up for freedom and democracy.

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.


Written Question
Arrest Warrants: Hong Kong
Tuesday 5th September 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had recent discussions with Hong Kong pro-democracy activists resident in the UK who have been issued with arrest warrants by the Hong Kong National Security Police.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Government continually assesses potential threats in the UK, and takes protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.

DLUHC, Home Office and FCDO regularly engage with and attends events held by a wide range of British Nationals Overseas (BN(O)) community groups.

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.

We will not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and overseas. The UK will always defend the universal right to freedom of expression and stand up for those who are targeted.

We strongly object to the National Security Law that China has imposed on Hong Kong, including its extraterritorial reach, in breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. We call on Beijing to remove the National Security Law and for the Hong Kong authorities to end their targeting of those who stand up for freedom and democracy.

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.


Written Question
National Crime Agency: Staff
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of staffing levels in the National Crime Agency.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in and against the UK. The National Crime Agency plays a critical role in this mission, and we have made significant progress in strengthening the Agency. The NCA’s budget has increased by at least 21% in the last two years to over £860m, which will help it develop and maintain the critical capabilities and skilled workforce it needs.

The Crime and Courts Act 2013 gives the Director General of the Agency overall responsibility for staffing decisions. The NCA’s Strategic Workforce Plan sets out its staffing needs over the next 3-5 years, to ensure the skills, size and shape workforce are appropriate to protect the public from serious and organised crime.