Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of reports that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime registered a 43 percent increase in coca cultivation in Colombia in 2021 on drug-related crime in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The threats to the UK from illicit drugs and the implications of these threats for law enforcement are kept under regular assessment.
In December 2021, the Government launched its ten-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives. As part of this, £300 million has been allocated to fund activity to break drug supply chains from end-to-end.
This includes restricting upstream flow by expanding the networks of the National Crime Agency and Border Force officers posted to source and transit countries, ensuring we remain agile in the face of changing threats.
Alongside a strong law enforcement response, the UK is leveraging its diplomatic and overseas policy networks to secure political support from other governments and build our partners’ capacity to address the critical enablers of drug supplies into the UK.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of including Afghan journalists previously employed by the BBC in the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme for British Council staff and contractors.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To qualify for relocation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), Afghan nationals must have worked in exposed, meaningful or enabling roles in ways which made a material difference to the delivery of the UK mission in Afghanistan (e.g. linguistic services to UK Armed Forces). Eligibility for the scheme has been extended several times since it launched in April 2021 and there are no plans to extend it further.
Approximately 100 Afghan journalists have been evacuated and brought to safety since Operation Pitting, in August 2021.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.
Under Pathway three of ACRS in the first year, the government is honouring its commitment to resettlement by offering places for up to 1,500 eligible individuals from the following groups: British Council contractors, Gardaworld contractors or Chevening alumni.
Beyond the first year of the third pathway, the government will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2022 to Question 23234, under which scheme 100 Afghan journalists been relocated to the UK; and what type of visas they have been granted.
Answered by Kevin Foster
100 Afghan journalists have been brought to safety during and after OP Pitting under the ACRS through pathway one.
They were granted Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) for 6 months and will be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain under the scheme.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide visas to Afghan journalists who have worked for the BBC.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government responded swiftly to the fast-moving and challenging events in Afghanistan, including supporting the largest and fastest evacuation in recent history. We helped over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan in August 2021 and we continue to do all we can to enable those who are eligible to relocate to the UK.
There have been approximately 100 Afghan journalists who have been evacuated and brought to safety since 1 August 2021.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that Peruvians who would like to travel to the UK are able to do so without a visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There are no current plans to change the visa requirements for citizens of Peru.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential merits of standardising the English for Speakers of Other Languages curricula to enable settled refugees to learn necessary materials to integrate successfully into British society.
Answered by Kevin Foster
This Government recognises the ability to speak English is key to helping refugees integrate into life in the UK, as well as to breaking down barriers to work and career progression. The Home Office works very closely with other Government departments to ensure mainstream English language provision meets the needs of refugees.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualifications are available at five levels, funded through the Adult Education Budget and regulated by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Qualifications are aimed at providing learners with the skills they need for life and work in the UK.
Ofqual regulate ESOL qualifications so the outcomes achieved by learners attest to the level of knowledge, understanding and skills set out in the qualification.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many digital devices have been provided to settled refugees on UK Resettlement Scheme to assist them with English for Speakers of Other Languages training and job applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Local authorities receive a generous funding package for the support they provide for refugees resettled under the UK Resettlement Scheme.
The overall package also includes additional ESOL funding to improve the English language skills of adults and helping support better employability and integration outcomes. This package enables local authorities to support refugees as they rebuild their lives in safe and secure surroundings, among supportive communities in the UK.
The Home Office does not provide any digital devices, so any provision would be separate from Government, as such we do not hold this information.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme and (b) Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme participants have been enrolled in English for Speakers of Other Languages courses.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
For both the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), beneficiaries over the age of 19 will have immediate access to funding through the Department for Education’s Adult Education budget and be eligible for English For Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses.
The Home Office also provides a tariff per person to Local Authorities in return for providing a package of support to each arrival under the ACRS and ARAP, including an £850 payment for English Language training.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis on her meeting with the Colombian Defence Minister in December 2021.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The UK Government does not comment on the content of meetings held by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and other Government authorities.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied minors previously held in Libyan detention centres the UK has resettled.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UNHCR is conducting lifesaving evacuations of targeted groups of extremely vulnerable persons of concern currently in Libya who have been subject to serious violations of their human rights, including different forms of inhumane treatment and indefinite detention without access to effective legal remedies.
Following UNHCR’s appeal for resettlement places, the UK has committed to resettle some of the most vulnerable refugees who have been evacuated by UNHCR from Libya to Niger. This will include unaccompanied minors.
Our prime concern is their safety and protection as they arrive in this country. We want to protect their privacy and ensure their recovery and integration, as they rebuild their lives in safe and secure surroundings, among supportive communities in the UK. We will, therefore, not be providing a running commentary on this specific cohort.