Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how long, on average, students wait for a decision on funding if they require the Home Office to confirm to Student Finance England that their immigration status makes them eligible to apply for that funding.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Home Office works to an agreement to confirm decisions on eligibility for student funding within 10 working days. Regulatory changes that created a new long residency category of customers made earlier in 2016 have resulted in an increase in numbers of customers being referred for checks with the Home Office. This has led to an increase in processing times for such checks. Extra resource has now been provided to increase the volume completed by 25% per day.
It is the responsibility of individual students to provide the necessary evidence in support of their application. My officials are working with the Home Office to explore what additional support or alternative solutions can be provided to increase the speed of immigration status checks.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the quota of 20 immigration status checks per day allocated to Student Finance England.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Home Office works to an agreement to confirm decisions on eligibility for student funding within 10 working days. Regulatory changes that created a new long residency category of customers made earlier in 2016 have resulted in an increase in numbers of customers being referred for checks with the Home Office. This has led to an increase in processing times for such checks. Extra resource has now been provided to increase the volume completed by 25% per day.
It is the responsibility of individual students to provide the necessary evidence in support of their application. My officials are working with the Home Office to explore what additional support or alternative solutions can be provided to increase the speed of immigration status checks.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been granted refugee status or another type of subsidiary protection in the UK on the basis that they have been trafficked since 2010.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Our records indicate that since 2010, 1,003 confirmed victims of trafficking have been granted refugee status or other form of protection as a result of an application for asylum. It is not possible to say whether refugee status was awarded due to the applicant being a victim of trafficking without a review of individual case record at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the significance of the average age at death in assessing the health needs of a community; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We want everyone to have the same opportunity to have a long and healthy life, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever their social circumstances.
Local areas are rightly placed to determine the health needs of their local populations and that is why the Government will give £16 billion to local government over the course of this Parliament for public health.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people her Department removed to Vietnam in each year from 2013 to 2016 to date; and how many such people had been subject to positive grounds National Referral Mechanism decisions in each such year.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The number of people returned from the UK to Vietnam in each year by Enforced Removals and Voluntary Returns is published on a quarterly basis in Immigration Statistics on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
The information you requested can be found in tables rt_05 and rt_05_q of the returns tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572383/returns5-q3-2016-tables.ods
This link will help you to find the most updated returns data by country of destination. The data within this table can be filtered, enabling you to obtain information specifically relating to removals to Vietnam. Instruction on how to use the filters can be found on the ‘contents’ tab.
We do not hold the requested data of how many such people had been subject to positive grounds decisions on the National Referral Mechanism in the requested format.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were returned to Vietnam under the assisted voluntary return scheme in each year from 2013 to 2016 to date; and how many such people had been subject to positive grounds National Referral Mechanism decisions in each such year.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The number of people returned from the UK to Vietnam in each year by Enforced Removals and Voluntary Returns is published on a quarterly basis in Immigration Statistics on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
The information you requested can be found in tables rt_05 and rt_05_q of the returns tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572383/returns5-q3-2016-tables.ods
This link will help you to find the most updated returns data by country of destination. The data within this table can be filtered, enabling you to obtain information specifically relating to removals to Vietnam. Instruction on how to use the filters can be found on the ‘contents’ tab.
We do not hold the requested data of how many such people had been subject to positive grounds decisions on the National Referral Mechanism in the requested format.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of trafficking were witnesses or accused in criminal proceedings in each year from 2010 to 2015.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Records on the number of trafficking victims appearing as witnesses or defendants in criminal proceedings are not collated. We have introduced a range of measures to protect victims of modern slavery who may find themselves part of criminal proceedings, including a statutory defence for those compelled to commit certain offences as a direct consequence of their exploitation and the provision of special support services for witnesses in courts.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applicants for student finance for the 2016-17 academic year are still awaiting a decision; and how many of those applicants are awaiting an immigration status check before their eligibility can be decided.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
As of 13 December 2016, 1,342 customers are awaiting an immigration status check with the Home Office before their eligibility can be decided.
The Home Office works to an agreement to confirm decisions on eligibility for student funding within 10 working days. Regulatory changes that created a new long residency category of customers made earlier in 2016 have resulted in an increase in numbers of customers being referred for checks with the Home Office. This has led to an increase in processing times for such checks. Extra resource has now been provided to increase the volume completed by 25% per day.
It is the responsibility of individual students to provide the necessary evidence in support of their application. My officials are working with the Home Office to explore what additional support or alternative solutions can be provided to increase the speed of immigration status checks.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to answer the letter of 10 August 2016 from the right hon. Member for Slough on assistance in dealing with anti-competitive practices in booking flights in Thailand.
Answered by Margot James
The Department does not have a record of receiving this letter from the Hon Member. I would be pleased to provide a response upon receipt of a copy of the correspondence.
Asked by: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has held with medical practitioners on preventing patients from travelling to China for organ transplants.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
There have been no such discussions.
Patients cannot be prevented from travelling to China but should be aware of the risks, including possible prosecution, poor donor care, poorer graft survival, infection and in extreme cases, death.
The Government supports the establishment of lawful and ethical organ donation and transplantation programmes to address the world-wide shortage of organs for transplant and a range of action to discourage organ trafficking, transplant tourism and commercialism. The United Kingdom formally signed the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Organs on 25 March 2015 and has laws and protocols in place to ensure well-regulated practice to prevent organ trafficking in the UK.