Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department provides to Police and Crime Commissioners on the proportion of their budget that should be used for the running of their offices.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government does not issue guidance to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) on the proportion of their budget that should be used for administration costs. Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, it is the responsibility of PCCs to determine how each police area’s funding settlement is allocated, including setting the police force budget and the running of the PCC’s office.
The 2011 Act specifies that PCCs must publish key information as prescribed by the Secretary of State. The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) order 2011 (and amended in 2012) sets out what information must be published: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/3050/contents/made
The publication of this information enables the local electorate to judge whether the PCC is making the best use of public money at the ballot box.
Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) have the power to scrutinise the actions and decisions of PCCs and enable the public to hold them to account. They have oversight of the commissioner’s key documents, decisions and reports, and conduct the majority of their business in public, ensuring information is available to the electorate.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the fifty fourth report of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 2013-14 entitled COMPASS: provision of asylum accommodation, HC 1000, what measures his Department have in place to respond to the lessons learned following the transition to and implementation of the COMPASS contracts in preparations for the transition to the new contracts.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Since the establishment of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Transformation Project in the autumn of 2016, there has been extensive consideration of lessons learnt from the existing contracts, stakeholder feedback and external review documents, including the fifty fourth report from the Public Accounts Committee.
The new contracts include over 400 substantive changes that will provide a more accessible and easy to navigate system which ensures the safety, security and welfare of service users and their host communities. These changes will include a longer mobilisation and transition period; improved data quality and sharing with providers and a more robust contract compliance regime to improve accommodation standards.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration reporting centres have been (a) closed and (b) relocated since May 2015.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Home Office reporting centres have not been closed. We have rationalised some of our police reporting locations in England and Wales to some of our Home Office reporting centres or larger regional police stations to effectively manage the reporting population.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people subject to reporting requirements are not disadvantaged financially if the nearest immigration reporting centre is closed.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Those who are eligible for help with travel costs will have a fixed amount added to their support account in order to purchase tickets to enable them to travel to their new reporting location. The facility for those not automatically entitled to travel expenses, but who are required to report and are destitute, to apply for expenses under ‘exceptional needs’ will remain.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the decision was taken to close the immigration reporting centre in Stoke-on-Trent; and if he will publish the business case which led to that decision.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
To ensure the needs of our reporting population are managed effectively it is critical that Immigration Enforcement has it resource in the right places. As a result, a small number of staff moves and closures of police reporting locations have taken place to ensure we effectively serve the reporting cohort.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect on asylum seekers in Stoke-on-Trent of the closure of the immigration reporting centre in that city.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Asylum seekers aren’t required to report until they have had a negative decision on their case. The new location is considered to be within a reasonable travelling time. To minimise the impact on those that are required to travel for longer periods we are reducing some individuals reporting frequencies to minimise disruption.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the consultation process with UK Visa and Immigration prior to the decision to close the immigration reporting centre in Stoke-on-Trent.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The move of reporting away from Stoke-on-Trent was part of a wider programme of work to rationalise our reporting locations to more effectively manage the reporting population.
When the decision to move reporting operations in Stoke-on-Trent had been made, stakeholders were informed. These stakeholders included; Staffordshire Police, Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Team; Social Services; St Marks Hall; Citizens Advice Bureau; SMK Solicitors; Morden Solicitors and Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to Questions 139023, 139024, 139025, 139026 and 139027, on immigrants: Caribbean, tabled on 26 April 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UIN 139023 was answered on the 19th June 2018, UINs 139024, 139025 and 139027 were answered on the 18th June 2018 and UIN 139026 was answered on the 22nd June 2018.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions Windrush records were used to confirm the immigration status of UK citizens in advance of the disposal of those records; and which (a) agencies of her Department and (b) Ministers of her Department received that information on immigration status.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
No decision was taken to destroy ‘Windrush records’ specifically and records were not categorised as being related to a ‘Windrush migrant’ or the ‘Windrush generation’. Any Windrush papers would have been destroyed in line with the retention and disposal periods set for the wider records collections in which they were located.
When making immigration decisions, officials will have regard to a wide range of information and evidence. It is not possible to assess the full range of information considered in a case without an examination of each paper file (where these are available). This could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Windrush generation arrival records were included in the national archive; what arrival dates they covered; and which ports of entry covered.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The National Archives holds arrival records comprising passenger lists arranged by port of arrival, from 1890 to 1960, which includes lists of the MV Empire Windrush and other ship arrivals outside of Europe. All of these lists are available to the public at The National Archives in Kew.