Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to answer Question 11631 tabled on 3 February 2020 by the Hon Member for Livingstone.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The response for UIN 11631 was given on 26 February 2020.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on legal fees in each year since 2010.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Data for professional fees expenditure is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts but is not disclosed separately for legal fees.
Home Office Annual Accounts 2018-19 - page 135
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/807126/6.5571_HO_Annual_Report_201920_WEB.PDF
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he applies the same standards for mothers and fathers when assessing Article 8 applications for leave to remain.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights falls within the scope of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. These rules do not differentiate between mothers and fathers or husbands, wives and civil partners, referring only to parents and partners.
There are no requirements under Appendix FM that are particular to one parental role or the other.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for visitor visas his Department has received since 2005.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information on Visitor entry clearance visa applications and outcomes (granted, refused, withdrawn, lapsed) is published on a quarterly basis in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_01_q, latest edition with data up to Q3 (July-September) 2018 at:
Corresponding information for Q4 (October-December) 2018 is planned to be published on 28 February.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of visit visa applications have been refused in each year since 2000.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Home Office published statistics on visitor entry clearance visas start from 2005.
Information on visitor entry clearance visa applications and outcomes (grants, refusals, withdrawn and lapsed cases) is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Home Office publication scheme, in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_01_q.
The latest edition can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018/list-of-tables#visas
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department is taking to support the reuniting of refugee families.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Our family reunion policy allows immediate pre-flight family members of those granted protection here to reunite with them. There is provision in the current policy to grant visas outside the Rules in exceptional circumstances, which caters for family members who otherwise do not qualify under the Rules. The Government’s approach has provided a safe and legal route for more than 25,000 partners and children of those granted protection here in the last five years.
We are listening carefully to calls to expand the scope of the refugee family reunion rules and are reviewing our approach as part of the Government’s wider asylum and resettlement strategy. We continue to follow the passage of two Private Members’ Bills on refugee family reunion closely and will continue our productive discussions with non-governmental organisations in this area.
Family reunion is only part of the Governments wider package of support for refugees. In addition to those who join family members in the UK under family reunion provisions, we have, in the year ending March 2018, resettled a total of 5,760 people under our resettlement schemes.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has plans he has to change the minimum income requirement for spouse visas.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government has no plans currently to change the income requirement for spousal visas. The Supreme Court upheld the lawfulness of the minimum income requirement for spouse visas in February 2017, the current approach ensures that taxpayers are not required to support those settling in the UK on Family visas and the policy promotes integration. The Supreme Court found that our policy strikes a fair balance between the interests of those wishing to sponsor a spouse to settle in the UK and of the community in general.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children were transferred under section 69 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We are grateful to the local authorities who continue to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, including those who have participated in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).
The Home Office publish the number of NTS transfers between participating local authorities as part of the quarterly asylum transparency release. The latest publication was on 24 May 2018 and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-may-2018.
Transfer volumes dating back to the inception of the NTS can be found in earlier releases on the same website.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to enable unaccompanied refugee children to sponsor their parents for the purpose of refugee family reunion.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There is currently no provision in the Rules for children with refugee status in the UK to sponsor family members to join them. The Government believes the best interests of children are reflected in remaining with their families, claiming asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety – and relying on resettlement schemes to travel safely.
We are listening carefully to calls to expand the scope of the refugee family reunion rules and are reviewing our approach as part of the Government’s wider asylum and resettlement strategy.
However, expanding the policy without careful thought could risk more children being put in harms’ way, risking dangerous journeys in the hope of sponsoring relatives later. We continue to follow the passage of two Private Members’ Bills on refugee family reunion closely and will continue our productive discussions with non-governmental organisations in this area
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-EU international students left the UK three months after completing their course in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
This data is not available.
The Home Office introduced exit checks in April 2015 to provide more comprehensive information on travel movements across the UK border. Exit checks data published last year indicated that 97% of students in 16/17 who were required to leave did so in compliance with the terms of their visa.