Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential (a) economic and (b) cultural impact of UK border controls on (i) non-UK artists, (ii) sponsors and (iii) creative workers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to ensuring workers in the creative industries have immigration routes that work for them. The United Kingdom has an excellent immigration offer for workers within the creative industries and we continually keep our policies under review.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to (a) issue guidance to and (b) deliver training on temporary admission procedures for entry to the UK for creative workers to Border Force officers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Border Force officers are trained to the highest of standards to be able to carry out their role to enforce immigration policy at the border. Officers undergo several weeks of training prior to taking up their role at the primary control point, within which they are trained on all manners of immigration law and policy, including entry to the UK for creative workers.
Throughout that training, officers are continually tested to ensure they have the required skills and knowledge to carry out their role. Their skills and knowledge are then continually tested throughout their career on all aspects of immigration policy.
To qualify for entry in this category, a passenger has to meet the following criteria:
Further information on how individuals can qualify to enter the UK under this category can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/creative-worker-visa/creative-worker-concession.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of training for Border Force officers on temporary visas for creative workers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Border Force officers are trained to the highest of standards to be able to carry out their role to enforce immigration policy at the border. Officers undergo several weeks of training prior to taking up their role at the primary control point, within which they are trained on all manners of immigration law and policy, including entry to the UK for creative workers.
Throughout that training, officers are continually tested to ensure they have the required skills and knowledge to carry out their role. Their skills and knowledge are then continually tested throughout their career on all aspects of immigration policy.
To qualify for entry in this category, a passenger has to meet the following criteria:
Further information on how individuals can qualify to enter the UK under this category can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/creative-worker-visa/creative-worker-concession.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that visa-free travel is maintained between the UK and the EU for short visits to work in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Whether the UK leaves the EU on 31 October 2019 with or without a deal, the Government has announced that EEA and Swiss citizens will be able to continue to travel to the UK until the end of 2020 without needing a visa.
From January 2021 we will introduce a new points-based immigration system. This will prioritise the skills and contributions people can make to the UK, rather than where they come from.
In a no deal scenario, there will be a transitional period before the new immigration system commences in 2021. The Government announced the details of these temporary immigration arrangements on 4 September 2019 and they are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/no-deal-immigration-arrangements-for-eu-citizens-moving-to-the-uk-after-brexit.
Law-abiding EEA and Swiss citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit will still be able to live and work in the UK for a temporary period, but we will make it harder for serious criminals to enter the UK. Those new arrivals who wish to stay beyond the end of 2020 will need to apply for a UK immigration status. The Home Office will open a new immigration scheme – the European Temporary Leave to Remain Scheme – to provide a route to apply for this status. The online application process will be simple and free of charge. Subject to identity, security and criminality checks, successful applicants will be granted 36 months’ leave to remain in the UK. This will provide them with a bridge into the new immigration system.
EEA and Swiss citizens who are resident in the UK by exit on 31 October 2019 will remain eligible to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme. They will have until at least 31 December 2020 to do so.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a new immigration system will be in place from 1 November 2019 for people working in the UK and not under visiting or settled status.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Whether the UK leaves the EU on 31 October 2019 with or without a deal, the Government has announced that EEA and Swiss citizens will be able to continue to travel to the UK until the end of 2020 without needing a visa.
From January 2021 we will introduce a new points-based immigration system. This will prioritise the skills and contributions people can make to the UK, rather than where they come from.
In a no deal scenario, there will be a transitional period before the new immigration system commences in 2021. The Government announced the details of these temporary immigration arrangements on 4 September 2019 and they are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/no-deal-immigration-arrangements-for-eu-citizens-moving-to-the-uk-after-brexit.
Law-abiding EEA and Swiss citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit will still be able to live and work in the UK for a temporary period, but we will make it harder for serious criminals to enter the UK. Those new arrivals who wish to stay beyond the end of 2020 will need to apply for a UK immigration status. The Home Office will open a new immigration scheme – the European Temporary Leave to Remain Scheme – to provide a route to apply for this status. The online application process will be simple and free of charge. Subject to identity, security and criminality checks, successful applicants will be granted 36 months’ leave to remain in the UK. This will provide them with a bridge into the new immigration system.
EEA and Swiss citizens who are resident in the UK by exit on 31 October 2019 will remain eligible to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme. They will have until at least 31 December 2020 to do so.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there will be a transition immigration system in place from 1 November 2019 for people working in the UK and not under visiting or settled status.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Whether the UK leaves the EU on 31 October 2019 with or without a deal, the Government has announced that EEA and Swiss citizens will be able to continue to travel to the UK until the end of 2020 without needing a visa.
From January 2021 we will introduce a new points-based immigration system. This will prioritise the skills and contributions people can make to the UK, rather than where they come from.
In a no deal scenario, there will be a transitional period before the new immigration system commences in 2021. The Government announced the details of these temporary immigration arrangements on 4 September 2019 and they are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/no-deal-immigration-arrangements-for-eu-citizens-moving-to-the-uk-after-brexit.
Law-abiding EEA and Swiss citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit will still be able to live and work in the UK for a temporary period, but we will make it harder for serious criminals to enter the UK. Those new arrivals who wish to stay beyond the end of 2020 will need to apply for a UK immigration status. The Home Office will open a new immigration scheme – the European Temporary Leave to Remain Scheme – to provide a route to apply for this status. The online application process will be simple and free of charge. Subject to identity, security and criminality checks, successful applicants will be granted 36 months’ leave to remain in the UK. This will provide them with a bridge into the new immigration system.
EEA and Swiss citizens who are resident in the UK by exit on 31 October 2019 will remain eligible to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme. They will have until at least 31 December 2020 to do so.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many infrastructure contracts overseen by his Department have been let with the stipulation that a Project Bank Account must be applied in the last year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
No infrastructure contracts have been let with the stipulation that a Project Bank Account must be applied for the time period requested.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department undertook an Equality Impact Assessment in advance of the decision to destroy documentation relating to the Windrush generation.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There was no obligation to complete an Equality Impact Assessment for the destruction of the documentation. Section 149(9) of the 2010 Equality Act provides Schedule 18 exceptions to the need to comply with the public sector equality duty in the Act; one of the exceptions is immigration.
In regards to landing cards specifically, although there was provision in the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 to make a requirement for Commonwealth citizens to complete landing cards, this was never implemented. Landing cards were not required for the vast majority of nationals of Independent Commonwealth Countries until the implementation of the Immigration Act 1971. A very small number of cards were completed by Immigration officers for small cohorts of these nationals.
Landing cards do not confirm a person’s residency and, therefore, are of limited use to a decision which is reliant on ongoing residency (such as the Windrush cohort). The key pieces of evidence to the Windrush cohort is evidence to show a person’s residency here, but we will consider any evidence provided in order to build a picture of a person’s residency here.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on the introduction of a register for people found guilty of stalking or domestic violence offences.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government is fully committed to tackling domestic abuse and stalking. The Home Office has met and continues to meet with a number of partners to develop proposals to further protect victims and further target perpetrators, which have included discussions on the introduction of a register.
Those convicted of domestic abuse related offences and stalking offences are already captured on the Police National Computer. Where appropriate, they will also be captured on other systems such as on the Dangerous Persons’ Database, and managed by police and probation under Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements.
The Government’s focus is on ensuring we make better use of existing
systems, rather than creating new databases or registers for different
offences, which risks a disjointed police and offender management response.
In addition, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme has also been rolled out nationally to inform and alert new partners about a perpetrator's previous offending.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been employed by (a) Greater Manchester Police and (b) Bury Police Service in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers employed by each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2017
The Home Office does not collect this information by constituency. Data on the number of police officers in Greater Manchester Police, as at 31 March each year, can be found in the Open Data Tables accompanying the main release: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629362/open-data-table-police-workforce.ods