Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a net reduction in low-skilled immigration on the viability of industries reliant on low-skilled labour.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to make an economic assessment of the UK’s future immigration needs. We have always been clear that the future immigration system will be based on evidence and we will publish a White Paper setting out plans for the future immigration system later this year.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the causes of the increase in the level of knife crime.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is very concerned about the increase in knife crime and the devastating impact it has on victims, their families and communities. That is why we published the Serious Violence Strategy in April setting out action to tackle knife crime including new legislation in the Offensive Weapons Bill, the launch of the anti-knife crime Community Fund to provide grants to local initiatives, the #knifefree media campaign, and continuing police action under Operation Sceptre. The strategy outlines an ambitious programme and is based on evidence about the trends and drivers of serious violence and analysis of what works in terms of interventions.
Our analysis clearly points to a range of factors driving increases in serious violence including improvements in police recording, but changes in the drugs market is a key driver of recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our multi agency approach means that the strategy is not solely focused on law enforcement, but depends also on partnerships across a number of sectors such as education, health, social services, housing, youth services, victim services and others. In particular, the strategy stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence, supported by the new £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund and the recently announced £200 million Youth Endowment Fund.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the Windrush generation his Department has identified to date as having been deported as a result of its immigration policies.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Department has been carrying out a review of all cases of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who have been removed and/or detained by the Home Office since 2002 (when the Casework Information Database (CID) was available across the immigration system) and sought to identify any individuals where there was an indication in the record that the individual could have been in the UK before 1973.
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 21st August to provide an update on this work. This letter outlined that, so far, this review has identified 164 people who were detained and / or removed who told the Home Office they came to the UK before 1 January 1973. Of these, we have identified 18 people who stayed here permanently and who are the people we consider most likely to have suffered detriment because their right to be in the UK was not recognised and where the Department is most likely to have acted wrongfully in removed or detaining them. Eleven of these left the UK voluntarily and seven were detained. Letters of apology are being sent from the Home Secretary.
A copy of this letter has been deposited in the House Library. This work is ongoing and the Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on progress.
These cases of removal and detention have happened over many years under successive governments, with cases spread roughly equally between 2002-2010, and from 2010 onwards. Of course, no matter how long ago the removal or detention case the Home Office will do whatever it can to address anything wrongful which has been done.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many residents of Blackburn constituency who arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush generation have been deported since 2010.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
It is not possible to provide the number of individuals who arrived as part of the Windrush generation who may have resided in the Blackburn constituency and have been removed.
The Department has been carrying out a review of all cases of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who have been removed and/or detained by the Home Office since 2002 (when the Casework Information Database (CID) was available across the immigration system) and sought to identify any individuals where there was an indication in the record that the individual could have been in the UK before 1973.
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 21st August to provide an update on this work.
A copy of this letter has been deposited in the House Library. This work is ongoing and the Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on progress.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many residents of Blackburn constituency who arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush generation have been deported since 2010.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
It is not possible to provide the number of individuals who arrived as part of the Windrush generation who may have resided in the Blackburn constituency and have been removed.
The Department has been carrying out a review of all cases of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who have been removed and/or detained by the Home Office since 2002 (when the Casework Information Database (CID) was available across the immigration system) and sought to identify any individuals where there was an indication in the record that the individual could have been in the UK before 1973.
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 21st August to provide an update on this work.
A copy of this letter has been deposited in the House Library. This work is ongoing and the Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on progress.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of families where family members are held in separate immigration detention centres.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested in a reportable format. The information requested could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's definition of good character is when considering the citizenship applications of children over 10 years old.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The good character test for British citizenship applies to those aged 10 and over, in line with the age of criminal responsibility. It reflects the value and prestige attached to acquiring British citizenship.
A person will not normally be considered to be of good character if certain circumstances apply. These include but are not limited to the following situations:
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reasons are for the disparity between the application cost and the administration cost of applications for child citizenship.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office sets fees at a level that helps provide resources necessary to operate the Border, Immigration and Citizenship (BIC) system.
The Immigration Act 2014 is the primary legislation which gives them statutory powers to set fees. The relevant sections of the Act relating to fees are 68 to 70 which can be found on pages 58 to 61 of the following link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/pdfs/ukpga_20140022_en.pdf
Section 68(9) states:
(9) In setting the amount of any fee, or rate or other factor, in fees regulations, the Secretary of State may have regard only to:-
(a) the costs of exercising the function;
(b) benefits that the Secretary of State thinks are likely to accrue to any person in connection with the exercise of the function;
(c) the costs of exercising any other function in connection with immigration or nationality;
(d) the promotion of economic growth;
(e) fees charged by or on behalf of governments of other countries in respect of comparable functions; and
(f) any international agreement
We set fees to reflect the wider benefits an individual will receive from a successful application and do not limit fees to the cost of processing an application also. This was a fundamental principle underpinning the fees measures in the Immigration Act 2014, as debated and approved by Parliament.
Working within strict financial limits agreed with HM Treasury and Parliament, application fees are set by taking into account general policy objectives to ensure that fees are fair to customers, and that the Home Office can continue to offer a good level of service.
To ensure that the system is fair and equitable, the Home office believe it is reasonable that those who use and benefit directly from the BIC system make an appropriate contribution towards meeting the associated costs.
Application fees have increased in recent years to help support the Home
Office ambition to reduce the overall level of funding that comes from general taxation, by reducing costs and increasing the proportion which is funded by income generated from fees, therefore reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer.
The principle of charging at above cost for immigration and nationality fees was first approved by Parliament in 2004.
The additional income from above cost fees is used to help fund and maintain effective wider immigration system functions, and to ensure the Home Office can set some fees at below cost, where this supports the UK economy (Short-term visit visas), or is otherwise required by international agreement (EEA fees). And it also enables the Department to waive fees in certain individual circumstances, for example where people are destitute and need to access their Human Rights, for example their right to a family life.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has identified any victims of modern slavery in Blackburn since 2010.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The National Crime Agency (NCA) regularly publishes National Referral Mechanism data but does not collect data by specific location.
Data on the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are available via the following link: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of Windrush generation people that were denied (a) benefits and (b) healthcare as a result of their immigration status being questioned.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information about individuals who have been denied access to benefits or services is not held by the Home Office.
We set up a task force in April to help people from the Windrush generation to evidence their status and access the services they are entitled to.
The Home Office has sent out communications urging other government departments and public authorities to exercise particular care when responding to applications for benefits and services from the Windrush generation. The Home Office will be notifying NHS Trusts in situations where individuals are issued with documentation by the Taskforce . This is so that the NHS trust can consider if a charge for NHS treatment was applied incorrectly and requires cancellation.
The Home Office has introduced additional safeguards to ensure those from the Windrush generation are not adversely affected by measures designed to protect benefits and services. I have chaired a cross-Whitehall meeting with relevant departments, including the Department of Health, to ensure we are all taking the relevant steps to protect the Windrush generation.
The Government is clear that where the Windrush generation have suffered loss, they will be compensated. The first stage was the launch of a Call for Evidence, that closed on 8 June. The Government will publish a further public consultation on the design and shape of the scheme, as soon as the time has been taken to analyse the responses to the Call for Evidence and use the information gathered to inform design and implementation considerations.
In the meantime, we will continue to work with and support affected individuals through the operation of the Windrush Taskforce.