Antisocial Behaviour Action Plan

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

The overall legislative framework on illicit drugs continues to strike a balance between controlling harmful substances and enabling appropriate access to those drugs for legitimate medicinal research and, in exceptional cases, for industrial purposes. But with respect, I am not going to take any lectures from someone from the SNP, which has overseen in Scotland a total collapse of confidence in policing and, more devastatingly, a record high in Europe when it comes to the number of drug-related deaths.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

There is a lot to welcome in this statement, particularly some of the ways in which increased police resources are being used; we are seeing that in Torquay town centre, with the launch of Operation Loki. I also very much welcome the reform of the wholly outdated Vagrancy Act—a useless tool against organised gangs that in theory also criminalises the most destitute. Could my right hon. and learned Friend outline how traders and residents in places such as Torquay and Paignton town centres will see the difference the plan is making and hold the local force to account?

[Suella Braverman]

There is a wide range of measures in this plan, and we are going to consult on many of them, but one example is where we want to potentially streamline the availability of public spaces protection orders, so that the police can access those really important orders more quickly and efficiently and take action to prohibit nuisance and antisocial behaviour in local areas.

Illegal Migration Bill

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

We are making good progress in bearing down on the legacy backlog in our asylum system. We have increased the number of decision makers and streamlined the decision-making process, and we are increasing productivity. We will continue to bear down on that because it is a big factor in the hotel accommodation issue.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

This is always one of the toughest issues in government, but we are not the only country facing it. Look at the transformation Greece has effected of the situation in the Aegean over the past six or seven years. Although the Bill will change many of the legal aspects, ultimately it is about how we make the system work in practice. What reassurance does my right hon. and learned Friend have that we will be able to create the relevant amount of detention capacity and the necessary amount of removal capacity without affecting other vital immigration and removal work, such as the removal of foreign national offenders?

[Suella Braverman]

May I put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friend? As an excellent Home Office Minister, he shepherded through many of the measures in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 that are now being implemented to combat this challenge. We are building on the achievements of that legislation.

We will roll out a programme of increasing immigration detention capacity, and we are working intensively on that now.

Draft Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) (Amendment) Rules 2023

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 1st March 2023 General Committees

[The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) (Amendment) Rules 2023.

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Robert. The instrument was laid before Parliament on 2 February. It deals with two important issues. First, I will touch on the deprivation provisions. Maintaining our national security and keeping the public safe are of paramount importance to the Government, and that is why deprivation of citizenship when it is conducive to the public good is deployed for those who pose a threat to the UK or whose conduct involves very high harm.

The power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship has existed in law for over a century, since the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914; it is currently found in section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981. When passing deprivation measures in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the House agreed that in cases when the Secretary of State intends to make a deprivation order without prior notification, on the grounds that it is conducive to the public good, an application must be made to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which will consider the Secretary of State’s reasons not to give notice.

To implement that process, we first made amendments to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 in November last year. Those amendments gave the Lord Chancellor the power to amend procedure rules in relation to those applications. Using that power, we now intend to make the necessary amendments to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) Rules 2003. That will set clear guidelines for the Secretary of State and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission when dealing with applications under the new process.

The instrument will specify the information that must be included in applications and make provision for the Secretary of State to vary or withdraw an application. It also confirms that

“the Secretary of State is the only party to proceedings”,

and makes provision for the Secretary of State to appeal a determination of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The instrument also sets out that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission must give a determination within 14 days of receiving the application or its variation. That reflects the fact that the Secretary of State might have to act very swiftly in the interests of national security.

The instrument is the final stage in implementing the safeguards relating to section 10 of the Nationality and Borders Act, which the House agreed to during the passage of the Act.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

The Minister has given an excellent explanation of the safeguards in the process, which will be enhanced by the instrument. Does he recall some of the scaremongering during the Nationality and Borders Act debates about how there would somehow be no oversight of how the deprivation provisions would be used? Actually, this is about dealing with some of the worst threats to our national security—who may literally be in war zones, where it is impossible to serve a notice on them.

[Robert Jenrick]

I certainly do. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who was my predecessor and played a critical role in the passage of the Nationality and Borders Act. He is right to say that the suggestions made during the passage of that Act were spurious and wrong and also that the power will be used in the most judicious way to tackle some of the gravest threats to our national security. Examples might include an individual who our security services have reliable evidence is a secret agent acting against the interests of the United Kingdom, whose passport and citizenship we would want to remove, but who—for obvious reasons—we might struggle to locate. Therefore, we would have to use this special procedure to remove their citizenship at short notice.

As I hope I have made clear in my opening remarks, my hon. Friend is also right to say that the special procedure comes with a very clear safeguard: before the Secretary of State issues any of these notices, it will go before a specialist tribunal judge, who will make a statement on the case saying it is clearly correct and valid.

I turn to credibility statements, the second element covered by the statutory instrument. Sections 19 and 22 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 create additional behaviours that should result in an asylum or human rights claimant’s credibility being damaged. That includes a requirement for decision makers to consider the late provision of evidence without good reason in response to an evidence notice or a priority removal notice as behaviour that should be damaging to a claimant’s credibility.

As part of the suite of measures being introduced to encourage the timely provision of evidence in support of asylum and human rights claims, sections 19 and 22 of the Nationality and Borders Act establish a new requirement in the procedure rules of both the Special Immigration Appeals Commission and the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. When judges dispose of asylum and human rights decisions, and when credibility issues arise, they must include in their decisions a statement of how they have taken into account all the potential credibility-damaging behaviours.

The changes to the procedure rules of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission effectively secure what judges are already required to do according to current case law. However, this instrument and the creation of new procedure rules will make it abundantly clear what judges are required to do, and that will ensure that there is clear and efficient decision making in these important matters. I commend the draft rules to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robert Jenrick]

I have not heard any suggestion that there are insufficient judges. This type of case would be heard by the most experienced judges in SIAC, as the right hon. Lady would expect, given that these are some of the most complex cases that will ever come before them.

[Kevin Foster]

The Minister will obviously be aware that these decisions are taken on the basis of extensive files and evidence. On disapplying the notice requirement, for example, there is still a full appeals process so that if someone feels that the decision is incorrect, they can appeal it. To be clear, there are plenty of opportunities for oversight and ensuring that the decisions are proportionate and fair. As the Minister rightly said, this is done only in the most serious cases.

Hillsborough Families Report: National Police Response

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 1st February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

As I have said, we are working quickly on the comprehensive response. The hon. Lady says that nothing has happened since 2018, but with great respect I do not think that is entirely accurate. I have referenced the professional standards for policing introduced in 2020, which introduced a duty to co-operate. I have mentioned the pathology review that has happened. I have mentioned the consultation on the independent public advocate, and I can tell her that that is being very actively worked on by the Ministry of Justice as we speak. We have had changes made to the exceptional case funding at inquest, so the means testing has been removed. A lot has been done. But I do accept that a comprehensive Government response is required. Since arriving at the Home Office, I have asked for that to be done as quickly as possible, and it will be.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Anyone who knows the story of Coventry City’s 1987 cup run will know that there was a match at Hillsborough where a near crush took place, making what then happened two years later tragically predictable. The Hillsborough disaster was a tragedy; the lies, smears and cover-ups that followed were an absolute disgrace, worrying echoes of which we saw after the Champions League final last year, so the extended delay in getting this response out just makes it even worse. Will the Minister at least commit today to the principle of the independent public advocate, to ensure that in future, families would be on a level playing field?

[Chris Philp]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and agree with his point about the policing failures at the time. It is right that the police comprehensively apologised yesterday for the police’s behaviour, both at the time and in the years subsequently. As I say, the consultation on the independent public advocate did happen, and it is under active consideration at the moment. I do not want to pre-empt the Ministry of Justice’s work on that, because it is for the Ministry of Justice to publicly respond, but I can tell my hon. Friend and others that they are actively working on it at the moment.

Violence against Women and Girls: Plymouth

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate my longstanding friend, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Sir Gary Streeter), on securing this debate.

The abduction and murder of Bobbi-Anne McLeod in November 2021 brought the issue of violence against women and girls into focus in Plymouth and across Devon and Cornwall. No one can fail to be impacted by hearing about a woman who simply left home to catch a bus and was subjected to such savagery. That followed an incident only a few months earlier when a man driven by the poisonous ideology of the incel movement shot dead five people in Keyham.

Both incidents brought fear to the streets. They brought to the fore our need to tackle male violence against women and girls, not just in the city of my birth but across our country. I grew up in Plymouth. I was born in Freedom Fields hospital and I attended Hele’s School, first meeting a then councillor and newly selected parliamentary candidate, my hon. Friend, back in March 1992. It was painful to see my home town going through what happened in 2021. But for a short distance, it could have been my own family, who live there, who were affected by one of those incidents.

As a then Home Office Minister, I welcomed the way the city came together to console the bereaved, support the community and resolve to make a difference. It was particularly welcome to see the political unity in that work, which included the city council, the police and crime commissioner and the local Members of Parliament, irrespective of their political party.

As has been said, these issues are not unique to Plymouth. The poison that is the incel movement is infecting too many a mind on social media, and too many women in Torbay have a story of harassment or violence that they could share. That is why it was particularly welcome to see the work of the Plymouth violence against women and girls commission, ably and effectively chaired by Councillor Rebecca Smith, who is well known to many MPs across Devon as a champion of her community in Plymstock and for her work in tackling the issue. The commission produced a report following a process of listening to those affected by violence. Its conclusions represent a welcome list of actions that can be taken to tackle the challenge and make a difference to it. It will therefore particularly interesting to hear the Minister’s thoughts on them, and how they will be embedded as part of the long-term approach, especially the recommendations about a peninsula-wide domestic violence perpetrator strategy.

It is also important to reflect on the approach taken across Devon and Cornwall, which will affect outcomes in Plymouth. Our excellent local police and crime commissioner and Torbay resident, Alison Hernandez, had made tackling violence, including serious violence against women and girls, one of her four priorities in her policing plan. The £4 million serious violence prevention programme, which is part of that, is welcome, as is the investment in victim and perpetrator programmes.

I note that the investment package that the Home Office has provided as part of the £1.1 million safer streets package for Torquay includes a specific element for tackling violence against women and girls by making our town centre safer. That also works alongside community groups, such as Torbay Street Pastors, which specifically work to provide a safe place on the harbourside where people can go in the evenings to wait for a taxi or be picked up by parents, or if they are under the influence and just need somewhere to sit safely.

It is welcome to see some of the progress that has happened, such as the provision of independent sexual violence advisers and independent domestic violence advisers to support victims through the criminal justice system. All too often, offenders and perpetrators rely on the fact that people will not want to go through the whole process, so they can continue their pattern of offending, creating new victims. The events that prompted attention to the issue in Plymouth, along with Devon and Cornwall more widely, were tragic. They showed the outcomes that can happen when poisonous attitudes, such as those of incels, are able to spread and infect minds. Yet they also show the best of how a city and a community can come together and react to such horror by looking to support each other and vowing to make a difference for the future. The people of Plymouth are doing that, and they deserve all our support as they take the work forward.

Doctor Training

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir George. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne) on securing the debate.

At the core of the debate lies the increasing demand for healthcare and how we meet it. As our population ages and new treatments emerge, the demand for doctors will grow, not just in the UK but overseas. I note that in 2018 the Government increased the number of medical school places in England from 6,000 to 7,500 a year and opened five new medical schools. Yet is that cap the right one for the future? Does it reflect the demand-based decision making that we should have, or does it reflect funding-based or supply-side decision making, particularly from the Treasury? As has been mentioned, the cap is not down to a lack of demand among domestic students to be a doctor. In 2022, the Health and Social Care Committee found that record numbers of students are applying to medical school, but around three times more people are applying than there are spaces available. There are vacancies, but there is still strong demand to be given the chance to train for a career as a doctor.

Before I briefly turn to how domestic training levels should change, I must turn to what has inherently been the fall-back option when the domestic supply of doctors has not met domestic demand: recruiting abroad. I helped to create the health and care visa and supported the setting up of the Talent Beyond Boundaries pilot scheme, which assists refugee doctors in taking up jobs in our NHS, so I am delighted to see the many amazing medics who make the UK their home. They are the backbone of many local NHS and social care services and they help to sustain and improve them. I therefore thank them, particularly those who work in Torbay’s NHS, who literally make our bay better.

We must not assume, however, that international recruitment is always guaranteed. During my time as Immigration Minister, I often found that for some employers it became an article of faith that immigration would always provide access to an unlimited pool of skilled labour, and that therefore any vacancies must be solely down to there not being a good enough visa for the role—rather than to a lack of training or planning for the future needs of the industry concerned. With doctors, as in many other cases, there is a shortage of that skill across the whole world, which means that access to global labour markets via visa policy can make only a contribution: it is not a guaranteed long-term solution.

We need therefore to fix and ensure a sustainable supply of doctors to meet future demand here in the UK. Last year, the Health and Social Care Committee concluded that,

“the number of medical school places in the UK should be increased by 5,000 from around 9,500 per year to 14,500”,

and that

“the cap on the number of medical school places offered to international students should be lifted”.

The then Chair of the Committee is now the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which makes this an opportune moment to raise the issue.

I am conscious that the Minister with us today would not want to pre-empt the publication of the longer-term strategy that is now due, but it would be interesting to hear his thoughts on, for example, how the Government will seek to future-proof such a plan given the advance of new technology in creating new treatments. How will the decision making on future training places be determined? Will it be demand-led, or will it be funding-led? It has often been funding-led: we argue about what we should spend on medical training, and then a few weeks later have a meeting to talk about what future demand will be. In particular, how will the Government work to expand geographical locations for training? There are some exciting projects, such as the building a brighter future project at Torbay Hospital, which will expand regional health services. Is there an opportunity to expand training as well?

The debate is not just about the future of our NHS services. As has been so well argued, it is about ensuring that youngsters have the chance to follow their ambition to join those they feel inspired by: the people they see working across the community to save lives and provide care.

Windrush Lessons Learned Review: Implementation of Recommendations

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Miss Dines]

This Government are absolutely not betraying the Windrush generation. Successive Governments of all colours have failed to step up to the mark, but this Government are stepping up. The Windrush generation are rightly identified as British and have the right to be in this country, and this remains separate from the many narratives that have been written.

The hon. Gentleman knows that the Government do not comment on leaks. What I can say is that we have matched the scale of Wendy’s challenge with the scale of our ambition and delivery. Wendy acknowledges that our ambition to achieve genuine cultural change requires ongoing reflection, which is what we are doing. The Home Office has provided regular updates on the good progress, and the statistics bear out the hard work that is happening.

I am afraid that the narrative is simply not quite right. I remind the House that 4,558 claims have been received, and the total compensation offered is £59.58 million, of which more than £51 million has already been paid. Fifty-nine per cent. of claims have a final decision and, as a lawyer in my previous profession, I know that that is quite a high number. The Government are absolutely committed to righting this injustice.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

It is worth noting that the Wendy Williams review looked across a catalogue of issues that affected the Windrush generation. I was particularly struck by the fact that the first case listed in her initial report was from 2009. So this is not just something that has occurred in the past 10 years. On the commitment to implementing the review’s recommendations, it was very clear, certainly from my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), that the Government were absolutely committed to putting them all in place to rebuild the confidence of the Windrush generation. Could the Minister reassure me that that commitment remains and will be taken forward?

[Miss Dines]

I suggest that the commitment is clear to many, but there is clearly more work to be done. It is refreshing to see the amount of engagement locally that there has been. The casework reflects that. The other thing I wish to mention is that these things evolve, as they should. Dramatic changes have been brought in to make sure that the new system brought in by the Government is even more generous than before. There are many new aspects to this. For example, the introduction of new living costs allows compensation to be awarded to close family members for losses that were not previously covered under the scheme. The Government are doing more, as they should. The introduction of preliminary payments for close family members allows for part of a compensation payment to be paid earlier in the process. There needs to be more change, but we are effecting this and the Government’s commitment is unswerving—my hon. Friend is correct on that.

Hotel Asylum Accommodation: Local Authority Consultation

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

Dear me! The reason I had to pull out of the meeting with local authority leaders was that the hon. Gentleman had called an urgent question and I was here answering his questions. The idea that the Labour party knows how to get a grip of this challenge is, frankly, laughable. The last Labour Government left the Home Office in such disarray that their own Home Secretary declared it not fit for purpose and had to split the place up. The backlog of cases was so high that he had to institute an amnesty, where they literally wrote to people and said, “Welcome to Britain. We can’t process your application—you’re in.” That is not the approach that we are taking.

Labour Members have no credible proposals to stop the problem at source. They voted against the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and they opposed the Rwanda scheme. Their own leader, in his leadership campaign, called for the closure of immigration removal centres—the places where we detain people, often foreign national offenders, while we are trying to get them out of the country. The truth is that, in the last Labour Government, the party was committed to mass migration and uncontrolled immigration. We are only the party that believes in the British public. We are the party that wants to ensure that we secure our borders and have a controlled migration system.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

As always, I have some sympathy for my right hon. Friend in having to deal with an urgent question such as this. Recent examples in Torbay show that previously there was engagement with local authorities, although I must say that the news that we were looking to use accommodation was never welcomed. It would be interesting for him to reflect on how the new standards he has laid out will operate and work. Is he saying that this will be an interim period with a bare minimum of 24 hours’ notice and that he hopes to go back to giving a longer period of notice, both to MPs and to councils, particularly those with responsibility for children’s services, because it is really unacceptable that people are finding out about this from staff working at hotels and residents living next door?

[Robert Jenrick]

I can only speak to the situation as I found it when I arrived in the Department, and at that point there were almost 4,000 people at the Manston site. There were serious concerns about conditions at the site and, indeed, about its legality, and there was insufficient accommodation available to us to house the asylum seekers. We have set out, through immense efforts in the last few weeks, to rectify that situation. It is clear to me that insufficient accommodation was procured over a sustained period, and we need to tackle that. We will do it in a number of different ways, including through dispersal accommodation with local authorities; through judicious use of hotels, with good engagement with local authorities; by using larger sites that provide us with decent but not luxurious accommodation; and, of course, by tackling the problem at source. We cannot build our way out of this challenge. We have to reduce the pull factors to the UK and we have to ensure that the backlog of cases is cleared as swiftly as possible.

Migration

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

The hon. Lady needs to face the facts. We on the Government Benches will always behave with decency and compassion, because those are our values. But we will not be naive. We are capable of making the distinction between genuine refugees and genuine asylum seekers fleeing persecution and human rights abuses, and Albanian economic migrants coming to this country for all the wrong reasons. We are also perfectly capable of making the distinction between good people who deserve our protection and support, and bad people who are foreign national offenders who need to be removed from the United Kingdom as soon as possible. I am surprised to see her joining in with the Opposition, who want to close down the very detainment centres where we keep those people while we try to get them out of the country.

The hon. Lady says she is disappointed that we are pursuing Rwanda. I think Rwanda is an important part of our efforts to tackle illegal migration because deterrence has to be suffused throughout our entire approach. Everything we do to create further pull factors to the UK ensures more people cross the channel in perilous ways and more pressure is put on our public services. It prevents us from helping the people who genuinely deserve our support, such as those who come from Ukraine, Afghanistan or Syria under our resettlement schemes. I will say again—I have said it before: if the SNP wanted to help with this issue, it would address the fact that proportionately Scotland, in particular SNP local authorities, takes fewer people on those resettlement schemes than any other part of the United Kingdom.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I do not envy my right hon. Friend having to do this urgent question, having done a few myself. I know he will recognise that system-wide reform of asylum is needed. The deal with France is welcome, but it is only a small part of what needs to be done overall. The particular point I want to focus on is the issue of notification and engagement with local authorities, which seems to have disappeared, as he will be aware from the situation in Torbay. Can he reassure me that that will now be restarted? At the very least, it is common courtesy to notify MPs and local authorities—we should not find out via third parties.

[Robert Jenrick]

Yes, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his good service in this role and others previously. He was highly respected and is missed by his former colleagues at the Home Office.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that we need good engagement with Members of Parliament and, crucially, local authorities. When we are bringing groups of migrants to a local area, often with complex needs, we need to ensure the local authority is involved in that, can prepare for their arrival and provide good services. One issue that has been experienced in recent weeks is that the sheer number of individuals crossing the channel has put immense pressure on the Manston facility. As the Minister responsible, my first duty and priority was and is to ensure that Manston operates legally and decently. That has meant that we have needed to procure a lot of accommodation relatively quickly and that has meant some procedures have been weaker than any of us would have wished. I hope we can move forward from that, stabilise the situation, and get into a pattern of engaging MPs and local authorities in the manner that they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

9. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of her asylum policies on Afghan citizens seeking refuge and humanitarian protection in the UK.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kevin Foster)]

Our United Kingdom has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need through our resettlement schemes. The new plan for immigration will ensure that our resources can be focused on those in most need of resettlement around the world, including in Afghanistan, rather than on those who can pay a people smuggler.

[Deidre Brock]

Does the Minister share my concern regarding the findings of nine expert groups last month, including Humans Rights Watch, which found the UK Government’s resettlement schemes to be “unjustifiably restrictive”, and that it is deeply concerning that the UK Government are not offering a safe route for many Afghan women and girls, or to oppressed minority groups?

[Kevin Foster]

Well, I look at our record, which includes last year’s evacuation—the largest since the war—to bring people to safety here in the United Kingdom, and at the work we are doing week in, week out with colleagues, particularly in the Ministry of Defence, to bring more people to safety. We need to focus our efforts on those who need resettlement and safety and are under threat in Afghanistan, rather than on those who prefer to be here than in another safe and democratic country.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

Will the Minister confirm that the Government still hold in a special place in their priorities those Afghans who assisted the British armed forces when they were present in Afghanistan? May I thank the Minister and the Home Secretary for the work of those in the specialist hub, whether in Portcullis House or remotely, who have done outstanding work in enabling MPs on both sides of the House to help people fleeing from persecution?

[Kevin Foster]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his remarks about the work that has been done by Home Office teams via the hub. Those people who worked with UK operations, particularly the military operation in Afghanistan, would liaise primarily with our colleagues in the Ministry of Defence, who hold the records and will do the relevant checks under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy scheme. We then look to work with them to facilitate the relocation of those people to the UK, where that is deemed appropriate.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Stephen Kinnock.

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

We owe loyal-to-Britain Afghans a debt of gratitude and honour, yet with 10,000 of them still stuck in bridging hotels, at huge cost to their mental health and a cost of £1.4 million a day to the taxpayer, it looks as though Operation Warm Welcome has become operation cold shoulder. It is little wonder that the Minister for Refugees resigned yesterday in despair. Further still, the Government have broken their promises to vulnerable Afghan groups such as women judges and LGBT activists. Can the Minister therefore tell us why, if British Council employees and Chevening scholars can apply for asylum in the UK from within Afghanistan, pathway 2 of the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme does not allow women judges and LGBT activists to do the same? Does he accept that these failures put Afghan lives at risk, bearing in mind that the Taliban have already conducted at least 160 reprisal killings?

[Kevin Foster]

I know that whoever takes office this week can look forward to plenty of attacks but few alternatives from the hon. Gentleman. We are proud of what we have done. As I said, last year we arranged one of the biggest evacuations since the war years and a rapid process to bring people here. About 7,400 people have moved into new homes since the first ARAP flight in June, which is an unprecedented pace of resettlement. Yes, there is more work to do; we are working with local authorities to do that and to find more homes, but we have to be clear: it is about working with local communities, particularly given the size and scale of accommodation, particularly family accommodation, that needs to be provided across the country.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

12. What recent progress she has made on delivering the UK and Rwanda migration and economic development partnership.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

16. What steps she is taking to support Afghan citizens relocated to the UK under the (a) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and (b) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kevin Foster)]

Together with our colleagues in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities we provide a range of support in accessing public services including essentials such as school places for children and housing. Around 7,400 people have moved, or are in the process of being moved, into new homes since the first ARAP flights in June 2021, an unprecedented rate of resettlement.

[Sarah Olney]

Of those who have arrived in the UK, around 10,000 Afghans remain stuck in hotels up and down the country at a cost to the public of £1 million a day. Most of them have been there for a year now, left in limbo due to the Government’s failure to work effectively with local authorities. Will the Minister commit to opening up safe and legal routes so that those in Afghanistan who are at risk can come to the UK? That also requires working constructively with local authorities so that Afghans in this country can finally start their new lives properly, in a home rather than a hotel room.

[Kevin Foster]

We are working constructively with 350 local authorities to ensure people get the accommodation they need. Given the cohort, that is clearly a challenge as there are large families and a balance needs to be struck with local authorities meeting their housing duties to local people. This also involves working with others, but we are grateful to see the number of local authorities taking part; their reaction is far better than that of the Lib Dem leader of my local council who initially, until he made a U-turn, refused to take part.

[Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

17. What progress she has made on recruiting additional police officers in the London region.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

T4.   There are 10,500 Afghan refugees still in accommodation, and I heard the Minister’s answer earlier. When does he anticipate those 10,500 Afghan refugees will be in permanent accommodation?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kevin Foster)]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are working constructively with councils. To be fair, I have to say that Glasgow is stepping forward, as always, to find accommodation. It is about finding suitable accommodation, not just any accommodation for them. We have also had constructive discussions with the Scottish Government—credit where it is due to Neil Gray—about where we may be able to go further in creating housing, particularly in Scotland, to accommodate many of those families; we all want them to be found accommodation in a permanent home.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

Will the Minister help me get more alley gates, better CCTV and more street lighting to tackle the scumbags who blight alleyways across Stoke-on-Trent, dealing and shooting up drugs and fly-tipping all over the community?

[Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)]

T5. In April, a first-tier tribunal decided that the Home Office had incorrectly applied its own rules and that my constituent, Mr Simon Hagos, should indeed be joined by his family as he first asked back in February 2021. Despite that, UKVI failed to issue visas to his wife and son, disregarding both their wellbeing and the law. Can the Minister tell me when the Home Office will finally fulfil its legal obligations to ensure a clear and timely response in this long overdue process?

[Kevin Foster]

I am happy to pick up that with the hon. Lady outside the Chamber. She will appreciate that we do not discuss individual cases on the Floor of the House.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

Last year, 28,526 people arrived illegally via small boats. So far this year 26,000 have done so, and it is clear that the previous record will be surpassed. Will the Home Secretary join me in asking the new Prime Minister to make tackling this issue a national priority so that we can finally take back control of our borders?