Asked by: Kevin McKenna (Labour - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken to reach a decision on the immigration status application of children born in the UK whose biometric enrolment has been completed; and what measures are in place to ensure that these children have access to (a) healthcare, (b) child benefits and (c) other essential services.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
There are a range of immigration routes through which children who are born in the UK may apply for and obtain Leave to Remain. Information about our service standards for specific immigration routes can be found at:
Customer service standards - GOV.UK.
An application only becomes valid, and the service standard period will only apply, once the application has been submitted, biometric enrolment (facial photograph and fingerprints) has been completed and all required information has been provided.
Access to healthcare, child benefits and other essential services are all matters for other Government Departments. However, the Home Office does facilitate access by departments to our digital immigration records to support their decision-making.
Asked by: Kevin McKenna (Labour - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce violence against women and girls; what funding is available to (a) local authorities and (b) policing agencies to reduce that violence; and what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the causes of that violence.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out the unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. Achieving this requires a transformative approach to the way we work together across Government, public services, the private sector, and charities.
Following the spending review announcements in October, the Home Office and other departments across Government are deciding how their budgets are allocated to deliver the Government’s priorities in 2025/26. This includes working with the police to ensure justice is delivered for victims of VAWG.
On 28th November 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160 million in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025/26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support for victims in safe accommodation. MHCLG published details of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2025-26 on 18th December 2024.
The Safer Streets Mission is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve VAWG, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in the policing and justice system. All relevant departments will be responsible for achieving the government’s ambition to halve VAWG. Discussions with Cabinet colleagues are continuing to take place, including through a VAWG Ministerial Group.