Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average processing time to print a Biometric Residence Permit after a decision to grant leave to remain has been issued.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision.
BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (Royal Mail Group) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of production request being made to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
In November, DVLA produced all BRPs within 24 hours of the production request. In November RMG attempted to deliver 99.1% of BRPs within 48 hours.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to (a) extend the leave to remain and (b) offer a route to indefinite leave to remain status for individuals on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are mindful that permission will start to expire, for the first arrivals under our Ukrainian schemes, from March 2025, and their need for certainty beyond that point to help them to plan ahead, for example if remaining in the UK, entering into rental agreements and living here independently.
In line with the situation in Ukraine, working closely with the Ukrainian Government, as well as our international counterparts, we keep the need for a possible extension of sanctuary in the UK, beyond March 2025, under consistent review.
The UK Government stands with Ukraine and firmly believes that Ukraine will be safe again. When it’s safe to do so, Ukraine will need the repatriation of its citizens to help recover and rebuild their economy and infrastructure. Our approach therefore has been to provide 36 months sanctuary under our Ukraine visas which are temporary and do not lead to settlement or indefinite leave to remain.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to offer a right of appeal to an independent judge for Afghan citizens refused protection under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
As set out in HMG policy on gov.uk, if an individual application under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme is found ineligible, the individual has the right to seek a review of that decision within 90 days if they believe the decision was not in accordance with the policy, and/or if they can supply new evidence to support their case that was not available when the decision was made. There are no plans to offer a further right of appeal to an independent judge.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of midwives leaving NHS employment in (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is shown in the attached tables.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of the NHS midwifery workforce for (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is shown in the attached tables.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information he holds on how many people were homeless on 25 December 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The statutory homelessness statistics for England publishes quarterly data from local authorities, including households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter. Data for October – December 2022 is available at Tables on homelessness - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of sewage discharges into the River Thames on the health of (a) dogs and (b) other pets.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that the volume of sewage being discharged into our waters in unacceptable. That is why our Plan for Water sets out more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to tackle pollution and clean up our water.
Alongside this, our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets clear and specific targets for water companies, regulators and the Government, to work towards the long-term ambition of eliminating ecological harm from storm overflows.
No specific assessment has been undertaken on the impact of sewage discharges on dogs and pets.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) dentists and (b) dental care professionals from overseas were registered (i) between March 2022 and March 2023 and (ii) since March 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) practising in the United Kingdom and enforces the standards they must adhere to. In order to practise in the UK, dentists and DCPs are required to hold registration with the GDC.
The Department does not hold data on how many dentists and DCPs have been registered with the GDC. Data on the registration of dentists and DCPs with the GDC is held by the GDC.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which was published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver a workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next five, ten and fifteen years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.
We have recently taken steps to streamline registration of overseas-trained dentists, including legislation to enable the General Dental Council to improve its international registration processes, and streamlining the process for overseas dentists to join the Dental Performers List and start working in the NHS.
Furthermore, we are currently working on a plan for dentistry to improve access to dental care across England. Our plan will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022 and will address making NHS work more attractive to ensure dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure the NHS dentistry budget is fully used in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for identifying areas of need and to determine the priorities for investment.
NHS England has provided guidance for ICBs that requires dental funding to be ringfenced, with any unused resources re-directed to improve National Health Service dental access in the first instance. A schedule setting out the dental ringfence has been issued to ICBs. NHS England’s 2023/24 revenue finance and contracting guidance, which provides more detail, is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-revenue-finance-and-contracting-guidance/