Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the administrative review backlog.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Caseworking resource for administrative reviews has doubled since 2021/22, which was the first of consecutive years of significantly increased demand. 2023/24 saw a 50% increase in AR applications compared to the previous year, and intake through 2024/25 continued at those same increased levels.
The Home Office continues to work hard to meet the timescales set out in public guidance for the processing of administrative review applications.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for an administrative review of a visa decision between July 2024 and March 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Current timescales for processing administrative review applications are set out at Ask for a visa administrative review: If you're in the UK - GOV.UK, which states: “Currently, it can take 12 months or more to receive the result of the administrative review. If you do not get a decision on your application within 6 months, the Home Office will contact you with an update.”
For EUSS administrative review applications the current timescales are set out at: EU Settlement Scheme: administrative review - GOV.UK, which states: “We will continue to consider valid applications for an administrative review made before 4 April 2024. We have experienced unprecedented levels of applications which are causing a delay to our service. It can take 30 months or more to receive a result. If we have not made a decision within 6 months, we’ll contact you to update you on the situation”.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to remove barriers for families of non-UK Armed Forces personnel to stay in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
HM Armed Forces personnel are exempt from immigration control in service. Those who do not naturalise as British during service, can apply for settlement under Appendix HM Armed Forces of the Immigration Rules on discharge when their exemption from immigration control ends, up to 18 weeks before their discharge, or for two years after.
HM Armed Forces personnel can be accompanied by their family members, and there are special Immigration Rules in place to ensure that those who serve, have served, or their family members are not disadvantaged due to that service. This takes into account the unique nature of their service, the Armed Forces Covenant, and the recruitment and retention of HM Armed Forces personnel in order to maintain national security.
A manifesto commitment was made to “strengthen support for our Armed Forces communities by putting Armed Forces Covenant fully into law”, and to “scrap visa fees for non-UK veterans who have served for four or more years, and their dependants.”.
We continue to keep this policy under review in the context of our wider considerations of various aspects of the immigration system.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to allow police survivors who (a) remarry and (b) cohabit after losing a spouse to retain their full pension entitlement.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
With the introduction of the 2006 police pension scheme on 6 April 2006, all eligible police officers were able to join a pension scheme that provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse.
Police pension schemes prior to the 2006 police pension scheme did not have life-long survivor benefits and any retrospective changes to those schemes would need to be fully costed and affordable.
There are no plans at this time to make any such changes to benefits accrued in previous schemes.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been recruited by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary since 2020.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officers joining the police service in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on the number of police officers joining the police service between the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2024 can be found in the ‘Joiners Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669a9161fc8e12ac3edb0081/open-data-table-police-workforce-joiners-240724.ods.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of mobile phone theft have been reported in Eastleigh constituency since 2020.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information on the number of theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. It is not possible to identify from these data which crimes involved the theft of a mobile phone. The Office for National Statistics publish estimates of mobile phone theft for England and Wales, but these figures are not available for smaller geographic areas. The latest Office for National Statistics estimates can be found at:
We will shortly be holding a Home Office Mobile Phone Theft Summit, drawing together representatives from the mobile phone industry, including tech companies, and law enforcement to see what more can collectively be done to break the business model of mobile phone thieves.
As part of our Safer Streets Mission, this government is determined to crack down on theft and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities, including strengthening neighbourhood policing, tackling anti-social behaviour and restoring public confidence.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions has she had with the Migration Advisory Committee on the review of the minimum income requirement.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Secretary wrote to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to commission a review of the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules and the MAC have accepted the commission. The letter to the MAC and their reply can be found here: Response letter from Professor Brian Bell to the Home Secretary, 10 September 2024 (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).