Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department used to determine which countries qualified for the recent relaxation of Tier 4 visa requirements for overseas students.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Careful consideration is given to which countries could be added to Appendix H of the Immigration Rules, taking into account objective analysis of a range of factors including the volume of students from a country and their Tier 4 immigration compliance risk.
The list of countries in Appendix H will be regularly updated to reflect the fact that countries’ risk profiles change over time.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria were considered by his Department which led to the decision not to relax Tier 4 visa requirements for overseas students from India.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Careful consideration is given to which countries could be added to Appendix H of the Immigration Rules, taking into account objective analysis of a range of factors including the volume of students from a country and their Tier 4 immigration compliance risk.
The list of countries in Appendix H will be regularly updated to reflect the fact that countries’ risk profiles change over time.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria were considered by his Department which led to the decision not to relax Tier 4 visa requirements for overseas students from India.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Careful consideration is given to which countries could be added to Appendix H of the Immigration Rules, taking into account objective analysis of a range of factors including the volume of students from a country and their Tier 4 immigration compliance risk.
The list of countries in Appendix H will be regularly updated to reflect the fact that countries’ risk profiles change over time.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department used to determine which countries qualified for the recent relaxation of Tier 4 visa requirements for overseas students.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Careful consideration is given to which countries could be added to Appendix H of the Immigration Rules, taking into account objective analysis of a range of factors including the volume of students from a country and their Tier 4 immigration compliance risk.
The list of countries in Appendix H will be regularly updated to reflect the fact that countries’ risk profiles change over time.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on continued participation in the European Arrest Warrant in order to prevent people using the border between Gibraltar and Spain to evade justice.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government has recently set out proposals for an ambitious agreement to support our future cooperation with the EU on security and law enforcement.
Agreeing effective arrangements for surrendering individuals who seek to evade justice by fleeing across country borders will form an important element of our future partnership with the EU.
The Government’s proposals are set out in full in “Security, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice – a future partnership paper” which was published on 18 September available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/security-law-enforcement-and-criminal-justice-a-future-partnership-paper
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report from Refugee Action, entitled Slipping through the gaps, published in July 2017, for what reasons her Department is not meeting targets for section 95 and section 98 support for asylum seekers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office has discussed the report with Refugee Action and will continue this dialogue as we examine the detailed findings. We take complaints about performance failures seriously and we have robust procedures in place to inspect, investigate and resolve issues when specific information is received.
Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute can apply for free accommodation and cash support to cover their essential living needs. If they have an emergency need for accommodation they can ask to be put in initial accommodation whilst their applications are being processed and the vast majority of such requests are processed on the same day.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will allocate resources to ensure that van hire firms and the police are able to share intelligence and information in order to prevent terrorist attacks using hired vans as weapons.
Answered by Ben Wallace
Partners from across Government, the police and the security services are considering what more can be done to prevent terrorist attacks using vehicles, including the use of hire vehicles. This is wide ranging work and includes consideration as to whether and where increased sharing of data and more effective use of intelligence systems and processes may assist these efforts.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that all local authorities take in a fair share of asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government is committed to ensuring a more equitable distribution of asylum seekers across the UK. However, one needs to consider that not all asylum seekers receive Home Office support or accommodation while their claim is considered. The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 introduced the policy of national dispersal, designed to share the impact of supported asylum seekers across the whole of the UK. Since 2015, the Home Office has been working closely with local authorities across the UK to increase the number of areas that participate in the dispersal scheme; this activity has increased the number of dispersal areas by a third.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that asylum seekers have access to decent housing in all areas of the UK.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The contract for asylum accommodation requires contractors to provide accommodation that is safe, habitable and fit for purpose; the requirements are equivalent to the Decent Homes Standards. The contract requires a strict inspection regime for the suppliers and a Home Office contract compliance team undertakes further inspections. When an inspection identifies a defect there are strict time frames within which a remedy must be provided. Over the life of the current contracts the standards of accommodation have improved.
The Home Office works closely with local government to increase the number of local authorities that participate in the asylum dispersal scheme; the number of areas participating has increased by over a third in the last two years.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of changes to support for asylum seekers on local authority services.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Immigration Bill reforms support for failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants. It restricts the availability of support, consistent with our international and human rights obligations, and removes incentives to remain in the UK illegally. The measures have been subject to public consultation and will be subject to a new burdens assessment.