Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Local Authority Registration and Coroner Services Association on their planned timescale to develop a professional qualification for registrars.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The General Register Office for England and Wales, (part of the Home Office) has had no discussions with the Local Authority Registration and Coroner Services Association on their planned timescale to develop a professional qualification for registrars.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing signage in register offices that state (a) marriage and (b) civil partnership can cause a will to be revoked.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There is currently no plan to introduce signage about wills in register offices.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed mandatory duty on the part of (a) therapists and (b) other mental health professionals to report child sexual abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill on child abuse convictions.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse considered such issues very carefully in the course of compiling its report to Government, and concluded that a mandatory reporting law was necessary to improve the protection of children and young people.
The Crime and Policing Bill will establish a clear, consistent requirement that allegations of child sexual abuse are shared promptly with appropriate safeguarding agencies, who are best placed to consider it further and take appropriate action to safeguard and support the child involved where necessary.
The Government already sets clear expectations through statutory and non-statutory guidance that those engaging with children should make an immediate referral to the relevant local authority children’s social care or the police if they are concerned about a child.
As they are now, impacted services will be responsible for explaining the detail and limitations of their confidentiality policies to their service users, including children and young people. Setting out a clear explanation of the need to pass certain concerns on to appropriate authorities should not undermine trusted relationships, or dissuade people from accessing the services they need.
We will be working with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill on dissuading offenders unknown to the police from coming forward for psychiatric treatment.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse considered such issues very carefully in the course of compiling its report to Government, and concluded that a mandatory reporting law was necessary to improve the protection of children and young people.
The Crime and Policing Bill will establish a clear, consistent requirement that allegations of child sexual abuse are shared promptly with appropriate safeguarding agencies, who are best placed to consider it further and take appropriate action to safeguard and support the child involved where necessary.
The Government already sets clear expectations through statutory and non-statutory guidance that those engaging with children should make an immediate referral to the relevant local authority children’s social care or the police if they are concerned about a child.
As they are now, impacted services will be responsible for explaining the detail and limitations of their confidentiality policies to their service users, including children and young people. Setting out a clear explanation of the need to pass certain concerns on to appropriate authorities should not undermine trusted relationships, or dissuade people from accessing the services they need.
We will be working with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill on levels of trauma in children who are not (a) ready and (b) willing to report such abuses.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse considered such issues very carefully in the course of compiling its report to Government, and concluded that a mandatory reporting law was necessary to improve the protection of children and young people.
The Crime and Policing Bill will establish a clear, consistent requirement that allegations of child sexual abuse are shared promptly with appropriate safeguarding agencies, who are best placed to consider it further and take appropriate action to safeguard and support the child involved where necessary.
The Government already sets clear expectations through statutory and non-statutory guidance that those engaging with children should make an immediate referral to the relevant local authority children’s social care or the police if they are concerned about a child.
As they are now, impacted services will be responsible for explaining the detail and limitations of their confidentiality policies to their service users, including children and young people. Setting out a clear explanation of the need to pass certain concerns on to appropriate authorities should not undermine trusted relationships, or dissuade people from accessing the services they need.
We will be working with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department uses artificial intelligence to transcribe asylum interviews.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) charities, (b) asylum seekers and (c) refugees are included in the development of her Department's (i) policy and (ii) procedures.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and other stakeholders.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the proportion of substantive asylum interview appointments that were cancelled due to an inability to secure a translator in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The number of substantive interviews completed per month is published in tab ASY_05(M) of the Immigration and Protection dataset: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q4-2024.
The requested information on cancelled appointments could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) people seeking asylum and (b) refugees to (i) develop their skills and (ii) increase their employability.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a long history of providing protection to those that need it and supporting refugee integration and employment. This includes work across government to ensure that mainstream services meet the needs of refugees.
Refugees granted refugee status or humanitarian protection (as well as those
arriving under one of the UK’s resettlement schemes) have immediate access to the labour market, including employment support from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work coaches in the same way as other jobseekers. Unemployed refugees are eligible for full funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learning.
In addition, through the Skilled Worker visa, the UK has labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to take up employment in the UK. We are currently reviewing labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to ensure we are learning from what works to increase employability and outcomes.
We continue to provide local authorities with a core tariff to support the integration of those who arrive through the UK’s Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy. We work across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees and continue to keep our policies under review.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent changes made to her Department's guidance entitled Nationality: good character requirement, published on 10 February 2025, on community cohesion.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Nationality Act 1981 is clear that it is for the Home Secretary to determine the good character policy. There is no definition of good character in primary legislation, nor is there statutory guidance as to how this should be interpreted or defined. Changes to the good character policy are at the discretion of the Home Secretary.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is leading cross-Government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address the deep-seated issues. A new cross-government ministerial ‘Communities & Recovery Steering Group’ has been stood up to oversee this work and this group includes the Home Secretary.