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 (Home Office)
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 (Home Office)
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 (Home Office)
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 of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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 of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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.
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 increase the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of special constables.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises and values the professionalism, dedication and sacrifice shown by special constables in their work. Special constables, along with the full range of volunteers in policing, make a vital contribution to keeping our communities safe.
As we announced in the Police Funding Settlement in January, this Government is doubling the funding available in 2025/26 to support the first steps in delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel, including special constables. This total £200 million investment underlines our commitment to the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee and making the country’s streets safer.
Police forces have been asked to design delivery profiles for their workforce mix that are tailored to local needs and operational contexts, based on what is deliverable within their funding allocation, including special constables. This will ensure that additional neighbourhood personnel in 2025/26 are delivered in a manner that is flexible and easily adaptable to local crime demands.
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 ensure that offers of practical help to women outside abortion clinics will be permitted when section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 is implemented.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 does not criminalise any specific activity within safe access zones. It introduces a new criminal offence for a person who is within a Safe Access Zone to do an act with the intent of, or reckless as to whether it has the effect of, influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services, obstructing or impeding any person accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services, or causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services.
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 has provided guidance to the police on making assessments of whether a Public Spaces Protection Order around an abortion clinic has been breached in respect of prayer.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
In June 2022 the Government published updated statutory guidance on the use of Antisocial Behaviour powers, including Public Spaces Protection Orders. This can be found here - Anti-social behaviour powers (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Decisions regarding the imposition of Public Space Protection Orders, and what restrictions are included are matters for the local authority which is required to consider people’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The enforcement of Public Space Protection Orders is a matter for the local authority and other relevant local partners, including the police, in line with wider human rights considerations.
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, when her Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 16 November 2022 from the hon. Member for North Tyneside.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The Home Office replied on 13 January 2023.
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 (a) her Department's target is for processing and (b) the average processing time was in the latest period for which data is available for a family visa for the spouse of a British citizen.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
An applicant applying for a family visa at entry clearance should get a decision within 24 weeks.
Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
An applicant applying in the UK to extend a family visa (spouse or partner on a 5-year route to settlement) should get a decision within 8 weeks.
Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
An applicant applying in the UK for settlement should get a decision within 6 months.
Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Average processing times do not form part of any current transparency data for spouse/partner applications and are not published.
The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).