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.
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 (Department for Work and Pensions)
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
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).
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 provide an estimate of the likely timescales for Afghan people resettled to the UK under the (a) ARAP scheme and (b) ACRS scheme and who are currently living in bridging accommodation to be re-housed.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We do not want to keep people in temporary accommodation for any longer than is absolutely necessary. We have moved – or are in the process of moving - over 6,000 people into homes since June 2021. There is a huge effort underway to support the families into permanent homes as soon as we can so they can settle and rebuild their lives, and to ensure those still temporarily accommodated in hotels are given the best start to their life in the UK.
The length of time a family will remain in bridging hotels is dependent on several factors including sufficient offers of appropriate housing by local authorities. We strive to allocate the right families into the right accommodation to ensure their integration into their new communities in the UK is as smooth as possible. To achieve this, we triage and prioritise families to ensure the settled accommodation provides the best possible match, taking into consideration date of arrival into the UK, family size, vulnerability and integration factors.
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 (a) the effect of new covid-19 related checks on people arriving in the UK on the length of queues in (i) airports and (ii) seaports and (b) the effect of those queues on the risk of covid-19 contagion.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Border Force continue to monitor performance closely and this includes passenger queues.? Service level agreements are set to ensure 95% of arriving passengers clear passport control within 25 minutes for arrivals from the European Union and 45 minutes for the rest of the world. Passengers arriving in the UK continue to be cleared in line with these agreements.
Border Force operations at ports are conducted in line with social distancing guidance as set out by the relevant Public Health bodies, although port operators are more widely responsible for compliance across their estate.
Border Force staff in ports will be able to respond flexibly in the volume of checks conducted if there is a risk of congestion causing public health concerns.
Border Force officers complete spot checks to ensure relevant biometric information matches that presented in the passport (or travel document) and
other details appear to be credible.
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 ability of Border Force staff to verify information on completed public health passenger locator forms.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Border Force continue to monitor performance closely and this includes passenger queues.? Service level agreements are set to ensure 95% of arriving passengers clear passport control within 25 minutes for arrivals from the European Union and 45 minutes for the rest of the world. Passengers arriving in the UK continue to be cleared in line with these agreements.
Border Force operations at ports are conducted in line with social distancing guidance as set out by the relevant Public Health bodies, although port operators are more widely responsible for compliance across their estate.
Border Force staff in ports will be able to respond flexibly in the volume of checks conducted if there is a risk of congestion causing public health concerns.
Border Force officers complete spot checks to ensure relevant biometric information matches that presented in the passport (or travel document) and
other details appear to be credible.
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 reduce alcohol-related violence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government wants to ensure swift action to tackle alcohol-related offending. As set out in our manifesto, we will expand electronic tagging for criminals serving time outside jail, including the use of sobriety tags for those whose offending is fuelled by alcohol.
We have also focused on establishing effective partnerships and equipping authorities with the right powers to take effective actions against alcohol related-crime and harms in the night time economy.