Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Matthew Pennycook Excerpts
Thursday 29th March 2018

(6 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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I congratulate my hon. Friend again on his Homelessness Reduction Act, which is going to transform lives. He talks about the importance of solving the problem of rough sleeping and he is absolutely right. The Government are measuring it better. We have a “No Second Night Out” policy to actively identify and support rough sleepers, and we are taking unprecedented action to help people before they become homeless. Those are all very important measures.

Matthew Pennycook Portrait Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)
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My constituent Patrina Fraser was told yesterday that her application to register as a British citizen had been refused for a second time. Patrina is just one of thousands of people who arrived in the UK from Commonwealth countries as children. They grew up believing that they were British, and have worked hard and contributed all their lives, but they are now being told that their status as citizens is in doubt. It is an outrageous situation. Can we have a debate in Government time about how this injustice might be addressed?

Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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There are very clear rules around citizenship status. The hon. Gentleman raises an important constituency matter that I am sure Home Office Ministers will look at. If he wants to write to me, I can take it up on his behalf. I also say to him that Home Office oral questions are on the first day back—16 April—and he might want to raise his specific point then.