Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of unsolved crimes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to ensuring all partners across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) work better together to increase the number of cases being charged and prosecuted and improve case progression.
We welcome the commitment from police forces across England and Wales to pursue all leads where there is a reasonable chance it could result in catching a perpetrator and solving a crime.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizens have been resettled under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme in (a) its first year up to 6 January 2023 and (b) the first half of its second year up to 6 June 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has made one of the largest commitments of any country to support those impacted by events in Afghanistan.
The latest Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2023 - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab) (published on 25 May 2023), show that since their first arrivals in 2021, the Afghan schemes – the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - have resettled a total of 21,004 people.
More information on the number of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain issued to Afghans resettling under the ARAP or ACRS can be viewed at:
Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the second stage of Pathway 3 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme will open for referrals.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government is committed to the resettlement of eligible Afghans. As of the end of March 2023, around 24,600 vulnerable people have been brought to the UK. This includes 21,004 individuals resettled under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
In the second stage of Pathway 3 of the ACRS, the UK government will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk. Further information will be published in due course.
Our immediate focus is ensuring the resettlement of those eligible in the first stage of Pathway 3, which includes individuals who directly supported the UK and international community’s efforts in Afghanistan.
We recognise there are many vulnerable individuals who remain in Afghanistan and the region. Unfortunately, the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and difficult decisions about who will be prioritised have to be made.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of proscribing the Grey Wolves as a terrorist organisation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Whilst the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on intelligence and security matters, including whether or not an organisation is under consideration for proscription.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy paper published on 21 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on assessing the merits of introducing a new specific offence for public sexual harassment.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to taking action to address this issue, and as a result of the work we have been doing, in March we announced that we will launch a public consultation by the summer recess on whether there should be a new offence of public sexual harassment.
We are also taking several non-legislative actions. In September 2021 we launched the pilot of the new StreetSafe tool, which allows people to show on a map places where they have felt unsafe, enabling the police to take action to improve safety. More than 15,000 reports have been submitted to date.
Last December, the College of Policing published new guidance for police showing what they can do when they receive a report of public sexual harassment, including the criminal offences available and other protective tools which can be used. Furthermore, the Home Office launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign in March, which challenges public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and aims to ensure victims know how and where to report it.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with the Metropolitan Police on a strategy to tackle the rising level of catalytic converter theft.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to tackle theft of catalytic converters. The Metropolitan Police Service is represented on the Working Group, and a network of vehicle crime specialists from every force in England and Wales shares information about emerging trends and how to tackle regional issues.
The Government funded the set-up of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. The partnership shares intelligence to target offenders, and implements crime prevention measures. The British Transport Police, through the NICRP, has conducted three national weeks of actions resulting in 92 arrests, over 2,000 site visits, over 1,000 stolen catalytic converters recovered, and the catalytic converters of over 3,000 vehicles forensically marked. This has helped to promote awareness, with over 1,000 officers trained in enforcement powers to deal with scrap metal dealers, and has seen a significant reduction in catalytic converter thefts. The Metropolitan Police Service have also co-ordinated their own operations to tackle these thefts.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason third country citizens resident in Ukraine with family members in the UK were excluded from the Ukraine Family Visa scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
As set out in the Home Secretary’s statement to the House on 1 March, a fee free, bespoke Ukraine Family Scheme has been introduced. The route allows both the immediate family members (spouse, civil partner, durable partner, minor children) and extended family members (parent, grandparent, adult children, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, in laws and their immediate family) to join their relatives in the UK. The UK-based sponsoring relative must be a British citizen, a person who is present and settled in the UK (including those with settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme), a person in the UK with refugee leave or with humanitarian protection or an EEA or Swiss national in the UK with limited leave under Appendix EU (pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme). This route was launched on 4 March.
Applicants to the scheme must be Ukrainian nationals unless they are applying as part of a family group where their immediate family member, who is a Ukrainian national, qualifies under this scheme. In this circumstance non-Ukrainian nationals will also qualify under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Third country nationals who are not part of a family group with a Ukrainian national would normally be expected to return to their country of nationality. However, each case will be judged on merit taking into account the individual circumstances of the case.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with (a) the Department for Health and Social Care and (b) other specialist psychological services to provide (i) specialist and (ii) culturally sensitive mental health support for newly-arrived Afghan refugees.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Under Operation Warm Welcome, all those evacuated from Afghanistan to the UK have access to healthcare via the NHS, free of charge.
To further support this cohort, the UK government announced £3 million of additional NHS funding to support them to access an initial healthcare assessment - including mental health support and assessment of any trauma and safeguarding concerns - whilst in temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many letters her Department has sent to Afghan nationals in the UK telling them to make arrangements to the leave the country or face deportation since the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan; and what arrangements those affected should make in the absence of flights from the UK to Afghanistan and in response to Government advice not to travel to that country.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office processes many different types of immigration applications and/or asylum claims from Afghan nationals. All immigration decisions, including those from Afghan nationals, are carefully considered on a case by case basis, on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations and Home Office policy.
The Home Office has reviewed the country situation given recent changes in Afghanistan, have updated and published our country policy and information notes for Afghanistan on those seeking protection, latest update 2 November 2021, which reflect revised assessments of risk of persecution. Decision making in regards protection claims from Afghanistan have resumed, following a short pause to review policy, and have ensured our decision makers are considering claimants’ protection needs in line with up-to date country information.
No one who is found to be at risk of persecution or serious harm will be expected to return to Afghanistan. Inadmissibility rules apply to all nationals where it is considered that there has been an earlier presence or connection to a safe third country. Removals to Afghanistan have been suspended.
We have been clear that people should claim asylum in the first safe country that they reach and should not seek to enter the UK illegally. Our New Plan for Immigration underpins this principle.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to offer free visitor visa extensions to people who have been unable to use the visas they paid for due to travel restrictions during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It is not possible to extend a visit visa once they have been issued. Those wanting to visit the UK should apply for a new visit visa.
Applications can be made via the following website: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/apply