Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the terms of reference for the ongoing rapid review into extremism.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary will report on the Government’s plans to tackle extremism in due course, including setting out the scope and findings of the rapid review carried out in this area.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her article in the Sun newspaper entitled We can’t pretend everything is OK: knife crime, anti social behaviour and people smugglers are plaguing our streets, published on 20 July 2024, whether the Returns and Enforcement programme has a specific name.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have established a new Returns Transformation Portfolio, focusing on delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to safe countries, through swift decision making to remove people with no right to be in the UK. This is to ensure that asylum and immigration rules are respected and enforced.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure there is not a funding cliff edge for VAWG services in March 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have set out our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The Home Office funds a range of organisations to deliver vital services that help deliver this mission and regularly engage with key stakeholders to inform future planning.
All decisions on funding will be made in due course as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of the legislative package on Family Values and Protection of Minors being signed into law in Georgia on that country's safe state designation under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Amendment of List of Safe States) Regulations 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Our assessment of the situation in Georgia is set out in the relevant Country Policy and Information Notes, which are available on the Gov.Uk website. The latest update on sexual orientation and gender identity was issued in September 2024 following a review commissioned by and on behalf of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Section 80AA(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Act 2002 also requires, in respect of designated countries, that the Secretary of State—
(a)must have regard to all the circumstances of the State (including its laws and how they are applied).
We will continue to monitor the situation, working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to increase access to resettlement to the UK for Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries who are at risk and cannot return to Sudan.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Over 300 Sudanese nationals have been resettled in the UK through our refugee resettlement schemes.
The UK resettlement schemes are not application based; instead, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refers individuals for resettlement in accordance with their standard resettlement submission criteria. These are based on an assessment of protection needs or vulnerabilities. The UK does not seek to intervene in or influence UNHCR’s established selection processes.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 454 on Asylum: LGBT+ People, when her Department last reviewed the level of the risk of (a) discrimination, (b) harassment and (c) violence towards LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in immigration detention centres.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The level of risk for LGBT+ individuals within immigration detention is subject to ongoing monitoring. As set out in Detention Services Order 02/2016 ‘Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Detainees in the Detention Estate’, Immigration Removal Centre suppliers undertake regular equality monitoring and trend analysis for residents with protected characteristics.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people who have recently acquired refugee status do not experience homelessness after leaving asylum accommodation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Individuals granted asylum have access to the labour market and to mainstream services that support their integration, including benefits and healthcare. We are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of all newly granted refugees.
Migrant Help or their partner organisation support all individuals when they receive a decision on their asylum claim. This support includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.
We continue to work with colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to understand rough sleeping and homelessness pressures within local authorities (LAs). In our continued commitment to supporting LAs and statutory partners in planning for move on, we have shared enhanced data sets (The Place Based Visibility tool - PBVT) which we are continuing to develop further. The PBVT is complimented by the Discontinuation Prediction Tool (DPT) which is shared weekly; this data provides real time view of discontinuation notices likely to be served in the next following 4-6 weeks and the volume of people (including whether it is families, single males or single females) who may seek LA assistance following a positive decision.
Where a decision is made on an individual's asylum claim, the Asylum Accommodation Support Contract (AASC) provider notifies the relevant local authority within 2 days of notification by the Home Office.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 creating a visa waiver scheme for Palestinians requiring urgent medical treatment.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Currently, those seeking to come to the UK for private medical treatment, along with their family members, can apply for a visitor visa and consideration will be given to compelling, compassionate and exceptional circumstances.
It should be noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) position is that people who are medically evacuated should stay as close to home as possible, so that they remain amongst those who are more likely to understand their language and culture, and so that their return home, when ready, is easier.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the level of the risk of (a) discrimination, (b) harassment and (c) violence towards LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in immigration detention centres.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is vital that detention and removal are carried out with dignity and respect, and we take the welfare and safety of people in our care very seriously. We will not tolerate any form of discrimination against those who are detained in our immigration removal estate. We keep the level of risk under regular review and will take robust action against anyone who is found not to have behaved appropriately.
In order to effectively support individuals in immigration detention that identify as LGBT+ there is detailed published guidance for all staff working in immigration removal centres (IRCs). Detention Services Orders 2/2016 ‘Lesbian, gay and bisexual detainees in the detention estate’ and 11/2012 ‘Care and Management of Transsexual Detainees’ set out the actions and safeguarding processes that are undertaken in IRCs to ensure that the needs of LGBT+ individuals are identified and appropriately met.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will implement a visa scheme to enable Palestinian children to receive critical medical treatment in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The UK is exploring how best to support the medical needs of those in Gaza, including what options can be provided in the region.
It is ultimately at the discretion of the Israeli and Egyptian authorities who can cross the border.
The Home Office is not currently considering establishing a bespoke visa scheme for Palestinian children to receive critical medical treatment in the UK. There are provisions that allow a person to come to the UK for private medical treatment under Appendix V of the Immigration Rules. If the rules are not met, careful consideration will be given on whether a grant of leave outside of the rules would be appropriate.
Should applications be submitted from Palestinian children, who have secured permission from the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to exit Gaza, requiring specialist medical treatment they will be treated with the utmost seriousness. If that leads to the identification of specific cases in which a person would be better off making the long journey to the UK to undertake treatment, we will not rule out bringing them to British hospitals, as we have done in the past.