Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy to provide support to Commonwealth nationals who are fleeing war in Ukraine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
ur humanitarian response has been developed in close consultation with the government of Ukraine and we will continue to support those who wish to come to the UK as a result of the current situation.
A fee free, bespoke Ukraine Family Scheme was introduced and set out by the Home Secretary in her statement on 1 March. 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.
Furthermore, the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ Scheme launched by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 18 March, will allow individuals, charities, community groups and businesses in the UK to bring Ukrainians to safety – including those with no family ties to the UK. There will be no limit on the number of arrivals, and those who come to the UK on the scheme will have permission to live and work here for up to three years. They will also have access to healthcare, benefits, employment support and education.
Commonwealth nationals can apply for visas to come to the UK via existing routes. The Home Office has no plans to establish further routes to support Commonwealth nationals fleeing the conflict given most will be able to seek safety in the country they are a national of.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to allow Ukrainians in the UK to make online applications to the Ukraine Family Scheme on behalf of their relatives.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The new Ukrainian Family Scheme (UFS) can be accessed through GOV.UK and can be used to apply on behalf of a relative: Apply for a Ukraine Family Scheme visa - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
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 take steps to change the family reunion rules for all refugees to those her Department has put in place for Ukrainian refugees in response to the crisis in that country.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Due to recent events in Ukraine, the Government has established a bespoke scheme to provide an immediate pathway for people from Ukraine to join family already in the UK. The Ukraine Family Scheme is designed to allow as many people as possible to come to the UK in these exceptional circumstances.
The Government’s refugee family reunion policy is one of many generous safe and legal routes which supports refugees to have family re-join them, if they formed part of the immediate family unit before the sponsor fled the country.
Our policy makes clear that there is discretion to grant visas outside the Immigration Rules, which caters for extended family members in exceptional circumstances – including young adult sons or daughters who are dependent on family here and living in dangerous situations.
There are separate provisions in the Rules to allow extended family to sponsor children to come here where there are serious and compelling circumstances.
Refugees can also sponsor adult dependent relatives living overseas to join them where, due to age, illness or disability, that person requires long-term personal care that can only be provided by relatives in the UK.
To strengthen our existing policy, we have also committed to providing additional clarity in the Immigration Rules on the exceptional circumstances where we would grant leave to a child seeking to join a relative in the UK.
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 make it her policy to allow applications from within the UK for the Ukrainian Family Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Ukrainian Family scheme is already open to applications from within the UK.
Guidance for those who wish to make such an application is published here:
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy to open safe routes to the UK for non-British and non-Ukrainian nationals fleeing war in Ukraine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The United Kingdom stands firmly with the people of Ukraine.
The government has brought forward a bespoke humanitarian support package for the people of Ukraine, having listened carefully to the Ukrainian Government.
We have helped hundreds of British nationals and their family members resident in Ukraine to leave the country, with Home Office staff working around the clock to assist them.
The Government has established a Ukraine Family Scheme which is fee free and allows British nationals and people settled in the UK to bring extended family members to the UK, covering immediate family members plus parents, grandparents, children over 18 and siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins and in-laws. Individuals will be granted leave for three years, giving them certainty and securing their future in the country. There is no numerical limit.
In addition, the Government has established a humanitarian sponsorship pathway, led by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whereby Ukrainians who may not have family ties in the UK can be sponsored to come to the UK by willing and able individuals, businesses, or community organisations. There will be no numerical limit on this scheme, and we will welcome as many Ukrainians as wish to come who have matched sponsors.
The Home Office will work closely with international partners on the ground to support displaced Ukrainians in need of a home.
Further details can be found at Home Secretary statement on humanitarian support for Ukrainians and the Factsheet: Home Office action on Ukraine - Home Office in the media (blog.gov.uk)
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that security officers and door staff have the right to wear protective clothing including stab vests.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) protect the public through the regulation of the private security industry, which includes working with partners to raise standards across the industry as a whole.
However, it is for employers and venues to conduct risk assessments to ensure that staff and personnel working for them are provided with the appropriate equipment to fulfil their role safely and securely. Any assessment and mitigation of risk should include the need for appropriate personal protection equipment.
The SIA signposts to advice produced by the Health and Safety Executive on conducting risk assessments. Particularly in light of Covid, the Government has also published a number of additional guides for those working in a variety of environments. Stipulation of particular Personal Protection Equipment will be assignment-specific, and the responsibility of the employer or venue to be satisfied on.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a fee waiver for Security Industry Authority licences for security officers on a low income.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Security Industry Authority’s licence application fee is fixed in accordance with Schedule 1, section 15(1) of the Private Security Industry Act 2001, which states that the SIA should set its application fees at a level suitable to enable full recovery of costs incurred in delivering its activities, without seeking to make profits.
Any variation to waive or vary fees for one cohort would essentially require the SIA to recoup these costs from other applicants or would result in a loss that the taxpayer would subsidise. Some employers and security businesses operate schemes to either pay for the licence fee and/or support their employees to spread repayment of the costs over a longer period of time.
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 end the use of prisons for the purpose of immigration detention.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are no plans to end the limited use of prisons for the purpose of immigration detention.
The Government is committed to a fair and humane immigration policy that welcomes those here legally, but tackles abuse and protects the public. Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity, and since January 2019 we have removed 8,441 foreign national offenders.
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 (a) collect data on the increase in pet theft during the covid-19 lockdown and (b) help tackle the increase in that crime.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is working with the police and others and will consider the evidence and what more could be done to prevent pet theft.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
What assessment she has made of the effect on people of the No Recourse to Public Funds condition applied to immigration status.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Migrants coming to the UK are expected to maintain and support themselves and their families without posing a burden on the welfare system.
The Home Office has published its policy equality statement on the impact of the No Recourse to Public Funds policy on migrants on the human rights route.
Migrants with leave under certain routes can apply to lift their NRPF condition.