Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 42, when he plans to publish details of transition arrangements for couples who have already set a date for their wedding.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Those who already have a family visa within the five-year partner route, or who apply before the minimum income threshold is raised, will continue to have their applications assessed against the current income requirement and will not be required to meet the increased threshold. This will also be the case for children seeking to join or accompany parents.
Anyone granted a fiancé visa before the minimum income threshold is raised will also be assessed against the current income requirement when they apply for a family visa within the five year partner route.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of couples who will be impacted by the planned increase in the minimum income threshold for family visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process. The Home Secretary has made a commitment to place an assessment of the impact of these announcements in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
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 her Department's proposal to use the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli constituency as asylum accommodation on that hotel's investors.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our accommodation providers are contractually obliged to provide adequate accommodation and to conduct regular quality assurance checks across the asylum estate. Accommodation providers complete due diligence checks and all accommodation must be statutorily and regulatory compliant before they are selected.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department carried out due diligence checks on investors in the Stradey Park Hotel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our accommodation providers are contractually obliged to provide adequate accommodation and to conduct regular quality assurance checks across the asylum estate. Accommodation providers complete due diligence checks and all accommodation must be statutorily and regulatory compliant before they are selected.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the cost to the public purse of hotels used to house asylum seekers from January to May 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. The global pandemic and an increased influx of small boat arrivals has presented us with significant challenges when it comes to the provision of asylum accommodation. We have therefore had to source hotel accommodation across the United Kingdom.
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. The Home Office is currently spending around £7m per day on hotel accommodation. Total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average length of stay of a family of asylum seekers accommodated in an asylum hotel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We encourage every Local Authorities who does not currently house supported asylum seekers to support the asylum dispersal scheme so that we can minimise the length of stay in contingency accommodation.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were awaiting an initial decision on their asylum application on (a) 1 March, (b) 1 April, (c) 1 May and (d) 1 June 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum application in the ‘Immigration system statistics quarterly release’. Data on the number of people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum applications is published in Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the 31st March 2023.
Figures for asylum applications awaiting a decision as at 30 April and 28 May 2023 can be found in table IMB_02 of the ‘Statistics Relating to the Illegal Migration Bill’ release. The latest data relates to 28 May 2023. Please note that the figures in table IMB_02 have not been cleansed and thus may contain duplicates and the data represents cases awaiting an initial decision and not the total number of people awaiting an initial decision.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the Research and Statistics Calendar.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Public Service Pensions: Firefighters' Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2022, when she plans to publish further guidance on ensuring that fire fighters are paid their full pension entitlement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government is taking steps to remove discrimination on the grounds of age, associated with the transitional protection arrangements linked to the 2015 pension reforms, which was subsequently identified by the courts.
The Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act (PSPJOA) which received Royal Assent on 10 March, established the legal framework to provide this remedy. The Police and Firefighters’ Pension Schemes (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (‘the Regulations’) provided the first, prospective, element of the remedy for firefighters’ pensions.
The second, retrospective, part of the remedy is more complex and will require further detailed changes to scheme regulations using the powers in the PSPJOA. These changes will be in force by 1 October 2023, in line with the Government’s commitments under that Act.
The Home Office and the Local Government Association are developing supporting material that will allow scheme members to make an informed choice about their pension options at the point they retire.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to Dyfed Powys Police has been of policing in connection with the asylum seeker accommodation in Penally for the financial year 2020-2021, over and above any additional funding allocated by her Department for that purpose.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office has agreed to provide £2.5m of Special Grant funding to Dyfed-Powys Police in respect of these costs up to September 2021.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the projected cost to Dyfed Powys Police is of policing in connection with the asylum seeker accommodation in Penally for the financial year 2021-22, over and above any additional funding allocated by her Department for that purpose.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office has agreed to provide £2.5m of Special Grant funding to Dyfed-Powys Police in respect of these costs up to September 2021.