Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make the EU Settlement Scheme App available on Apple devices before the UK's scheduled departure from the EU on 31 October 2019.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app is an optional aspect of the service which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely using their biometric identity document and an android smartphone device.
We have been working closely with Apple over a number of months and expect the first IOS version of the EU Settlement Scheme app to be available in October.
Despite this there are numerous ways in which those eligible can apply, including by post.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of her Department's capacity to register EU nationals who are already in the UK by the end of December 2020, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We are fully committed to ensuring that our operational teams have the re-sources they need to run an efficient and effective migration system. In addition to the new technology and processes, we have over 1,500 UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) European Casework staff in post to process applications, along with 250 staff handling calls and emails, helping people with their individual cases.
In the event of the UK leaving the UK without a withdrawal agreement, the EU Settlement Scheme will remain open until at least 31st December 2020 for EEA nationals and their family members resident in the UK at the date of exit. European temporary leave to remain will be granted to EEA and Swiss citizens newly arriving in the UK after exit to live, study and work here for a period longer than three months.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to increase communication with EU nationals on the EU settlement scheme.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
It is vital that the over three million EU citizens and their family members living in the UK understand how and when to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.
When the scheme launched fully in March, the department delivered a £3.75m marketing campaign to raise awareness of the scheme. More than one million people have now been granted status and EU citizens and their families have until at least 31 December 2020 to apply.
Advertising and local events are underway to support the cross government Get Ready campaign and further publicity will roll out over the lifetime of the Scheme. All available channels will be used to reach our audiences – such as direct marketing, radio, video-on-demand and outdoor advertising, presentations, email updates, toolkits and webinars to name a few – to direct EU citizens towards reliable sources of information on GOV.UK and the application itself.
No-one will be left behind which is why we are also working in partnership with vulnerable group representatives, local authorities and other experts to make sure everyone knows what they need to do and has the right level of support.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the status of EU (a) nationals and (b) doctors working in the UK will be if they do not apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by 31 December 2020.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Individuals working in the UK who are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme but fail to do so by 31 December 2020 in a no-deal EU-exit scenario will not have lawful status under UK immigration legislation. The Government has made clear that we will accept late applications to the scheme from those who have reasonable grounds for missing the deadline.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings her Department has had with Cleveland Police on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office has not met directly with Cleveland Police on this matter. However, it is the duty of any responsible Government to prepare for every eventuality including the scenario that we leave the EU without agreeing a deal.
Home Office officials are working closely with the National Police Co-ordination Centre(NPoCC) and with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) to determine the impact of EU Exit on policing and plan accordingly.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many properties have been procured by the new asylum accommodation provider Mears in the North East; how many service users can be accommodated in those properties; and how many service users there are in the North East for whom new accommodation has not yet been procured.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The provider of asylum accommodation under the forthcoming Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) in the North East Yorkshire Humber region is working closely with local authorities to ensure there is suitable and sufficient accommodation available to ensure a smooth transition of services before the current COMPASS contracts end in September 2019.
Mears continue in commercial discussion with their potential supply chain, sub-contractors and landlords; including on planned upgrades to the existing estate alongside the provisional acquisition of potential new properties that may also be brought in use during the AASC contract.
Mears are working closely with the Home Office, COMPASS provider and local authorities in the region to ensure all parties are kept informed of progress and disruption to service users is minimised. Details regarding the number of new properties and service users moves will be communicated, pending the conclusion of ongoing commercial discussions and progression of property acquisition.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contingency plans his Department has made in the event that the asylum accommodation provider in the North East is unable to procure sufficient housing stock to accommodate service-users in the region.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office has dedicated staff managing the transition to the new Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) which includes rigorous transition governance structures which tracks progress against provider plans. The new provider, Mears, in the North East region has undertaken due diligence activity across all current properties to assess their ongoing suitability and this activity continues to inform their commercial negotiations with their property supply chain.
Due to the on-going commercial sensitivities around these matters we will communicate details further in due course. The Home Office will continue to monitor and manage all Providers closely to ensure sufficient suitable accommodation is secured to deliver an effective transition of services.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The introduction of minimum unit pricing in England remains under review.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the paper by Aveek Bhattacharya entitled How dependent is the alcohol industry on heavy drinking in England? published in August 2018, to what extent the alcohol industry is planned to be consulted as a stakeholder for the updated alcohol strategy, following the finding in that paper that alcohol industry revenue in England would decline by 38 per cent in the event that all consumers drank within the Chief Medical Officer's Low Risk Guidelines.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government’s new alcohol strategy will set out targeted action to prevent and reduce harmful drinking, support vulnerable people affected by others’ alcohol misuse and improve the pathways into treatment for people with alcohol dependency.
As we develop measures to include in the strategy, we are consulting widely across government and with a range of stakeholders including representatives of the alcohol industry, the health sector, academics, the voluntary sector and the licensed trade.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been transferred to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation since January 2017; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Dublin Regulation allows unaccompanied children who have claimed asylum in another Member State to be transferred here to have their asylum claim assessed if they have a qualifying family member legally present in the UK and transfer would be in their best interests. In order for the Dublin Regulation to apply, an unaccompanied child must first claim asylum in the Member State in which they are located and that Member State must issue a Take Charge Request to the UK.
The Government has committed to publishing regular updates on the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children transferred to the UK from Europe. This data will be published in the coming months.
Statistics on transfers under the Dublin Regulation are already available here:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
Asylum statistics are published quarterly in the Home Office Immigration Statistics release, which can be found here: