Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the English language requirement for applications for student visas from Kenya; and whether she has plans to review that requirement for those applicants.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Kenya is not included on the Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) for immigration purposes, so applicants from Kenya must meet the English language requirement in another way.
Student applicants are currently required to show a B1 or B2 competency level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, depending on their course of study. There are several ways they can prove this:
Our assessment is these options provide an appropriate means for applicants for student visas from Kenya to meet the English language requirement.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 23 November 2021 from the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire regarding the warrant for the Fire Service Long Service and Good Conduct Bars for 30 and 40 years service; and what her Department's timetable is for taking a decision on those service awards.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
I am pleased to report that the Fire Brigade Long Service Good Conduct Medal Royal Warrant, has now been amended to include the 30 and 40 years’ service clasps and has received approval by the committee on the grant of honours, decorations and medals (known as the HD Committee).
The Royal Warrant will come into effect as soon as it is approved by HM The Queen in coming weeks.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the issuing of electronic marriage certificates under the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc.) Act 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
While the implementation of the Act provides for marriages to be registered in a central electronic register, marriage certificates continue to be issued in paper format only.
These new provisions have successfully enabled the modernisation of marriage registration in England and Wales, which includes the recording of the details of both parents in the entry, rather than just the father.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department took to reduce the likelihood of fraud in marriage registration changes prior to the implementation of the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc.) Act 2019; and what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) is taking to monitor that issue since the implementation of that Act.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Provisions within the Act ensure there are controls in place by the registrar to check the authenticity of a marriage schedule or marriage document before a marriage is registered.
If unusual activity is identified the registration service and the General Register Office will investigate.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the impact on places of worship of the requirements of the Protect Duty; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of mitigation measures for people in voluntary positions in places of worship and other organisations potentially required to comply with the Protect Duty.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The responses to the Protect Duty consultation, which closed on 2nd July, provides a basis for Government to consider the scope and requirements of the Protect Duty, alongside assessing the impacts on those parties potentially within scope. These considerations will also consider the potential for unintended consequences and indirect implications of introducing the Duty.
The Government is mindful places of worship differ significantly in the nature of their function and operation from other locations potentially within the scope of the Protect Duty proposals. This is balanced against the threat posed by terrorism, and a need to ensure there are effective security measures at public places, regardless of their nature.
The Government will be carefully considering the issues raised within the consultation and our engagement events, including those discussed with representatives of different faith communities, before considering next steps.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what costs have been incurred to date to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers at Yarl's Wood.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office have stood down plans to use Yarl’s Wood as a temporary accommodation site for asylum seekers.
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially sensitive and we would not provide this information for that reason.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to extend the Action Access pilot scheme in response to the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the numbers of women participating in that scheme.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Now in its second year, the Action Access pilot has provided women who would otherwise be detained with a programme of support in the community, including case management support. We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and they have appointed the National Centre for Social Research to independently evaluate this work, once the pilot concludes in March 2021. The evaluation is scheduled for publication Summer 2021. We will use the evaluation to inform our future approach to case-management focused alternatives to detention.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre for each night from 1 March 2020 to 15 July 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics on people in detention in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release). Data on people in detention under immigration powers as at 31 March 2020 by place of detention, are published in Table Det_03a of the ‘Summary tables’ (attached). The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on detention.
A report on Statistics relating to Covid-19 and the immigration system, May 2020 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-relating-to-covid-19-and-the-immigration-system-may-2020), released on 28 May 2020, provides further high-level information relating to immigration detention and the impact of Covid-19.
Figures on numbers in detention at 30 June 2020 will be published on 27 August 2020. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ (https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=home-office&order=release-date-oldest).
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure people in immigration detention (a) at increased risk and (b) with an underlying health condition are able to (i) isolate in line with Government advice and (ii) access adequate medical treatment during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no cases of COVID-19 in immigration removal centres.
The safety and health of people in the detention estate is of the utmost importance. The Home Office is working closely with NHS England health and justice teams and regional commissioning teams to support the planning and delivery of healthcare services in immigration removal centres during the COVID-19 outbreak. All immigration removal centres have communicable disease contingency plans, based on PHE advice, and dedicated health facilities run by doctors and nurses which are managed by the NHS or appropriate providers. All receptions into detention receive an assessment within two hours by a nurse and can see a doctor within 24 hours.
NHS England have identified all people with known vulnerabilities across the immigration detention estate, who by age, underlying health conditions or both are at greater risk from COVID-19. Each of these detainees will be shielded using protective isolation measures as far as practicable. Detainees can also self-declare any vulnerabilities to healthcare or centre staff.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional police officers (a) have been recruited nationally in the last 12 months and (b) she plans to allocate to Bedfordshire constabulary in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting 20,000 additional police officers over the next three years.
In October 2019 Home Office confirmed officer allocations for every force in England and Wales in the first year of the uplift. Bedfordshire Police has been allocated 54 officers in year one of the uplift, to be recruited by the end of March 2021. Decisions on the allocation of officers for years two and three are yet to be taken.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-announces-first-wave-of-20000-police-officer-uplift
From April 2020 the Home Office will publish quarterly updates outlining the progress on delivering the police uplift.