Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North 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 - Shadow Home Secretary
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 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.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2016 to Question 51383, what steps her Department is taking to collect statistics on the speed of UK Visas and Immigration's implementation of decisions made by the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum).
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Information relating to actions following an appeal is recorded on separate systems for in-country and overseas cases. Following analysis, improvements are now being made to internal reports on in-country cases to better reflect the way that post-appeal outcomes are recorded. For overseas cases, development of new systems is underway which will enable internal monitoring of performance in a number of post-decision activities, including the implementation of allowed appeal decisions.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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 reducing the fees for naturalisation applications from EEA nationals as a result of the EU referendum.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We keep all fees under regular review.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to monitor and improve the performance of UK Visas and Immigration's implementation of decisions made by the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum).
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Details of allowed appeals which are not being contested by the Home Office are sent electronically on a daily basis to decision making centres, which arrange for appropriate follow on actions to be taken reflecting the Tribunal’s determination in each case.
My officials are currently reviewing the arrangements for monitoring performance on follow on actions to identify the scope for improvements.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of Metropolitan Police Service performance against the terms set out in its service level agreement with the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Disclosure and Barring Service regularly publishes data on police force performance, which can be located through the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-5-police-disclosure-unit-performance
I visited the Metropolitan Police Service disclosure unit on 2 September. I regularly receive reports from the Disclosure and Barring Service on the performance of the Metropolitan Police Service. I have made it clear that delays must be addressed. The Disclosure and Barring Service is working with the Metropolitan Police Service to reduce turnaround times as quickly as possible, which includes additional funding, staff and training, process improvement and support from other forces.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her most recent assessment was of whether Hizb ut-Tahrir should be proscribed.
Answered by John Hayes
Hizb-ut Tahrir (HuT) is not proscribed in the UK. Decisions on proscription must be proportionate and based on evidence that an organisation is concerned in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, along with other organisations which cause us concern, is kept under continuous review. As and when new material comes to light it is considered and the organisation reassessed as part of that process. Individual members of HuT are, of course, subject to the criminal law.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many standard visitor visas granted on appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have been issued by UK Visas and Immigration (a) within one month, (b) between one to three months, (c) between three to six months, (d) between six to 12 months and (e) more than 12 months after that tribunal's judgement in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The time taken between receiving a determination from the First Tier Tribunal relating to a standard visitor visa and subsequent issue of visa can be found in the table below:
| Time between notification of allowed appeal and issued decision | ||||
Period | Under 1 month | 1-3 Months | 3-6 Months | 6-12 Months | Over 12 Months |
YE Sep-13 | 105 | 35 | - | - | * |
YE Sep-14 | 110 | 60 | 5 | 5 | - |
YE Sep-15 | 10 | 5 | * | * | - |
All figures are obtained from local Management Information.
Figures rounded to the nearest 5.
‘-‘ represents 0 cases ‘*’ represents less than 3 cases.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many settlement visas granted on appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have been issued by UK Visas and Immigration (a) within one month, (b) between one to three months, (c) between three to six months, (d) between six to 12 months and (e) more than 12 months after that tribunal's judgement in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The information is not readily available or held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 24 February 2014, to Question 187811, when she plans to publish the revised guidance relating to procedures for dispersing and accommodating pregnant women who seek asylum in the UK.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The revised guidance will be published shortly.