Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to support Palestinian refugees seeking to enter the UK as a result of recent violence in Gaza.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We remain deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working closely with UN agencies and others to respond to ongoing needs in Gaza, including supporting up to 1 million Gazans by addressing critical water and sanitation needs through UNICEF. The UK is also a long-term supporter of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which provides basic services to 1.3 million people in Gaza, including basic health care.
There are safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work or study. They would need to meet the requirements of the relevant Immigration Rule under which they were applying to qualify for a visa. Details about the criteria and how to apply are available on the GOV.UK website at: http://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa.
However, there are no specific provisions in the Immigration Rules for people to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum. Those who need international protection should claim in the first safe country they reach or register with mandated UN agencies – that is the fastest route to safety.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which funding authority is responsible for the installation of (a) rising bollards and (b) other such permanent road furniture designed to prevent terrorist attacks; and what assessment she has made of the potential benefits of establishing a central fund for such installations.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Government provides high quality advice and guidance to the owners and operators of major crowded places through police Counter Terrorism Security Advisors.
The costs of protective security measures such as rising bollards or other permanent street furniture, as part of security capabilities installed at a given location fall to the owner, operator or responsible authority under the user pays principle. We will consider as part of the review of Government’s Counter Terrorism Strategy, CONTEST, where it would be appropriate to revise existing approaches.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 adding child and adolescent psychiatrists to the Shortage Occupation List.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) advises the Government on changes to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The MAC has determined that a number of medical professionals, including all nurses, paramedics and various doctors, including posts in emergency medicine, clinical radiology and old age psychiatry, are in national shortage and they appear on the published SOL in Appendix K of the Immigration Rules.
The SOL sits under Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers. Applications for jobs on the SOL receive the highest priority – and the highest number of points – when allocating a Tier 2 (General) place.
The SOL is kept under regular review, with the most recent changes made to it last April.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of refugee families which are reunited in the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The UK immigration rules have a comprehensive framework for refugees and their families to be safely reunited in the UK. Our family reunion policy allows immediate family members of those granted protection here to reunite with them. The Immigration Rules also provide for relatives with protection in the UK to sponsor children in serious and compelling circumstances. The Mandate resettlement scheme also allows those recognised by the UNCHR as refugees to join close family members here in the UK.
In addition, there is provision in the policy to grant visas outside the Rules in exceptional circumstances, which caters for extended family members who otherwise do not qualify under the Rules.
Over the last five years there have been 24,700 family reunion visas issued – and this is in addition to the numbers granted asylum here or resettled here under our resettlement schemes.
We issued revised policy guidance on considering family reunion applications in July 2016, and we need to ensure that this policy and our existing resettlement schemes are used to full effect to benefit family members living in regions of conflict and fleeing persecution.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tier 2 visa applications sponsored by the NHS for NHS child and adolescent psychiatrists were turned down in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information you have requested is not included in statistics published by the Home Office.
Information on the total number of Tier 2 refusals can be found here:
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to extend to children recognised as refugees the same family reunion rights granted to adults.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We already have a comprehensive framework for refugees and their families to be safely reunited in the UK. Our refugee family reunion policy allows immediate family members of those granted protection in the UK to reunite with them here. The family provisions in the immigration rules also provide for relatives with protection in the UK to sponsor children when there are serious and compelling circumstances.
Our policy is also clear that where an application fails under the rules, we will consider whether there are exceptional reasons to grant leave outside the rules. In addition, refugees with family members in the UK may be eligible for resettlement under the Mandate and Gateway Schemes.
This policy is designed to provide a safe and legal route for close, dependent family members to join their refugee family in the UK. However, we must not create incentives for families to send children on dangerous journeys, often in the hands of criminals, rather than seek protection in the first safe country they reach.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 adding child and adolescent psychiatrists to the Shortage Occupation List.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) advises the Government on changes to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The MAC has determined that a number of medical professionals, including all nurses, paramedics and various doctors, including posts in emergency medicine, clinical radiology and old age psychiatry, are in national shortage and they appear on the published SOL in Appendix K of the Immigration Rules.
The SOL sits under Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers. Applications for jobs on the SOL receive the highest priority – and the highest number of points – when allocating a Tier 2 (General) place.
The SOL is kept under regular review, with the most recent changes made to it last April.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support people with a family history that is (a) unclear and (b) unknown to verify their UK citizenship.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UK Visas and Citizenship have two application types which allow those with unclear/unknown family histories to obtain definite evidence of their status.
These are:
A ‘Status letter’ application, made on Form NS – for those who believe they may have a claim to British nationality but who do not have the normal evidence required to prove this. The Form and Guidance are on the GOV.UK website here:
An application for a ‘No Time Limit’ card, made on Form NTL – which can be used by those who entered the UK before 1 January 1973 and have no evidence of settled status. The Form and Guidance are here:
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of security of open spaces in cities against terrorist attacks using vehicles.
Answered by Ben Wallace
Following recent attacks in Europe and the UK, National Counter Terrorism Policing continues to review the security position of crowded places, open spaces and events.This has led to the deployment of appropriate security measures including hostile vehicle mitigation on a number of bridges and in some town centres, as well as a range of operational police deployments.
The police plan for events in open spaces, such as upcoming Christmas markets, is undertaken against the current threat level which is SEVERE - an attack is highly likely. Proportionate security measures are developed to protect the public in conjunction with the event operators and other responsible bodies.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will grant the same additional support for English language learning recently made available for refugees resettled to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme to all refugees.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to ensuring that refugees in the UK are able to integrate and recognises that English language skills are key to this.
Specific provision for English Language tuition has been built into the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme in recognition of the vulnerability and particular needs of the refugees who arrive through these routes.
Not all those granted refugee status in the UK are new to the country or require English language support. However, all refugees are eligible for English language training and can attend ESOL classes and English language training made available under Education and Skills Funding Agency provision. Refugees are also able to access English language training following referral by JobCentre Plus.