Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the existing rights for individuals holding British Overseas Citizen status.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
British overseas citizens (BOCs) are subject to UK immigration control, but are eligible for British passports and other consular services.
Many BOCs will have rights, including of residence and travel, that stem from the other nationalities that they hold. BOCs who do not hold, and have not voluntarily lost, any other nationality are able to apply to register as British citizens under section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981. BOCs are also able to apply to register as British citizens after 5 years of living in the UK, and meeting certain residence requirements under section 4(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the roll-out of Electronic Travel Authorisation requirements on (a) processing times for non-UK based passengers transiting through airports in the UK and (b) queuing times.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme was launched to secure our borders and make the UK safer, by enhancing our ability to screen travellers upstream. The scheme will apply to passengers from eligible countries who are transiting the UK. ETAs form part of our long-term plan for a slicker, more efficient border, with a greater number of passengers able to benefit from automation at the border, enabling our highly skilled Border Force officers to focus on those who pose the most harm or are at the most risk.
We continue to engage positively with industry, and support the aviation sector in understanding what ETAs and wider digitisation will mean for passengers.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the roll-out of Electronic Travel Authorisation requirements for non-UK passengers transiting through UK airports on (a) passenger experience and (b) the UK aviation industry.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme was launched to secure our borders and make the UK safer, by enhancing our ability to screen travellers upstream. The scheme will apply to passengers from eligible countries who are transiting the UK. ETAs form part of our long-term plan for a slicker, more efficient border, with a greater number of passengers able to benefit from automation at the border, enabling our highly skilled Border Force officers to focus on those who pose the most harm or are at the most risk.
We continue to engage positively with industry, and support the aviation sector in understanding what ETAs and wider digitisation will mean for passengers.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people hold British Overseas Citizen status.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office does not hold data on the number of people who hold a British Overseas Citizenship status.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral statement of 12 March 2024 on Update on foreign national offenders, prisons and probation, in what roles the 400 additional caseworkers were previously working.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The additional caseworkers referenced in the oral statement of Secretary of State for Justice on 12 March 2024 are Home Office staff.
The 400 additional caseworkers are external recruits and were not transferred from other roles.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders who were removed from the UK were imprisoned for (a) sexual offences, (b) homicide and (c) assault in each year since 2019.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The information requested about how many foreign national offenders (FNOs) were removed from the UK following convictions for (a) sexual offences, (b) homicide and (c) assault is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish information on a quarterly bases on FNO returns and this can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Our priority will always be to keep the British public safe. That is why foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. Between January 2019 and September 2023, more than 16,000 FNOs have been removed from the UK.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders were removed from the UK with more than 12 months remaining on their sentence under the Early Removal Scheme in 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The information requested about how many foreign national offenders (FNO)s removed from the UK with more than 12 months remaining on their sentence under the Early Removal Scheme in 2023 is currently not available from published statistics.
Information on the number of FNOs that were returned from the UK under the Early Removal Scheme is available from Table FNO_09 in Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest data is published to June 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to the letter sent by the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth to the Minister for Immigration on 7 November 2023 regarding a visa application.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office replied on 20 November 2023 under reference MPAM/1043109/23.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Migration Advisory Committee on the number of visas issued to people working as laundry (a) workers, (b) engineers and (c) production managers and supervisors.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government engages regularly with the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) when developing its immigration policies, including on its most recent review of the Shortage Occupation List.
Further details on the number of visas issued for eligible occupations under the UK immigration system can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/why-do-people-come-to-the-uk-to-work.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was provided to Blue Blight Commercial as part of Operation Safeguard.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
BlueLight Commercial is company that is owned by the policing sector. It was set up to provide commercial expertise and assistance to policing and assist forces in identifying and making efficiency savings.
The Government have not provided specific funding to BlueLight Commercial for their work on Operation Safeguard. BlueLight Commercial have direct arrangements with the policing sector to cover administrative costs they have incurred for the work they have delivered.