Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
No ministerial red boxes have been reported lost or missing in the last three years.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any refurbishments have been made to ministerial offices in his Department in each of the last two years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
No refurbishments were made in Ministerial Offices in the Home Office in the last 2 years.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many settlement payments his Department issued following claims of (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) discrimination in the (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22 and (iv) 2022-23 financial years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Owing to the low number of settlements and the risk of identification, the Home Office cannot provide this information without breaching data protection regulations.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the most recent figures for the number of refugees who have been assessed as homeless after being ordered to leave asylum support and housing to find their own accommodation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home office does not hold the information you have requested. All individuals who receive a positive decision on their asylum claim are eligible to receive support and accommodation for at least 28 days from when their decision is served.
We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation in doing this. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing. Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them.
We work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures. Our accommodation providers are directly working with local authorities to notify them when an individual is due to have their asylum support ended.
We are working with our partners, including local authorities, to provide timely notification of key events that impact them. We are working with our SMP to facilitate regional sessions with councils and to share data.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many administrative reviews take over 12 months; and what is the average length of such reviews.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Information on administrative review processing times is not held centrally and is not currently captured in a publishable form.
Current timescales for processing administrative review applications are set out at Ask for a visa administrative review: If you're in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab), which states: “Currently, it can take 6 months or more to receive the result of the administrative review. If you haven’t had a decision on your application within 6 months, the Home Office will contact you with an update.”
For EUSS administrative review applications the current timescales are set out at: EU Settlement Scheme: apply for an administrative review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab), which states: “We have experienced unprecedented levels of applications which is causing a delay to our usual service. It can take 18 months or more to receive the result of your administrative review. If we have not been able to decide your application within 6 months, we’ll contact you to update you on the situation”.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on press and public relations in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Communications spend is set out in the annual report HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It is not possible to isolate spend on press and public relations.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of waiving the cost of passport renewal in the event that renewal is required as a result of a passport having been damaged by a (a) UK and (b) foreign border control agent.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The circumstances where a passport fee may be waived are set out in the Passport (Fees) Regulations 2022. Further waivers to the passport fee would result in a reduction in income for covering the costs of administering a passport application, which may result in an increase in other passport fees or an increase to the burden upon the taxpayer.
In the circumstances where a passport has been damaged when being used for processing at a country’s border, His Majesty’s Passport Office would advise the holder to follow the complaints process of the relevant border agency.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of passports being damaged by foreign border control agents have been reported to his Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Where a passport is declared as damaged as part of an application to replace a British passport, His Majesty’s Passport Office does not require information to be provided as to the cause of the damage for the application to progress.
Should a customer choose to inform HM Passport Office of the cause of damage to their passport and the information be recorded, the data is not held in a reportable format and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to take steps with Cabinet colleagues to prevent purchases of laser pens by people under the age of 18.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The are no current plans to introduce such legislation.
The Laser Misuse (Vehicles) Act 2018 sets out that it is an offence to shine or direct a laser beam towards a moving vehicle or a vehicle about to move.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will recall all licences for companies to carry out animal testing.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
This Government recognises that scientific research using animals plays a vital part in our understanding of how biological systems work in health and disease. The use of animals in science supports the development of new medicines and cutting-edge medical technologies, for humans and animals, as well as supporting the safety and sustainability of our environment.
The Government is also clear that animals must be protected. The legal framework in the UK requires that animals are only ever used in science where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.
The Government has no plans to ban all animal testing but is committed to fully implementing the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement), and promoting non-animal alternatives wherever possible.