Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department holds information on illegal working via the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The HO holds some information in relation to individuals who rent profiles on food delivery apps. However, we do not routinely publish the information you have requested and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has had discussions with representatives of food delivery companies on the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Government is engaging constructively with food delivery platforms, calling on them to end the use of unverified substitution. Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration and leads to the exploitation of workers.
In November 2023, the Home Office secured agreement from the firms to strengthen their recruitment and on-boarding processes, in order to prevent unchecked sharing of accounts.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/food-delivery-companies-urged-to-end-unchecked-account-sharing.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to regulate the use of rented profiles on food delivery apps.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Government is engaging constructively with food delivery platforms, calling on them to end the use of unverified substitution. Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration and leads to the exploitation of workers.
In November 2023, the Home Office secured agreement from the firms to strengthen their recruitment and on-boarding processes, in order to prevent unchecked sharing of accounts.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/food-delivery-companies-urged-to-end-unchecked-account-sharing.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusions of the Independent Review of the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, relating to protection of employment rights of migrant workers in private households, if he will (a) review and (b) reverse changes to the rules for that visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Independent Review the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, what the Government's policy is on the implementation of proposed changes in that review to the overseas domestic worker visa rules that have not yet been implemented.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department last reviewed the potential risk of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers under the overseas domestic worker visa rules.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allegations of (a) sexual assault, (b) physical assault and (c) harassment by staff have been made by detainees in detention centres in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
We operate a comprehensive complaints process in immigration removal centres, residential and non-residential short-term holding facilities (STHFs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and during escort. Complaints are managed in line with published guidance ‘Handling complaints in immigration removal centres’ - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and are recorded under predetermined categories; service complaints, minor misconduct complaints or serious misconduct complaints.
Data on the overall number of complaints received in each category is included in published data at Customer service operations data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visa applicants that used the (a) priority and (b) super priority service were (i) granted a visa and (ii) refunded due to missed deadlines in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release).
Data on visa applicants using the Priority and Super Priority services can be found in VSI_02 of the Visa and Citizenship Transparency data (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk.) The latest data relates to Q4 2023 (October to December).
Information on the number of applicants refunded due to missed deadlines is not published or held in a reportable format.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has plans to establish a fund to facilitate the (a) purchase and (b) installation of infrastructure required to commence checks as part of the EU’s Entry Exit System at juxtaposed borders; and whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer ahead of the Spring Budget on the potential merits of such a fund being established.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government continues to work with port owners and operators including the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel and Eurostar / HighSpeed1 (St Pancras) to understand the impacts of EES and support their plans to mitigate these; however, it is ultimately for EU Member States and operators to implement and fund requirements associated with EES.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) French Government and (b) European Commission on the potential merits of developing an app to streamline checks required as part of the EU Entry/Exit System at juxtaposed borders.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government engages regularly with both the European Commission and the French Government on EES implementation through both officials and ministers. We understand that the Commission are developing an EES app but it will be for individual Member States to decide when this becomes available for use.