Asked by: Steven Bonnar (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a resettlement scheme for Palestinian refugees.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since 2015, over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This includes over 28.600 individuals resettled to the UK under our global resettlement schemes. We continue to provide the most vulnerable refugees in need of protection a route to safety directly from regions of conflict and instability through these schemes, which include the UK Resettlement Scheme, Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement scheme. This represents one of the most generous resettlement offers in the UK's history. However, the U.K. only has finite capacity. We cannot provide a safe and legal route for every conflict in the world.
There are no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region, and we are not considering establishing a separate route for Palestinians to come to the UK. Immediate family members of British citizens, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa, can apply under one of the existing family visa routes. The UK's efforts are focussed on ensuring aid reaches those who need in most. The Prime Minister announced on Monday 23 October that the UK will provide a further £20 million of humanitarian aid for civilians. This latest funding is in addition to the £10 million of aid announced by the Prime Minister last week.
Asked by: Steven Bonnar (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Home Office:
If she will take steps with the Secretary of State for Justice to develop an overarching national strategy to improve the outcomes for neurodivergent people in the criminal justice system.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice on the development of a national strategy to improve outcomes for neurodivergent people in the criminal justice system (CJS).
The recent Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report on neurodiversity in the CJS is welcome. I look forward to discussing this with the new Secretary of State for Justice.
Asked by: Steven Bonnar (Scottish National Party - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Home Office:
What steps she is taking to meet the UK’s international obligations on refugees and asylum seekers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those in need. Since 2015, we have resettled more than 25,000 people – more than any other EU country – and we have a new global UK Resettlement Scheme running.
The Nationality and Borders Bill, which was introduced last week, will fix the broken asylum system in the UK and ensure that access to the UK’s asylum system is based on need, not on the ability to pay people smugglers