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Written Question
Speed Limits: Cameras
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that drivers are aware of the introduction of new ultra speed cameras.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government’s Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) process oversees the accuracy and reliability of vehicle speed measurement devices to ensure they meet the specified requirements.

It is up to the traffic authority, the police and other agencies to decide whether to install speed cameras and how they wish to operate them.

This is a local decision in which the Department does not become involved.


Written Question
Visas: Care Workers
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that the application process for visa renewals for care workers is efficient.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office carries out robust security and eligibility checks and each Certificate of Sponsorship is assessed to ensure there is a licensed sponsor and that the roles are valid.

Technological advances have also improved the customer journey meaning that large numbers are no longer required to attend a physical enrolment centre, plus Health and Care visas provide a more generous service standard than the wider Skilled Worker route.


Written Question
Visas: Care Workers
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the home care sector on the impact of changes to care worker visa policy.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and we will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need.


Written Question
High Rise Flats: Safety
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is for implementing (a) all outstanding recommendations and (b) the outstanding recommendations related to the safety of disabled residents in high-rise buildings in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase one report.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to delivering against the recommendations made in the Grenfell Tower Phase 1 report.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, delivering the majority of the recommendations to Government, have now come into force, and most recently we have published guidelines to the Fire and Rescue Service to support their role in evacuation, meeting a further Inquiry recommendation.

The remaining four recommendations to Government concern evacuation. Three of these are addressed in the proposals in the Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing Plus consultation, and for the fourth, concerning evacuation alert systems, this has been met for new high rise residential buildings, and the Home Office is undertaking further work regarding existing buildings, including developing an evidence base of existing evacuation alert systems.


Written Question
High Rise Flats: Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has held recent discussions with disability advocacy groups on the (a) development and (b) implementation of personal emergency evacuation plans for disabled residents.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Home Office officials have met with the Disability Rights UK, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, Deafblind UK, the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Inclusion London, the Disability Resource Centre and United Response, and have sought engagement with further advocacy groups (which was not taken up).


Written Question
High Rise Flats: Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to require building owners and managers to (a) create and (b) maintain personal emergency evacuation plans for all disabled residents in high-rise blocks.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has run two public consultations on supporting the evacuation and fire safety of vulnerable residents (which includes disabled residents) in light of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations concerning Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs).

The first consultation found substantial difficulties in mandating PEEPs in high-rise residential buildings, focussed on practicality, proportionality and safety.

The Government consulted upon a different package of measures during Summer 2022 – the Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing Plus consultation – and is now considering the responses to this, alongside the responses to its accompanying calls for evidence, and will publish a response in due course.


Written Question
Asylum: Children
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled A re-inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, published by his Department in February 2024, what steps he is taking to ensure the (a) safety and (b) welfare of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in the UK.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Since the two ICIBI inspections in 2022 and 2023, the Home Office has taken positive steps with our partners which has resulted in the closure of all 7 hotels for UAS children. The Home Office has provided details of its formal response to the recommendations and had already progressed activity linked to those recommendations prior to the hotels closing.

On both occasions of inspection, the ICIBI found that the children accommodated at the interim hotels reported they felt ‘happy and safe’ and spoke well of the staff caring for them.


Written Question
Asylum: Housing
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to address the findings of the report entitled A re-inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, published by his Department in February 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Since the two ICIBI inspections in 2022 and 2023, the Home Office has taken positive steps with our partners which has resulted in the closure of all 7 hotels for UAS children. The Home Office has provided details of its formal response to the recommendations and had already progressed activity linked to those recommendations prior to the hotels closing.

On both occasions of inspection, the ICIBI found that the children accommodated at the interim hotels reported they felt ‘happy and safe’ and spoke well of the staff caring for them.


Written Question
Sikhs: Safety
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment the Government has made of potential impact of the security situation for the Sikh community in North America on the safety of the Sikh community in the UK.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The UK Government holds the British Sikh community in the highest esteem. British Sikhs are an important and vibrant part of our society and make an enormous contribution to British life. We are firmly committed to promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief and being a strong voice internationally in defence of this fundamental right.

We are in close touch with our US and Canadian partners about the allegations they have raised. It is vital that we allow independent investigations to run their course. It would be inappropriate to comment on, or pre-determine, their conclusions at this time.

The Government continually assesses potential threats to individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety. Wherever we identify such threats, we will use all measures, including through our world leading police and intelligence services, to mitigate risk to individuals.


Written Question
Visas: Married People
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementing the proposed increase in minimum income requirements for spouse and partner visa applications.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

From 11 April 2024, we will raise the minimum income threshold for Family visas to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas. We will incrementally increase the threshold, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold is set) by early 2025.

The Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change in due course.

A fact sheet and an impact assessment can be found on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail

and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.

The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and which will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.