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Written Question
Members: Telephone Services
Monday 22nd January 2024

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether calls to his Department's MP Enquiry line team have been outsourced.

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

Calls to the MP Enquiry Line have not been outsourced. MP Enquiry Line call agents are Home Office staff.


Written Question
Wholesale Trade: Crime
Thursday 30th November 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the Federation of Wholesale Distributors on trends in the level of crime affecting the wholesale sector.

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

The Government is concerned about recent increases in crime affecting the retail and wholesale sector, including organised theft. We take this very seriously and are committed to tackling it.

I recently met the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, as part of a meeting with senior policing leads and representatives of the retail sector, to discuss shoplifting and retail crime and action we have taken.. Home Office officials are also taking forward further discussions with the Federation of Wholesale Distributors about the crime affecting them specifically.

On the 23 October, the National Police Chiefs Council published a Retail Crime Action Plan, which includes a commitment to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database using facial recognition technology to further aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.

The 23 October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership that will radically improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders. This will include development of a new information sharing platform and training for retailers.


Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of compensation payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme to people experiencing psychological trauma resulting from discrimination because they could not prove their right to stay in the UK.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Windrush Compensation Scheme is designed to compensate members of the Windrush generation and their families for the losses and impacts they have suffered because they were unable to demonstrate their lawful immigration status.

The scheme acts as a single gateway for compensation in fourteen categories covering a broad range of impacts, including denial of access to services and a deterioration in mental or physical health. There is no cap on the amount of compensation we will pay. This is in recognition of the wide-reaching ways people have been affected.

Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected individuals and stakeholders about the scheme, expanding and amending it as our understanding of the way people have been affected has improved. In August 2022 we expanded the homelessness category and introduced a completely new ‘Living Costs’ category for close family members.

Compensation payments are made as quickly as possible. Decision makers draw upon all the evidence that has been provided and gathered, to make a holistic assessment of the effect on an individual’s life. Each person’s claim is deeply personal and requires careful and detailed consideration to understand their individual circumstances and experiences. All claims are processed with the utmost care and sensitivity.


Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of compensation payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme for people who experienced discrimination from public services because they could not prove their right to stay in the UK.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Windrush Compensation Scheme is designed to compensate members of the Windrush generation and their families for the losses and impacts they have suffered because they were unable to demonstrate their lawful immigration status.

The scheme acts as a single gateway for compensation in fourteen categories covering a broad range of impacts, including denial of access to services and a deterioration in mental or physical health. There is no cap on the amount of compensation we will pay. This is in recognition of the wide-reaching ways people have been affected.

Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected individuals and stakeholders about the scheme, expanding and amending it as our understanding of the way people have been affected has improved. In August 2022 we expanded the homelessness category and introduced a completely new ‘Living Costs’ category for close family members.

Compensation payments are made as quickly as possible. Decision makers draw upon all the evidence that has been provided and gathered, to make a holistic assessment of the effect on an individual’s life. Each person’s claim is deeply personal and requires careful and detailed consideration to understand their individual circumstances and experiences. All claims are processed with the utmost care and sensitivity.


Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme: Veterans
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of compensation payments made under the Windrush scheme to former armed forces personnel.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Windrush Compensation Scheme is designed to compensate members of the Windrush generation and their families for the losses and impacts they have suffered because they were unable to demonstrate their lawful immigration status.

The scheme acts as a single gateway for compensation in fourteen categories covering a broad range of impacts, including denial of access to services and a deterioration in mental or physical health. There is no cap on the amount of compensation we will pay. This is in recognition of the wide-reaching ways people have been affected.

Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected individuals and stakeholders about the scheme, expanding and amending it as our understanding of the way people have been affected has improved. In August 2022 we expanded the homelessness category and introduced a completely new ‘Living Costs’ category for close family members.

Compensation payments are made as quickly as possible. Decision makers draw upon all the evidence that has been provided and gathered, to make a holistic assessment of the effect on an individual’s life. Each person’s claim is deeply personal and requires careful and detailed consideration to understand their individual circumstances and experiences. All claims are processed with the utmost care and sensitivity.


Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme: Reform
Monday 26th June 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of the report entitled Reforming the Windrush Compensation Scheme published by Justice in 2021.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The victims of the Windrush scandal suffered terrible injustices, and this Government remains steadfast in our commitment to do everything in our power to right the wrongs. We are determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled. We are making significant progress towards achieving this aim, and we have now paid or offered more than £72.5 million in compensation.

Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected communities and stakeholders about how the Scheme operates and its accessibility. The changes we made to the Scheme in December 2020 and August 2022, mean people receive significantly more money more quickly. Last year we published redesigned claim forms and refreshed casework guidance, with the aim of reducing the time taken to process claims and improving individuals’ experiences of applying to the Scheme. We also made changes to the Homelessness category and created a new category, ‘Living Costs’, to compensate close family members for certain contributions to a primary claimant’s living costs. These significant and positive policy changes were made following consultation with claimants and stakeholders.


Written Question
Windrush Generation
Thursday 22nd June 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allocate additional funds to the Windrush Compensation Scheme; and if she will make a statement to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush in Britain.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Scheme has reached its public commitment of deploying 154 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Executive Office (EO) Decision Makers by Quarter 2 2023. The Scheme also continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who leave.

As set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have also been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making; these staff are in addition to meeting the public commitment to post 154 substantive EO decision makers recruited.

Regarding allocating additional funds to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, there is no cap on the amount of compensation the Scheme will pay out. The Government is determined to right the wrongs for affected members of the Windrush generation and will ensure that all funding requirements are met.


Written Question
Windrush Compensation Scheme
Thursday 22nd June 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to increase the number of full time equivalent staff working on processing Windrush Compensation Scheme claims.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Scheme has reached its public commitment of deploying 154 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Executive Office (EO) Decision Makers by Quarter 2 2023. The Scheme also continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who leave.

As set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have also been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making; these staff are in addition to meeting the public commitment to post 154 substantive EO decision makers recruited.

Regarding allocating additional funds to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, there is no cap on the amount of compensation the Scheme will pay out. The Government is determined to right the wrongs for affected members of the Windrush generation and will ensure that all funding requirements are met.


Written Question
Entry Clearances: Applications
Monday 12th June 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for Entry Clearance applications submitted on the basis of family reunion from (a) Syrian, (b) Afghan and (c) Ukrainian refugees.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Information regarding processing times and nationality of applicants is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

We prioritise all applications where the application has been made by an unaccompanied child, under the age of 18. We will also prioritise applications where there is an evidenced urgent or compelling reason.


Written Question
Asylum: Applications
Monday 22nd May 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on reducing the backlog of asylum applications.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

We are streamlining and modernising the end-to-end asylum casework process, extending the asylum questionnaire to Iranians and Iraqi nationals, and increasing the number of asylum decision makers by over 48% since July 2022.

The Home Office has already reduced the legacy asylum backlog by over 13,800 cases and we are on track to clear the backlog by the end of 2023.