Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the reliability of her Department's chosen courier service and (b) reports from applicants of the loss of confidential documentation in transit to and from her Department's offices.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
British passports, Biometric Residence Permits, and Home Office Travel Documents are delivered under HM Passport Office’s UK secure delivery contract.
HM Passport Office works closely with all of its suppliers to ensure that services are delivered in line with our robust contractual demands; ensuring that any issues are resolved as quickly as possible. Reports of any loss are fully investigated and inform security reviews.
In response to some pressures within the UK delivery network, which peaked in late-November 2021, HM Passport Office has worked with its delivery partner to identify the solutions that have helped this service to meet the required performance targets.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason courier tracking numbers for delivery of confidential personal documentation are not routinely provided by her Department to applicants.
Answered by Kevin Foster
For delivery of British passports, Biometric Residence Permits, and Home Office Travel Documents, tracking numbers, and a link to the online tracker, are provided to customers directly by the UK Secure Delivery provider.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on building a pipeline of talent for the accessibility profession by using existing successful and emerging career development programmes to tackle the skills shortage.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
In October 2021, the Home Office welcomed it’s first emerging talent role to our well-established accessibility team. The role is a pilot project to understand the support, training and mentoring required for new entrants into the accessibility profession. Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy, the Department for Education has approved a new Digital Accessibility Specialist apprenticeship route (https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/digital-accessibility-specialist-v1-0).
Home Office Officials are working with other government departments to identify opportunities for adoption of this apprenticeship as the foundation of a talent pipeline for the future. The department is also involved in a cross-industry group discussing the ongoing development of this apprenticeship.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on improving how digital products and services are procured (a) by the government and (b) across the public sector as a whole.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Home Office officials have been working within the department to identify and trial improvements to how digital products and services are procured in order to recommend future cross government and cross public sector improvements.
This has included model contract language, guidance for buyers and improved accessibility involvement in some procurement activity. We expect that throughout the next financial year we’ll begin work with the Crown Commercial Service to identify improvements through it’s frameworks and processes to improve the accessibility of procurement.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on defining a cross-government accessibility profession.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Home Office Officials are working in collaboration with Officials from the Cabinet Office’s Central Digital, Data and Technology office (CDDO) and other government departments to gather and build the evidence and business case for a digital accessibility career path within the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) profession. An outline proposal has been submitted to the CDDO’s Profession Management function for consideration and officials are due to meet in the coming weeks to discuss the proposals.
In the meantime, work has begun to scope the roles and supporting framework in anticipation of approval. This work will build on the work already done to establish a roles framework for digital accessibility professionals at the Home Office.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what progress her Department has made towards a review into the protections and support available to adults abused in their own homes by people providing their care.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Home Office is working jointly with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to lead and deliver the review. The government is committed to ensuring people receive quality care with positive outcomes, which includes preventing and addressing any instances of abuse or exploitation by the people providing that care, in this case in their homes, a place where adults should feel safe.
The government is analysing the existing protections for adults abused in their own homes by people providing their care, and the support available to victims of such abuse. The review team are engaging with a range of stakeholders, collecting inputs from across-Government and particularly from those groups representing deaf and disabled people and carers to understand their lived experiences.
The review will be completed later this year and Parliament will be updated as it progresses.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Government Liaison Officers are still assigned to bridging hotels for Afghan refugees; and if she will provide to the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford the contact details for the officer based at the Holiday Inn, Stoke.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We can confirm that Hotel Liaison Officers (HOLOs) continue to provide ongoing support and advice to those residing in all of our Bridging Hotel Accommodation.
The role of the HOLO is to provide both face to face support and remote support when not physically present, they are reactive to the needs of those accommodated in hotels.
We have provided the details of the Hotel Liaison Officer for Stoke directly to the Member for Lewisham, Deptford.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter dated 22 September 2021 from the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford, regarding a constituent who was recently evacuated from Afghanistan with their family.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Minister for Afghan Resettlement has now issued a response.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support she has made available to (a) Lewisham Donation Hub, (b) Little Village and (c) other voluntary organisations who are supporting the distribution of medication, nappies, baby formula and other vital supplies to destitute refugee families from Afghanistan recently arrived in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Under Operation Warm Welcome, we are taking a cross-government approach to ensuring Afghans arriving in the UK are able to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate within their local communities.
The challenge of integrating such a large number of people at pace and supporting them to rebuild their lives in safety cannot be met by central government and local government alone. We will be actively working with the private, voluntary and community sectors to harness a whole society effort to address this challenge.
As part of this, we are creating a portal where people, organisations and businesses can register offers of support. This could include volunteering, offers of employment, or to provide professional skills pro bono, including helping those arriving deal with trauma, or offering donations of mobile phones, mobile credit or data, laptops, access to training, clothes and toys. This will complement the Afghanistan housing portal which has been set up to collect offers of additional housing support.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the adequacy and effectiveness of Operation Warm Welcome.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Operation Warm Welcome is the cross-Government programme of work for those we have relocated and resettled from Afghanistan.
It will ensure that all those relocated to the UK can access the vital healthcare, housing, education and support into employment they need to fully integrate into our society, including English language training for those who need it.
As part of Operation Warm Welcome, the Home Office are giving indefinite leave to remain to all those being relocated under ARAP and the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme. We continue to work with local authorities to source appropriate accommodation as quickly as possible for families already in the UK, with more housing being pledged every week and I urge every council across the country to contribute to this national effort.