Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the number of Afghans in Pakistan who are eligible for reunification with family members resident in the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under both the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Public data on the number of Afghans in Pakistan who are eligible to join family members already resettled under both the ARAP and ACRS is unavailable. However; the latest published statistics, summarised at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), show that, at the end of December 2023, 14,423 people have been relocated to the UK under the ARAP so far, and a further 10,520 have been relocated under ACRS.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish an updated anti-corruption strategy.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Development of a new Anti-Corruption Strategy is well underway with publication expected shortly.
The new Strategy will build on progress made in the 2017 Strategy and set out how the Government will go further to counter corruption.
The Strategy will outline steps to prevent institutions from being corrupted, bring corrupt actors to justice, address the harms caused and combat corruption internationally.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was to process an application for an exemption to the Life in the UK Test in each year since 2020.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are unable to provide this data as we do not record data relating to requests for exemption from the Life in the UK Test.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were refused an exemption to the Life in the UK Test on the basis of a long-term (a) physical and (b) mental condition in each month since January 2020.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are unable to provide this data as we do not record data relating to requests for exemption from the Life in the UK Test.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applied for an exemption to the Life in the UK Test on the basis of a long-term (a) physical and (b) mental condition in each month since January 2020.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are unable to provide this data as we do not record data relating to requests for exemption from the Life in the UK Test.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) extract Afghan citizens from Pakistan who are eligible for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We will continue to honour our commitment to bring eligible Afghans to the UK and plans are underway to relocate families as soon as possible.
Afghans in third countries including in Pakistan who are eligible for resettlement to the UK continue to be supported by the UK Government, and flights from Pakistan to the UK continue to take place. However, we are unable to provide further operational details on this.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration's report on the Afghan Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Department is considering the ICIBI's findings and recommendations.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has not discussed a date for publication with the ICIBI, but the report will be laid before Parliament as soon as the consideration has been completed.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found within their Department's estate.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place.
This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Survey work is underway.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions a request for a meeting by an hon. Member was not agreed to by (a) a Minister and (b) their office on behalf of a Minister in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This information is not centrally collated and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Ministers will regularly seek to engage with hon. Members, whilst balancing wider Ministerial and Parliamentary responsibilities.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many sewage leaks have been recorded within their Department's estate in the last twelve months.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not report the information sought to the level of granularity required.
To identify if any sewage leaks have been recorded within their Department's estate in the last twelve months, the Home Office would require to contact each building, port and airport.
This can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.