Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her answer of 12 September 2024 to Question 4167 on Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority: Staff, how many in-person inspections were carried out by GLAA officers on farms in Scotland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The GLAA has conducted, at minimum, the following number of inspections on farms in Scotland over the last 5 years:
These figures include compliance and enforcement inspections, as well as joint inspections with other enforcement bodies, such as UKVI.
In England and Wales, the GLAA has responsibilities to investigate reports of Modern Slavery. In Scotland, the primacy for this lies with Police Scotland but the GLAA support this activity to target, dismantle and disrupt serious and organised crime.
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 she plans to review the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
As the Hon Member will be aware the Migration Advisory Committee published a Review of the Seasonal Worker Visa on 16 July.
The Government will carefully consider the MAC’s recommendations and will provide a detailed response in due course.
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 (a) average and (b) longest waiting times were for processing applications for certificates of sponsorship for skilled workers in each month from November 2023 to April 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on these matters; however, we have recently deployed an IT change which introduces a new compulsory field for required mandatory information which enables defined certificate of sponsorship applications to move more expediently through the system.
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 he has made an assessment of the potential cost to businesses of the reforms to skilled worker visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
As set out in the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Statement of Changes, laid on 14 March (HC 590), qualitative details on the impact of these changes on the welfare of the UK resident population, as well as quantitative impacts on business, charities, voluntary bodies and the public sector, have been considered.
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
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 - Shadow Minister (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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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.