Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions the Government had with Violence Against Women and Girls charities and organisations on the decision to separate its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy from the Domestic Abuse Strategy.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Addressing Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) remains a key priority of this Government. We are committed to fighting VAWG crimes, of which domestic abuse is a high-harm and high-volume subset.
Our aim in having two strategies is for twice as much focus on these crimes. allowing space, within the VAWG strategy, for consideration of other evolving or less understood crimes, such as those perpetrated through digital or online means. The approach does not separate domestic abuse out from the umbrella term of VAWG, but allows a dedicated focus on it.
The two strategies will be complementary and work together to drive down VAWG crimes and their impact on society and will put victims and survivors at the heart of our response.
We meet regularly with organisations that support survivors to discuss our approach to the VAWG and DA strategies, and will continue to engage with women’s, girls’ and victims’ organisations on this important work, including several sector-wide sessions in the last few months, individual calls with leading VAWG organisations, and participation in the Domestic Abuse Commissioners regular sector calls.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle recent trends in the level of disability hate crimes in England and Wales.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Hate crime is completely unacceptable, and this Government takes it very seriously. That is why the Government published the Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016 and refreshed it in October 2018.
The Action Plan established a public awareness campaign which included examples of disability hate crime to make clear that such acts are completely unacceptable, held two ministerial meetings with disability groups and social media companies to help tackle online abuse of disabled people and provided £193,000 in funding for community projects that directly tackled disability hate crime.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for which foreign states the College of Policing provided training courses in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20; and what the subject of each of those training courses was.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This is a matter for the College of Policing, but I can confirm that it does provide bespoke training packages to international partners.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing flexibility on when and where overseas students can (a) apply for their visa to study in the UK and (b) take their English language tests.
Answered by Kevin Foster
From October students will be able to apply for a visa up to six months in advance of the course start date listed on their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies. This is an extension on the current period of three months.
Students who require a Secure English Language Test (SELT) must obtain a SELT from an approved provider. A SELT test can be obtained from any of the test centres listed in the below list of approved test centres:-https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-applying-for-uk-visa-approved-english-language-tests
Higher Education Providers (HEP) with a track record of compliance are able to self-assess the English ability of their students at degree level or above. As part of the Covid-19 concessions, we extended this to also permit HEPs to self-assess the English ability of students on pre-sessional courses.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending flexibilities on English language tests to students on pre-degree further education courses to encourage student visa applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
From October students will be able to apply for a visa up to six months in advance of the course start date listed on their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies. This is an extension on the current period of three months.
Students who require a Secure English Language Test (SELT) must obtain a SELT from an approved provider. A SELT test can be obtained from any of the test centres listed in the below list of approved test centres:-https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-applying-for-uk-visa-approved-english-language-tests
Higher Education Providers (HEP) with a track record of compliance are able to self-assess the English ability of their students at degree level or above. As part of the Covid-19 concessions, we extended this to also permit HEPs to self-assess the English ability of students on pre-sessional courses.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of instances of (a) hate crime, (b) serious violence and (c) malicious communications directed at BAME LGBTQ+ youth in the last 12 months.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of hate crime offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including a breakdown of those motivated by hatred of the racial, sexual orientation or transgender background of victims. The latest ‘Hate Crime, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2018-to-2019
However, from the information we hold it is not possible to identify the number of instances of hate crime, serious violence or malicious communications directed specifically at BAME LGBTQ+ youth or trans youth.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of instances of (a) hate crime, (b) serious violence and (c) malicious communications directed at trans youth in the last 12 months.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of hate crime offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including a breakdown of those motivated by hatred of the racial, sexual orientation or transgender background of victims. The latest ‘Hate Crime, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2018-to-2019
However, from the information we hold it is not possible to identify the number of instances of hate crime, serious violence or malicious communications directed specifically at BAME LGBTQ+ youth or trans youth.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on ensuring the effective recruitment of care workers from EU and non-EU countries to meet demand in the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In December 2018, the Government set out its proposals in “the UK’s future Skills-based Immigration System” White Paper. The White Paper proposals include a new route for skilled workers which will be open to anyone at RQF level 3 and above, irrespective of where they are applying from. This route will not be capped allowing all of those who meet our requirements to come to the UK.
The White Paper also includes a transitional route for temporary workers which will be open to anyone from qualifying countries, wishing to fill posi-tions at any skill level, for up to 12 months. We do not intend to impose a cap on the number of people wishing to use the route.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to extend the the salary exemption for international nurses under the Tier 2 visa process to citizens of the EEA in the event of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We have been clear that we want all EU nationals, including those working in the NHS and the care sector, to stay in the UK after we leave the EU.
In their report, EEA migration in the UK, the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended maintaining the existing system of salary thresholds.
The Government has been clear that we will undertake an extensive programme of engagement with a wide range of stakeholders across the UK, including with the private, public and voluntary sector and local government, as well as industry representatives and individual businesses before taking a final decision on the level of salary thresholds.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
What assessment his Department has made of the effect on low-paid workers of the minimum income requirements for non-EEA residents to bring family members to the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The level of the minimum income threshold was set after considering advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. The Supreme Court has endorsed the lawfulness of this approach and agrees that the minimum income requirement strikes a fair balance between the interests of UK citizens wishing to sponsor a non-EEA spouse and of the community in general.