Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what options are available to people applying for a Schengen visa who do not have access to their e-Visa due to technical issues.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is important for all who are travelling to check the entry, exit and transit requirements of other countries, and they may be asked to show evidence of their UK immigration status to authorities in the country they are travelling to. It is a matter for individual countries to set their own policies on what evidence they will accept but we have extensively engaged with them, through FCDO, about what the transition to eVisas mean, and continue to do so. People should check what an individual country’s requirements are before travelling or applying for a visa.
We have advised other countries that there are multiple evidence sources that they may consider accepting as proof of a person’s UK immigration status, including:
As a temporary measure, to reassure people that they will be able
to travel without any issue during the transition period, we will allow carriers such as airlines to accept a BRP or BRC which expires on or after 31 December 2024 as valid evidence of permission to travel, provisionally until 31 March 2025. This will be kept under review. They should also keep their expired BRP as it may be helpful for future applications to stay in the UK. People can use their expired BRP to create their UKVI account and access their eVisa.
We are actively resolving any technical issues as and when they arise. If anyone does have issues accessing their eVisa or UKVI account and they need to prove their UK immigration status when applying for a Schengen visa, there are several options available to them. They should check that their eVisa is correct here: Check your eVisa is correct before you travel - GOV.UK and if not, they can report an error with their eVisa using the ‘Report an error with your eVisa - GOV.UK webform. Alternatively, they can contact the UKVI Resolution Centre for assistance with technical issues related to their online immigration status, and where necessary, to verify their status through alternative means if needed.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2023 to Question 2844 on Animal Experiments: Cosmetics, whether animal testing of chemicals used exclusively as cosmetics ingredients is being conducted in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The regulation of animals in science under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is a transferred matter under the Northern Ireland devolution settlement.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to revoke licences for testing cosmetics ingredients on animals issued between 2019 and 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Home Secretary’s written statement of 17 May 2023 announced a ban on new licences for animal testing of chemicals used exclusively as cosmetics ingredients, carried out under chemicals (REACH) regulations for the purpose of worker and environmental safety.
The Home Office has completed its review of existing ‘legacy’ licences and has engaged with the relevant companies. I can confirm that, in Great Britain, no animal testing is being conducted, nor will any testing be authorised, of chemicals that are exclusively intended to be used as ingredients in cosmetics products.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure that police forces have the resources to tackle illegal dog fighting.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office remains committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need. However, it is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience, including how to allocate resources.
The police now have record ever numbers across England & Wales, and that Police funding is £550m higher this year than last year.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to revoke existing licences for testing cosmetics ingredients on animals issued between 2019 and 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Government is engaging with the relevant companies to urgently determine a way forward on legacy licences.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of how many (a) outstanding asylum claims there are from people in and (b) refugees there are in Bolton South East constituency as of 30 March 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The requested information is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Whilst the Home Office holds information on the addresses of asylum claimants and those seeking further leave to remain, the number residing in Bolton South East constituency as of 30 March 2023 is not held in a reportable format and would require a manual search through individual records.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what impact assessments her Department has conducted in relation to data protection measures and the Prevent duty; and whether her Department requires external agencies to conduct assessments in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 in relation to them adhering to that Duty.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
To protect individuals against radicalisation, information may need to be shared with other statutory partners, such as the local authority or police. The Prevent duty guidance makes it clear that this must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The Home Office has policies and procedures in place to ensure impacts are thoroughly considered on a case-by-case basis, undertaking its statutory duties including Equality Impact Assessments and Data Protection Impact Assessments. The majority of Home Office data is processed under Part 2, General Processing, of the Data Protection Act 2018; however, this can vary.
The Prevent duty training offer has recently been updated and is available on gov.uk. Information sharing principles and data protection form a key element of the training courses. This also includes a good practice video and links to other government resources for further advice. Data protection will also feature in our new training offer that will replace the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent. This is currently in development.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether data protection is covered in her Department's training on the Prevent Duty as part of its Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
To protect individuals against radicalisation, information may need to be shared with other statutory partners, such as the local authority or police. The Prevent duty guidance makes it clear that this must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The Home Office has policies and procedures in place to ensure impacts are thoroughly considered on a case-by-case basis, undertaking its statutory duties including Equality Impact Assessments and Data Protection Impact Assessments. The majority of Home Office data is processed under Part 2, General Processing, of the Data Protection Act 2018; however, this can vary.
The Prevent duty training offer has recently been updated and is available on gov.uk. Information sharing principles and data protection form a key element of the training courses. This also includes a good practice video and links to other government resources for further advice. Data protection will also feature in our new training offer that will replace the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent. This is currently in development.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her Department's policy to ban animal testing where it causes animals severe suffering; and whether she is taking steps to promote New Approach Methodologies to replace animal testing.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The use of animals in science supports the development of new medicines and the safety of our environment, for the benefit of humans and animals.
The Home Office assures appropriate protection of the use of animals in science through licensing and compliance assurance under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This legal framework, implemented by the Home Office Regulator, requires that animals are only ever used in science where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.
The Government actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of the 3Rs. This is achieved through funding UK Research and Investment who fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the average spending, per head, on police in (a) Bolton South East constituency, (b) the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, (c) the North West and (d) England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold figures below the level of Police Force Area.
On the 2nd February 2022, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £16.9 billion in 2022/23, an increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to 2021/22.
Lancashire’s funding will be up to £343.7m in 2022/23, an increase of up to £17.9m when compared to 2021/22.
Operational decisions, including those on local priorities, remain the responsibility of Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioner’s.
We recognise that the current police funding formula is out of date and no longer accurately reflects demand on policing. We are committed to introducing a new formula that fairly and transparently distributes the circa £8.6bn of annual core grant funding to the 43 police forces in England and Wales.