Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 5 December (HL Deb col 1464), whether the family test was applied before the decision was made to raise the minimum income threshold for family visas to £38,700; and if so, whether they will now publish the outcome; or if it was not applied, why.

The Family Test (The Family Test - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ) helps ensure that the impacts on family relationships and functioning, both positive and negative, are recognised in the process of policy development, and helps inform the policy decisions made by Ministers. Whilst there is no statutory requirement to explicitly undertake a Family Test for all policy changes, as with all policy development the impact on families was considered as part of the development of changes to the minimum income requirement, and will continue to be as we work through the further policy details which will be announced in due course.