Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will introduce an exemption from earnings requirement for indefinite leave to remain for persons who were (a) children or (b) enrolled in higher education for all or part of the relevant qualifying period.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The Immigration White Paper included a commitment to consult on these changes. The changes involve significant reforms to the settlement pathway, and it is right that we consult to assess their impact on affected groups.
In the case of children, it is acknowledged that many of the requirements in the earned settlement mode– such as the mandatory earnings requirement or meeting an income threshold – cannot be met by those who may still be children at the point that their parents become eligible for settlement. At the same time, however, the introduction of an earned settlement system with a longer baseline qualifying period does bring into focus whether and how those who turn 18 during their parents’ qualifying period should be brought within earned settlement principles and be expected to qualify for settlement in their own right.
The consultation questionnaire therefore includes questions seeking views on how dependants should be accommodated within an earned settlement system, and whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.
Details of the final earned settlement scheme will be finalised once the consultation has closed and the responses analysed.
The government’s response to the consultation will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether income requirements will be (a) waived and (b) adapted for BN(O) visa applicants in full-time education.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK and is committed to maintaining lawful routes of entry for people from Hong Kong, including the BN(O) route.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.
We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation, including any transitional arrangements and exemptions from the mandatory requirements.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
We will also consider the requirements for English language qualifications in nationality applications, and any changes will be announced at a later date.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Restoring Control Over the Immigration System: White Paper, whether families accessing Free School Meals under the No Recourse to Public Funds extension could be subject to penalties of 5 or 10 years under the earned settlement scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Data regarding how many people in the UK are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) is currently in development and not ready for release. We will continue to explore what further information on NRPF can be produced. We are unable at this time to provide a specific timeframe for data publication or indeed confirm what will be published.
The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Consideration will then be given, if appropriate, to how transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system.
The final model will also be subject to equality impact assessment, which the government has committed to publish in due course.
Free school meals are not classed as a 'public fund' for immigration purposes. It is the Department for Education who set the eligibility criteria for who can access free school meals.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Restoring Control Over the Immigration System: White Paper, whether her Department plans to apply the 5 and 10 year penalties for accessing public funds to those on limited leave to remain who are currently living in the UK and receiving benefits.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Data regarding how many people in the UK are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) is currently in development and not ready for release. We will continue to explore what further information on NRPF can be produced. We are unable at this time to provide a specific timeframe for data publication or indeed confirm what will be published.
The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Consideration will then be given, if appropriate, to how transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system.
The final model will also be subject to equality impact assessment, which the government has committed to publish in due course.
Free school meals are not classed as a 'public fund' for immigration purposes. It is the Department for Education who set the eligibility criteria for who can access free school meals.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) children and (b) adults are subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds condition.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Data regarding how many people in the UK are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) is currently in development and not ready for release. We will continue to explore what further information on NRPF can be produced. We are unable at this time to provide a specific timeframe for data publication or indeed confirm what will be published.
The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Consideration will then be given, if appropriate, to how transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system.
The final model will also be subject to equality impact assessment, which the government has committed to publish in due course.
Free school meals are not classed as a 'public fund' for immigration purposes. It is the Department for Education who set the eligibility criteria for who can access free school meals.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department plans to provide Local Authorities with extra funding to support training of social workers and council workers to improve understanding of home education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department consulted academic experts in pedagogy in home education on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether young adults currently in full-time education, who were under 18 at the time of their initial BNO visa application, will be exempt from the proposed sustained economic contribution requirement.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.
The new mandatory requirements for settlement are basic requirements that we think are reasonable for people to meet if they want to settle here. However, we are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. An impact assessment will be developed alongside the finalised policy.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply, including the B1 English language requirement from which applicants aged 65 or over are exempt.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of training given to police officers attending people in mental health crisis.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing set the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health including their powers under section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.
The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice.
Police officers are not mental health experts, neither are they expected to be. However, the training available to police officers in respect of mental ill health or other vulnerabilities is aimed at equipping them to identify potential issues and to know when interventions from partner agencies and health professionals may be needed.
Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
The College of Policing’s Approved Professional Practice for mental health is currently undergoing a full review, which will be going out for public consultation in the coming months.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when draft guidance on the Children Not In School measures in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be published for consultation.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.
The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.
In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.
The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.
In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.