Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2022 to Question 45846 on Immigration: EU Nationals and with reference to the correspondence from the the3million to his Department of 11 August 2022, whether the instances of personal data breaches alleged in that correspondence (a) did not happen, (b) did not require reporting and (c) have not been investigated.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are unable to comment on specific cases without further information. However, we are aware of technical issues with similar characteristics to the three case studies provided in the correspondence from the3million, where individuals have reported that other individuals’ face images or personal details appeared on their online digital immigration status.
These technical issues can sometimes constitute data breaches. We handle data breaches extremely seriously and if they occur they are reported and raised with relevant teams in accordance with Home Office data handling procedures. All such incidents are then referred to the relevant Data Protection Officer to investigate and assess against the data protection legislation to determine next steps and raise to the ICO if necessary. No data breaches relating to digital immigration status have been raised to the ICO as they fall below the threshold for escalation.
All technical issues reported by users of digital immigration status are logged, investigated, and fixed at the root cause to prevent users experiencing the same issues again.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU Settlement Scheme applications are awaiting a decision.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in the ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)’.
The latest published information on EUSS applications received and concluded to 30 June 2022, can be found in the quarterly summary data at EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The published statistics include those applicants who are seeking to upgrade their status from pre-settled to settled status, repeat applicants, joining family members, and also those who have submitted late applications.
Please note there has been a change in the frequency of the statistical information regarding the EU Settlement Scheme; moving from monthly to quarterly publication. The quarterly statistics will continue to provide updated information on the scheme, including monthly breakdowns of applications and conclusions. The latest quarterly release up to 30 June 2022 was published on 27 September.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the policy paper, New plan for immigration: legal migration and border control strategy, published by her Department on 20 July 2022, what estimate she has made of the potential costs to businesses in the tourism sector of implementing the proposed changes outlined in paragraphs 55-62 of that strategy.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The introduction of an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme will improve the security of the UK border. It also provides a multitude of opportunities to better facilitate tourism, business visits and improve passenger experience.
By knowing more about people in advance of travel, our ambition is to increase automation of passenger clearance at the border, improving the end-to-end customer journey, and promoting the UK as a top destination to do business and for tourism.
The introduction of the ETA scheme is in line with the system that already exists in other countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The EU is also developing a similar system, (European Travel Information and Authorisation System - ETIAS), for those third country nationals who do not need a visa to travel to the Schengen area, which will include UK citizens.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) EU and (b) non-EU nationals were granted Tier 5 Visas to volunteer for charities in the UK as international volunteers in (i) 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of applications and the number of granted applications regarding Temporary Work – Charity Worker visas (previously Tier 5) are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes dataset, respectively. This data is broken down by nationality and region, including an EU breakdown.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Tier 5 Visas were received from (a) EU and (b) non-EU nationals seeking to volunteer for charities in the UK as international volunteers in (i) 2020-21 and (ii) 2021-22.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of applications and the number of granted applications regarding Temporary Work – Charity Worker visas (previously Tier 5) are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes dataset, respectively. This data is broken down by nationality and region, including an EU breakdown.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is possible for EU Settlement Scheme applicants whose applications are significantly delayed to pay retrospectively to escalate the decision.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The EU Settlement Scheme application route is a fee free route and does not have a priority service option. All applications are treated equally and prioritised in date of receipt order, however there may be a delay if the application is complex.
If a customer who has applied under this route wishes to escalate their case due to urgent and compassionate reasons, then they can contact the Resolution Centre helpline. Further information can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Each expedite request will be treated on its own merits and all evidence regarding the customer’s particular circumstances assessed in the round before any request is agreed to.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions her Department reported data breaches relating to the digital immigration status to the Information Commissioners Office since the launch of the EU Settled Status Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We have no known data breaches relating to digital immigration status that have been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) since the launch of the EU Settlement Scheme (28th August 2018).
We handle data breaches extremely seriously and if they occurred, they would be reported and raised with relevant teams in accordance with Home Office data handling procedures. All such incidents would then be referred to the relevant Data Protection Officer to investigate and assess against the data protection legislation to determine next steps and raise to the ICO if necessary.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to exempt carriers from section 40 charges under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in relation to EEA nationals who travel to the UK on a valid passport or national identity card.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Carriers are responsible for ensuring that passengers are properly documented for travel to the UK or they may be liable to a carrier’s liability charge. These charges never apply to the carriage of correctly documented passengers, regardless of their nationality or the documentation they hold.
Since 1 October 2021, EU, other EEA and Swiss national citizens (with the exception of those who have protected rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement and equivalent agreements) have been required to use a passport to enter the UK rather than a national identity card. We do not currently impose carriers’ liability charges on carriers bringing people to the UK incorrectly travelling on an identity card. This will change in the future as the rollout of our future border and immigration system will increasingly support interactive messaging with carriers to inform them what documentation is acceptable on an individual passenger basis.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2022 to Question 30043 on Immigration: EU Nationals, what steps she is taking to increase the level of satisfaction among landlords at the system for EU citizens with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to prove that they have the right to reside in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Immigration Act 2014 put in place a requirement for landlords to make simple checks on tenants to evidence their right to rent property in the UK. The 2014 Act applies the Right to Rent Scheme to the whole of the UK, however it is currently in force in England only. No decisions have been taken on rolling out the scheme to the rest of the UK.
Providing immigration status information online has enabled us to simplify and standardise the system of checks for landlords, by providing information about an individual’s status in a format which is easy to understand and accessible to all users, removing the need for checkers to interpret various types of physical documents, complex legal terminology or confusing abbreviations.
We are committed to reviewing feedback on our services and, where necessary, making improvements. Feedback and user satisfaction scores for checkers and migrants are collected from our gov.uk services and are published as a part of our transparency data on a quarterly basis:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-data-q1-2022
We analyse and review this feedback monthly and use it to improve the service. We also collate and conduct trend analysis on incidents which are reported to us by checkers and status holders in order to make improvements.
For example, we have added a prefix to the share code which users provide to checkers when they wish to share their status. This makes it clear whether a share code is generated for a right to work or right to rent check so landlords and employers can quickly determine if they have the right type of code. We also extended the validity of share codes from 30 to 90 days following feedback they expired too quickly.
We are also improving the multiple check process in response to checker feedback, adding a button which will take checkers to the start of the process, rather than forcing them to navigate backwards after making each check. This improvement is currently live in the View and Prove service, and we will add it to the right to rent and right to work check services shortly.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme took longer for a decision to be reached than the usual service delivery timescales in (a) June 2019 and (b) June 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in the ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’.
The latest published information on EUSS applications and applications concluded by month to 31 March 2022 can be found in table ‘EUSS_MON: EU Settlement Scheme: Monthly applications received and concluded, by outcome, UK country and nationality, 28 August 2018 to 31 March 2022’ available at: EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data for April, May and June 2022 will be published on 25 August 2022 in EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, June 2022 while data for July 2022 will be published in EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, September 2022 on 24 November 2022.
Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) as quickly as possible. Each individual case is considered on its own facts, which means some cases will inevitably take longer than others to conclude, for example if the applicant is facing an impending prosecution or has a criminal record.
The following link lists the expected processing times for EU Settlement Scheme applications, based upon current performance: EU Settlement Scheme: current estimated processing times for applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Our aim is to conclude applications for an EEA family permit or an EUSS family permit as soon as possible, after identity and supporting documents are submitted. More information can be found here;
Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)