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  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to (a) continue to take part in the European Arrest Warrant system, (b) remain signed up to the Europol Information System, (c) retain voting rights in Europol and (d) remain a member of the European Criminal Records Information System; and what measures are being taken to ensure that the UK can remain a member of each of those schemes once it has left the EU.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Prime Minister has made clear that law enforcement cooperation with our European partners will continue after the UK leaves the EU – we will do what is necessary to keep our people safe.

    We are exploring options for cooperation arrangements once the UK has left the EU but it is too early to speculate at this stage what future arrangements may look like.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any of the refugees recently admitted to the UK from Calais as children will be subject to dental checks in order to verify their ages.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Secretary’s statement on Calais on 24 October (Column 55) referred to the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks we carry out, working closely with local authorities and social workers in the UK, to ensure that the children transferred here are eligible to come and it is in their best interests to do so.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps have been taken to verify the age of children who have been recently transported from Calais to the UK.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Secretary’s statement on Calais on 24 October (Column 55) referred to the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks we carry out, working closely with local authorities and social workers in the UK, to ensure that the children transferred here are eligible to come and it is in their best interests to do so.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the number of job offers made to people with 3C Leave and subsequently withdrawn by employers (a) unwilling to use and (b) unaware of the Employer Checking Service in the last 12 months.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    We do not hold this information.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to promote use of the Employer Checking Service.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Employer Checking Service is promoted on GOV.uk. Employers are also directed to the service by the Preventing Illegal Work help line. The Employer Checking Service meet regularly with large employers to promote the service.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a spouse visa application was in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The average processing time for resolving spouse visa applications in each of the last five years is contained in the attached table:

    Year Resolved

    Average Days to Resolved

    2011

    40.97

    2012

    41.47

    2013

    45.59

    2014

    60.41

    2015

    34.91

    Visit visas defined as those endorsements in the endorsement categories Family Partner and Family Partner Immediate Settlement.

    Data only includes applications with a destination of UK or UK(BIVS).

    Data extracted on 19 October 2016.

    These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated. The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a spouse visa have been (a) received and (b) refused in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The information requested for the last 5 calendar years is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April – June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables#visas

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the process is by which unaccompanied child refugees are considered for transfer to the UK from refugee camps in Europe; and what the verification process is for confirming the identity and date of birth of an unaccompanied child refugee.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Under the Dublin Regulation, where an unaccompanied asylum seeking child has close family members in the UK, another Member State may make a transfer request for the UK to consider their asylum claim, which is then considered and if verified, accepted by the UK. In addition, we are working closely with the French, Greek and Italian authorities as well as UNHCR, Unicef and NGOs to identify unaccompanied refugee children who do not have family in the UK but who may qualify for transfer under the provisions of S67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

    All individuals being considered for transfer will be assessed for age. Where credible and clear documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the interview process to assess age. Once in the UK there is also the option of requesting a further local authority age assessment, which must be case law compliant and approved by two social workers. Basic security checks are conducted on all individuals prior to arrival, with further verification carried out once in the UK.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian passports have been returned to the Syrian government on the basis that they have been reported stolen by that government.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office does not currently return Syrian passports to the Government of Syria.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to review the rule preventing those who have acquired British nationality by descent under Section 2(1)(a) of the British Nationality Act 1981 from passing on citizenship to their children by descent in circumstances where their parents were on short-term secondment abroad at the time of their birth other than on Crown Service.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Children who are born overseas to British citizens by descent and do not acquire British citizenship automatically are able to apply for registration as a citizen where the family can demonstrate a close connection with the UK.

    The child of a British citizen is also able to enter the UK under the Immigration Rules as the child of a settled parent.

    There are no plans to change the law in this respect at the current time.