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Graham Stuart – 2022 Statement on Household Energy Bills Support

The statement made by Graham Stuart, the Minister for Energy and Climate, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Following is a statement on energy bill support schemes.

Help with household energy bills—widening the support

On 29 July, details were announced of the energy bills support scheme, which is now providing a £400 discount on electricity bills to households across Great Britain, delivered over six months. On the same date we announced that energy bill support scheme alternative funding would be developed to deliver the same level of support to households without a domestic electricity account.

The Government announced further support in September with the energy price guarantee, which is reducing energy bills for households across the United Kingdom. It currently brings a typical household energy bill in Great Britain for dual-fuel gas and electricity down to around £2,500 per year and, at an equivalent level of support, in Northern Ireland to around £1,950 per year.

Energy policy is devolved in Northern Ireland and it would normally be the responsibility of Northern Ireland Ministers to put in place support for households with energy costs. In the absence of a functioning Executive but in consultation with Northern Ireland Ministers, the UK Government committed in August to develop and deliver a scheme comparable to that being delivered in Great Britain.

I am now able to update the House on both the energy bill support scheme alternative funding process in Great Britain and a scheme for Northern Ireland to ensure payments reach all eligible households this winter.

Energy bill support scheme—alternative funding

The energy bill support scheme alternative funding is for households in Great Britain who are not eligible for the energy bills support scheme which started delivering in October, as they do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier. This includes many of the most vulnerable in our society. Those set to benefit include residents of park homes, some care home residents, tenants in certain types of private and social rented homes, homes supplied by private wires, residents of caravans and houseboats on registered sites, farmers living in domestic farmhouses without a domestic electricity connection, and households off-grid.

It is important to note that most households who do not have a direct relationship with a domestic energy supplier benefit from a discount on their energy bills through the energy bill relief scheme, which is already providing support to intermediaries such as landlords and park home operators. The Energy Prices Act 2022, passed earlier in the year, ensures those benefits are passed on to consumers who do not pay their energy bills directly to an energy supplier.

In January we will publish details on eligibility and open a portal on gov.uk offering a short online application process for those eligible households to apply for energy bill support scheme alternative funding. A helpline will be available for those unable to apply online. Applications will be validated, and payments processed by the relevant local authority. The £400 Government credit will be paid this winter to all eligible households who apply.

Northern Ireland energy bill support scheme

For Northern Ireland we have developed and will deliver a separate and bespoke energy bills support scheme, working with the separate Northern Ireland electricity suppliers, and respecting the very different nature of the energy market in that part of the United Kingdom. This scheme will also deliver for households this winter, with payments starting in January.

The payment will be for £600, comprising £400 for the energy bills support scheme and £200 for the alternative fuel payment, which all Northern Ireland households will receive, given the high level of alternative fuel use. The single payment will reach customers through their supplier, either direct to the relevant electricity bill payer’s bank account, or as a voucher which will need to be redeemed into a bank account or as cash.

We are making funds available to suppliers for this purpose by the end of this year, so suppliers will be able to start paying customers in January.

A further announcement will be made in respect of alternative funding support for those in Northern Ireland without a domestic electricity supply.

I have also written to Northern Ireland energy suppliers setting out expectations for them to suspend all debt recovery and enforcement activity until the end of January, as well as to provide payment holidays until the end of January when customers are struggling to pay their bills.

Alternative fuel payment scheme

I can also set out today our intended timings for the £200 alternative fuel payment scheme for households in Great Britain who use fuels such as heating oil, LPG or biomass to heat their homes. Payments will commence in February, with most payments being made that month through electricity suppliers. More details about how we will target the scheme will follow soon in the new year. Households that will not receive automatic payments will be able to apply to the same gov.uk portal used for the energy bill support scheme alternative fund from February.

The Treasury has approved these extensions to the energy bills support scheme.

I will continue to update Parliament.

20/12/2022
Dean Russell – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Tackling County Lines Gangs

The parliamentary question asked by Dean Russell, the Conservative MP for Watford, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Dean Russell (Watford) (Con)

What progress her Department has made on tackling county lines drugs gangs.

Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)

What progress her Department has made on tackling county lines drugs gangs.

The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp)

The Government are determined to crack down on county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and devastating communities. That is why we have invested £145 million in our county lines programme over three years. That is delivering results. Since 2019, the programme has resulted in over 2,900 drug dealing lines being closed down, including over 8,000 arrests. That is important work and it is continuing.

Dean Russell

I recently took part in a dawn raid with Watford police officers as part of a national operation to crack down on serious organised crime. There are of course clear victims involved in crime but, as I wore my stab vest, I contemplated the dangerous situation that we were about to enter. Can my right hon. Friend confirm what support is being put in place to keep our brave police officers safe in such situations, including mental health support for the horrific scenes that they may see in their jobs daily, and support when they encounter dangerous criminals?

Chris Philp

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for taking part in the dawn raid, which I hope was a resounding success. I share his concerns about the mental health of police officers, who are often exposed to dangerous conditions and situations. The police covenant board, which I chair, met just a few weeks ago, and many of the work streams are designed to help police officers deal with mental health pressures. We have instituted a new chief medical officer position to look after serving and retired police officers, which is extremely important, and I am working closely with the Police Federation to ensure that the right support is in place.

Antony Higginbotham

In Burnley, our neighbourhood policing taskforce has been doing great work breaking down doors, disrupting gangs and arresting those responsible for dealing drugs. A key driver of that is the Government’s combating drugs strategy, but most of the new funding under the strategy is geared towards treatment and prevention, which, while important, will not be effective without the deterrent of tough enforcement. Will my right hon. Friend agree to meet me and the Lancashire police and crime commissioner to talk about what more we might be able to do to make the strategy even better?

Chris Philp

I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend and his colleagues from Lancashire. He is quite right that there are three elements to the combating drugs strategy. One is treatment. It is important to treat drug addiction, which is the underlying cause of a great deal of offending behaviour. In addition to ensuring that we are treating people, we need to enforce, too. That is one reason why we are recruiting more police officers. I think his local Lancashire force already has an extra 362 officers, which is well on the way to the extra 509 officers it is due to have by March next year. We are also increasing resources in Border Force to stop drugs getting into the country. There are now, I think, over 10,000 Border Force officers, up from about 7,500 in 2016. So, lots of extra resources are going into enforcement and policing, as well as treatment, but both are important.

Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)

Smashing the county lines business model and breaking up the gangs has to be a top priority, but of course it is still attractive to far too many young people. At the heart of the model is the exploitation of vulnerable young children. What more cross-agency work does the Minister think could be done that is not yet being done to ensure that a life of criminality is not a viable option?

Chris Philp

I agree entirely with the sentiment that the hon. Gentleman expresses. It is vital to stop younger people, perhaps early and mid-teenagers, falling into gang culture. Very often that is because they have suffered from family breakdown or are in difficult social circumstances. One action we are taking, which we need to accelerate and increase, is introducing violence reduction units. They are designed to identify individual young people at risk of falling into gangs, including county lines activities, and to take interventions, whether through social services, education or other interventions, to try to put them back on the right track. That is a Home Office-funded programme that we intend to continue, but the diagnosis the hon. Gentleman makes is exactly right.

Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)

On that very point, last week I met an inspiring group of young students at West Thames College who are studying full time and having to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. It has not been easy for them. The message they asked me to bring here was that the best way to protect young people from going down a different route and getting sucked into county lines and violent crime is to have adequate, accessible and fully funded youth services. Does the Minister therefore regret the Government’s cuts to local councils since 2010, which have led to the decimation of universal youth provision?

Chris Philp

I have already referred to the significant amounts of money being put into violence reduction units, including funding some of the activity that the hon. Lady refers to—although it is not just that, it is much wider. It is important to divert younger people away from a life of crime and a gang culture that can all too easily take hold. It is for precisely that reason that we have established the well-funded violence reduction units, including in the London constituencies that both she and I represent.

Mr Speaker

I call shadow Minister.

Jess Phillips (Birmingham, Yardley) (Lab)

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Merry Christmas to you and to all the staff.

Contrary to the current rhetoric on modern slavery, thousands of British children were enslaved for sex and crime, such as county lines gangs, this year. Of the thousands of children identified as potential slaves this year, more British children were identified as potential child slaves than any other nationality. Last year, there was one conviction for modern slavery offences involving children. A woman I work with was left waiting by the Home Office for two years to be classified as a victim of slavery after she was groomed for sex and criminally exploited in a county lines gang since the age of 13. Referring to the Home Office written statement on the national referral mechanism, can the Minister confirm what “objective factors” to evident slavery means? If the Department thinks it is easy to prove slavery, why was there only one conviction last year?

Chris Philp

A lot of work is going on in the area. We have provided £145 million of funding to investigate and tackle county lines. That work has included 2,900 county lines being shut down. Critically, it has also included 9,500 individuals, most of whom are children, being engaged with safeguarding interventions.

Essentially, the national referral mechanism is currently being overwhelmed with a large number of claims, many of which are connected with immigration proceedings. One reason that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration wants to introduce objective criteria is to ensure that we focus our resources on genuine cases like the one that the hon. Lady describes. Rather than having the system overwhelmed by many unmeritorious claims in connection with immigration matters, it is important that we focus our attention on genuine cases like the one to which she refers.

20/12/2022
Stuart McDonald – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Ukrainian Troops Visiting UK and on Supporting Ukrainian Nationals

The parliamentary question asked by Stuart McDonald, the SNP MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)

What steps she is taking to help improve (a) access to visas and (b) support for Ukrainian nationals.

The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)

Applications for the UK’s three bespoke Ukraine schemes are online, have no fee and no salary or language requirements. Nearly 150,000 visas have been issued to Ukrainians since the start of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion. The UK Visas and Immigration service aims to decide those applications within five days, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Generally, we are now meeting that standard.

Stuart C. McDonald

Ukrainian MPs who have met colleagues here have repeatedly asked for improvements to UK visit visa processes. Visitors from Ukraine must either go to Poland twice—first for biometrics and then to collect the visa—or wait there for several weeks. Will the Minister look at what can be done to make it simpler for those brave politicians and other Ukrainian citizens visiting their families here to access the necessary visa?

Robert Jenrick

I am in contact with a number of Ukrainian politicians who have raised exactly that point with me and, indeed, the issue of those serving in the Ukrainian armed forces who might wish to visit relatives here while on a short period of leave. I am giving that further consideration.

20/12/2022
Rachael Maskell – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Support for Asylum Seekers

The parliamentary question asked by Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)

What steps she is taking to support asylum seekers while their applications are being processed.

The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)

Appropriate support is provided to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while applications are outstanding. Asylum seekers have access to the NHS, and children in family units to full-time education. They can obtain further assistance via the Migrant Help support line.

Rachael Maskell

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and British Red Cross have highlighted how 13,000 individuals have been trafficked into modern slavery, and the fact that they are not in regular employment being a risk. As a result, will the Minister ensure that local authorities have the funds to put on a full programme for asylum seekers while they are waiting, but also that there are pilot schemes so that those people can have access to the labour market?

Robert Jenrick

The hon. Lady and I have met to discuss this issue, and I am grateful to her for her thoughts and for the good work that has been done in York. We do not agree that those awaiting asylum decisions should have access to the labour market. We think that that could be a further pull factor to the UK. However, there are other ways in which asylum seekers can make a positive contribution to society, for example, through volunteering, and we want to work with local authorities and other stakeholders to see whether we can pursue those.

Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)

No one would deny that France is a safe country, so should not those genuinely fleeing persecution be claiming asylum in France, rather than paying people traffickers to bring them across the channel in small boats in dangerous circumstances?

Robert Jenrick

As ever, my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Those claiming asylum should do so in the first safe country they pass through, and France is demonstrably a safe country. The system that my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary and I want to build is one whereby those who come here illegally have no route to a life in the UK and are taken for their claims to be heard in third countries such as Rwanda, and we focus our resources as a country on targeted resettlement schemes and safe routes, like those that we have done so well in recent years in respect of Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria.

20/12/2022
Neil Coyle – 2022 Parliamentary Question on the Tier 1 Investor Visas Review

The parliamentary question asked by Neil Coyle, the Independent MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (Ind)

When her Department plans to publish the review of tier 1 investor visas.

The Minister for Security (Tom Tugendhat)

This question has been raised on many occasions, including, funnily enough, by me in a former incarnation. I am pleased to say that we are approaching the moment when I will be able to satisfy not only the hon. Gentleman’s but my desires.

Neil Coyle

Sounds fascinating, Mr Speaker, but the Minister—whom I congratulate on his role—knows that this review was commissioned nearly five years ago, so it is pathetic not to be able to give us a direct answer on when it is coming. Contrary to today’s rhetoric on securing borders, can he confirm that this scheme quickly became a security risk to this country, with no fewer than 10 Russians who were approved under the scheme now being sanctioned by the UK, and that more than 6,000 others granted tier 1 visa status are now being reviewed as a security risk to this country?

Tom Tugendhat

The hon. Member makes some solid points about the dangers of the involvement of certain states—in this case, Russia—in the United Kingdom. He should also be aware that the visa scheme closed in February 2022, and the response to Russian aggression or Russian influence in this country has been pretty robust. Indeed, since 2019, we have increased spending on the National Crime Agency by 30% and £200 million extra has gone in. As he knows, there is a long way to go and that is exactly what I am going to be doing over the next few years.

20/12/2022
Geoffrey Robinson – 1998 Speech on Tackling Skills Shortages
The speech made by Geoffrey Robinson, the then Paymaster General, at the Joint Hospitality Industry Congress conference on 1 July 1998.

Introduction

Thank you for inviting me to speak at this conference.

I’m here today to welcome the role this industry can play in the Government’s economic strategy – a strategy to deliver economic and employment opportunities for all.

Economic growth brings a general increase in personal disposable income. And, as people earn more, they demand more and better opportunities to spend their leisure well. So stable economic growth brings particular opportunities to the hospitality industry and those who work in it.

The hospitality industry has the potential to generate a high proportion of the jobs we need if we are to succeed in our ambitions for Britain. The wide range of employers represented here today shows the breadth of the opportunities available – in hotels, restaurants, tourism and leisure – small firms and large employers – in all corners of the UK.

That means you need a wider range of skills than exists in any other industry – catering, cleaning, managing, marketing and – customers. Your industry that thrives – or fails – through the level of customer service which it offers. So it needs more people as it grows, not fewer.

And yet – despite the range of jobs that your industry has to offer – you face skills shortages on a massive scale. You employ over 2 million people and need to recruit around 300,000 people each year. And yet only 6 per cent of those vacancies can be filled by suitably qualified college leavers.

So we see evidence of skill shortages and upward pressure on wages – at a time when youth and long-term unemployment still remains unacceptably high. That’s a symptom of structural problems in the labour market – a structural problem we need to work together to address.

A new partnership

As Chris Smith will outline later this morning, we need a new partnership between the Government and the hospitality industry.

Gone are the days when the solution would have involved either exclusively private or public sectors.

Today, we must work together. Only by doing so can we really understand the nature of the challenges facing us and put together solutions that tackle them.

There are already many ways in which we are already working with you. I have no doubt Chris Smith will say more at lunchtime about the strategy he is developing with the Tourism Forum. I know he has been very encouraged and impressed by the industry’s willingness to work with the Government on the strategy, and the time, energy and commitment Forum members are bringing to the work.

The New Deal is perhaps the best known partnership between public and private sectors and is a classic example of how the objectives of both Government and industry go hand in hand. How the industry can solve its recruitment problems while Government can meet its objective of moving people from welfare into work.

What the Government has done

Funded by the Windfall Tax, the Government has set up the New Deal programme to help the young and long-term unemployed, lone parents and the disabled. Almost £4 billion have been put in to this programme, along with firm support from the Chancellor and Prime Minister.

Earlier this week, the New Deal was extended to the long-term unemployed over 25. We will provide a new employment subsidy – £75 a week – to support employers who recruit someone who has been out of work for over 2 years. That’s another element of our strategy in place.

But whether we’re talking about:
- the young person who needs work and training to make a proper start to
  their working life;
- a new start for an older worker – whose risks being left on the scrapheap after
  a lifetime of skilled employment;
- a new employment opportunity for a lone parent who’s child has started school;
- or a better deal for disabled people,one thing is clear. We can only succeed if we work with the grain of business.
The New Deal needs to be the smart solution for your business.

What industry can do

And I firmly believe that the New Deal is a smart solution. It can provide high quality, skilled employees. The resources are in place – and the programme has made an encouraging start. It is now down to business to fulfill its role in the partnership and make sure it happens.

Over 15,000 employers that are signed up to the New Deal. And I’m pleased to say the hospitality industry is leading the way on the New Deal – many leading names in the industry have signed up. And, round the country, small and medium sized firms in this industry are signing up as well.

New Deal Training Centres

But New Deal is not just another employment initiative, like the many we have seen in the past. The difference is that it’s tailored to the needs of the individual, and to the needs of business.

I welcome the innovative industry-led solutions to the work and training elements of New Deal. But this really needs the commitment of industry to make it work. We need your creativity and know-how about the industry to make sure together, we can deliver.

And, from my own contacts with industry representatives, I know this industry is working to make the most of the New Deal. The New Deal training centres – started in Kentish Town – will, I hope, grow into a network of centres in every region of the country. 40,000 people will pass through the New Deal Training Centres – the biggest single commitment to the New Deal so far.

The scale of this ambition is a tribute to a number of key figures in the industry, whose names I won’t mention, and the staff of the Kentish Town Centre. And I also pay tribute to the constructive role played by the local authorities in Camden and Westminster – who helped make this particular public-private partnership a reality.

Conclusion

The framework is now set. The New Deal is in place. Now it is up to you to get involved, and get signed up. It is in your interests to see this project come to fruition – a highly skilled workforce is vital for your success – as well bringing wider social and economic benefits.

I welcome the development of the national network of Training Centres and very much urge you to continue to be fully engaged.

This is a bold commitment. But one where the rewards are great. So it is in all our interests to see it succeed.
20/12/2022
Caroline Lucas – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Improving the Asylum System

The question asked by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)

What steps she is taking to improve the asylum system.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Suella Braverman)

We are taking immediate action to accelerate decision making and improve our asylum system by streamlining and modernising it, including by shortening interviews, removing unnecessary interviews, making the guidance more accessible, and dealing with cases more swiftly when they can be certified as manifestly unfounded.

Caroline Lucas

The Home Office is placing vulnerable, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels in local authority areas. It is directly commissioning those hotels and other services, because it knows that local authorities do not have the funding or capacity required. Will the Home Secretary finally admit that these vulnerable children are legally the Home Office’s responsibility, so that they are not left in legal limbo? Will she ensure that her Department takes a strategic approach that addresses the placement shortage, rather than its current ad hoc approach, and will she ensure that the police do all that they can to keep searching for those children who have gone missing and have yet to be relocated?

Suella Braverman

We take very seriously the position of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children—and indeed of children, full stop. Safeguarding them is of the utmost importance to all authorities, and to the Home Office, when it comes to decision making. We will shortly look at the funding arrangement for local authorities’ support of these children, so that their needs are properly met.

Damian Green (Ashford) (Con)

Potentially one of the best parts of our asylum system is the safe route created for Afghans who helped British forces during the war in Afghanistan. They are often full of professional skills, speak good English, and could make a huge contribution to this country, if they were allowed to move on with their life. Will my right hon. and learned Friend give me a report on progress on getting more of these Afghan citizens out of hotels, and allowing them to get on with their life and to contribute to our society?

Suella Braverman

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We support those who have come to the United Kingdom through designated schemes such as the Afghan relocations and assistance policy, and those people who supported allied forces in Afghanistan. Far too many of those Afghan nationals are being accommodated in hotels; on that, he is right. That is why we are moving very quickly. We are working with the Ministry of Defence, and are looking at all options, including, for example, service family accommodation, to properly accommodate a cohort of Afghans, so that they can move on with their life and settle peacefully here.

Mr Speaker

I call the shadow Home Secretary.

Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)

In 2020, the Home Office secured just 12 convictions a month for people smuggling into the UK. In 2021, that fell to eight a month and, in the first half of 2022, it fell to just three a month. The smuggler gangs have proliferated, and the dangerous boat crossings that put lives at risk are up twentyfold, yet the number of criminals paying the price for their crime has collapsed. Why has the Home Secretary totally failed to take action against the criminal gangs?

Suella Braverman

Let me point out who has totally failed to take any action against the criminal gangs: the right hon. Lady and the Labour party. I am really enjoying the shadow Home Secretary’s reinvention over the past weeks and months, but despite her trying to sound tough on illegal migration and people smugglers, Labour voted against our new offences for prosecuting the people smugglers who are causing the problem on the channel. Labour voted against tougher sentences that enable us to deport foreign rapists and foreign drug dealers. Labour would scrap our Rwanda scheme. Yesterday, the right hon. Lady did not even know whether illegal entry was an offence. The reality is that Labour has no plan whatever on illegal migration; it is against our plan, and all it wants is open borders.

Yvette Cooper

The Home Secretary had no response on the total collapse in prosecutions, and she has had 12 years in charge. She says that the asylum system is broken; well, who broke it? Minsters have been running the system for the last 12 years, in which they have made things worse. Since the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into force, the number of people arriving by dangerous boat has reached a record high, so their legislation has not worked. The Prime Minister promised extra money for the National Crime Agency, but two days after he made that announcement, the Home Office does not know how much that money is, and the Treasury has not agreed anything. Can the Home Secretary tell us how much additional funding there will be for the National Crime Agency, and where it is coming from? On the Conservatives’ watch, a multimillion-pound criminal industry has grown along our border, and while Ministers faff around, gangs are making profit and people are drowning.

Suella Braverman

I am proud of the announcement that the Prime Minister made last week, setting out a comprehensive, methodical and compassionate approach to dealing with illegal migration and stopping the boats crossing the channel, dealing with the asylum backlog, responding to the cohort of people who have come here illegally from Albania, operationalising our Rwanda agreement and ensuring that ultimately we crack down on the people smugglers through better operational command on the channel. The right hon. Lady needs to get with the programme. I invite her to reverse her opposition to our plan, come up with a methodical plan and then let us have a proper conversation.

20/12/2022
Kate Osamor – 2022 Parliamentary Question on the Asylum Backlog

The parliamentary question asked by Kate Osamor, the Labour MP for Edmonton, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Kate Osamor (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)

What recent progress her Department has made on reducing the backlog of asylum applications.

Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)

What recent progress her Department has made on reducing the backlog of asylum applications.

The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)

Last week we set out plans to clear the initial decision backlog of asylum legacy cases by the end of next year. Over the summer and autumn, the Home Office reduced the number of older asylum cases by 11,000, and the number of asylum caseworkers has doubled.

Kate Osamor

Last week the International Development Committee heard from organisations working closely with refugees in the UK. I was disappointed but not surprised to hear Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, say that it was not consulted about the proposals, announced last week, to tackle the backlog. Why have the Government neglected to widely consult experts, and would the Minister be willing to consider their recommendations if I was to write to him?

Robert Jenrick

I would be interested in the views of any of our stakeholders, but the Prime Minister set out a very compelling case last week to radically re-engineer the end-to-end process, with fewer interviews, shorter guidance, less paperwork, specialist caseworkers by nationality, including tackling Albanian cases, and reforming modern slavery by reducing the cooling-off period from 45 to 30 days—all steps to clear the backlog as quickly as possible.

Vicky Foxcroft

One of my constituents arrived in the UK from Afghanistan and claimed asylum in September 2021. Despite my caseworkers making regular inquiries since August 2022, we have received no updates regarding the status of his application. He tells us that the situation has made him seriously depressed. Does the Minister agree that excessive wait times can have a hugely detrimental impact on mental health, and will he agree to look at this case in further detail?

Robert Jenrick

I would be happy to look at that case and any others that are brought to my attention. The backlog, however, is a symptom of the problem, which is that far too many people are crossing the channel illegally, and that is what this Government are determined to tackle. The hon. Lady and her Opposition colleagues have voted against every tough measure that we have sought to take in recent years. I hope that she will now get behind the measure that we are taking, the statement the Prime Minister made last week and, of course, our world-leading Rwanda partnership, which the Court today gave its agreement to.

John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)

Will the Government introduce urgent legislation to strengthen control of our borders, and could that include a notwithstanding clause to guide the courts against using other laws that undermine the fundamental principle of the Prime Minister’s policy?

Robert Jenrick

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out last week our intention to bring forward legislation early next year, and at the heart of that legislation will be a simple point of principle that we on this side of the House believe: no one should gain a right to live in this country if they entered illegally. From that, all things will need to flow. Nothing is off the table. We will take our obligations to deliver on that policy very seriously. That is in stark contrast to the Labour party. At the weekend, the shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), could not even say whether illegal entry to this country should be an offence. That says it all. We believe in securing our borders and in controlled migration. The Labour party is the party of mass migration.

James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)

We in Wiltshire are proud of the fact that some 900 Ukrainians will be enjoying Christmas dinners with us, and that we have entertained a large number of Afghan people who looked after us so well during the war. However, we were very surprised when last Friday 82 young Albanian men were moved into the very rural, very distantly located Wiltshire golf club without any notice at all being given to the neighbouring retirement village. Does the Minister agree that this is an inappropriate location for people of this kind, who are very probably economic migrants, and will he seek to advance them elsewhere as soon as he possibly can?

Robert Jenrick

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. We do not want to use hotels in any part of the country; we want to tackle the issue at its source. I understand his constituents’ concerns with respect to the hotel in Wiltshire. As I understand it, a smaller number of individuals have been accommodated there than he has perhaps been advised and the local authority was informed in advance, but that does not diminish his constituents’ concerns. I am happy to talk to him to see what we can do to end that at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Speaker

I call the shadow Minister.

Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 is profoundly counterproductive legislation, as illustrated by the fact that, since it was passed, the number of dangerous crossings has reached a record high. The Act includes the so-called inadmissibility clause, but the fact that the Government have failed to negotiate a returns agreement with a single European country means that just 21 out of 18,000 inadmissible people have been returned. Sending 300 asylum seekers to Rwanda will not even touch the sides of that 18,000. Does the Minister recognise the inadequacy of the legislation? Will he explain why the Government’s utterly self-defeating approach has led directly to the British taxpayer footing an extra bill of £500 million?

Robert Jenrick

First, whatever the inadequacies of the current system, they would be far worse if the Opposition were in power—in fact, the backlog of cases was 450,000 when the last Labour Government handed over to us. They have opposed every tough measure that we have taken, including the Nationality and Borders Act. If the hon. Gentleman thinks that Act did not go far enough, I will welcome his support next year when we bring forward further and even tougher legislation. We will make sure that we secure the borders and control migration. He cannot see the difference between people genuinely fleeing persecution and economic migrants. He is testing the will of the British people; we will take action.

Mr Speaker

I call the SNP spokesperson.

Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)

My casework in Glasgow Central speaks to the fundamentally broken asylum system, and a failing immigration system more widely, as other types of applications are regularly delayed and people are left waiting for years. The barrister Colin Yeo suggests that, to get the asylum backlog down to 20,000, the Home Office would need to make 8,000 decisions a month. In the year to September, only 16,400 decisions were made in total, so precisely how will the Minister meet his target?

Robert Jenrick

Last week, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out our plan to re-engineer the process and hire more decision makers. It is about not just people and resource, but ensuring that the process is faster and less bureaucratic, and that the guidance is cut and simplified. If the hon. Lady wants to help us with the issue, perhaps she will get on to her colleagues in the Scottish Government, because today in Scotland, in contrast with the rest of the United Kingdom, only one city—Glasgow—is doing its fair share and taking asylum seekers. In the whole of Scotland, only a dozen hotels outside of Glasgow are taking asylum seekers, which is not fair and equitable. She might sound pious, but her words and rhetoric are not matched by action from the Scottish Government.

Alison Thewliss

Local authorities in Scotland are reticent to take more because they know that the UK Government are not funding asylum seeker provision properly, and that pressed budgets due to another round of austerity are coming down the road, as the Minister knows just fine. Can he confirm that the Home Office is recruiting asylum decision makers from people in customer service and sales positions at McDonald’s and Aldi who have no prior experience of the asylum system, who are consulting Lonely Planet guides for knowledge of applicant countries, and who have described being

“left to fend for themselves”

after two days to conduct complex interviews and make life or death decisions? Is that really an adequate way to conduct sensitive decision making?

Robert Jenrick

I do not recognise anything that the hon. Lady just said. The problem with the current system is that it is too complicated and too bureaucratic. We want to simplify that, speed up those decisions and make sure that the teams are more productive. To come back to her first point, the Scottish Government are refusing to take any of the asylum seekers who are arriving in the UK on small boats, which is not right. There is a widening gulf between the actions of the Scottish Government and their rhetoric, which I ask her to consider.

20/12/2022
Elliot Colburn – 2022 Parliamentary Question on the Number of Burglaries

The parliamentary question asked by Elliot Colburn, the Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)

What steps she is taking to reduce the incidence of burglary.

The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp)

The Government are committed to tackling burglary. Domestic burglary, as measured by the crime survey, has fallen by 53% since 2010—a statistic that Opposition Members seem remarkably reluctant to discuss. We are hiring many extra police officers—the Metropolitan police force, which covers my hon. Friend’s constituency, has a record number of officers—and thanks to the Home Secretary’s intervention, police across the country are working to ensure that every single residential burglary receives an in-person visit from police officers.

Elliot Colburn

I congratulate the Home Secretary for stepping in where the Mayor of London has failed by pushing for police officers to attend all burglaries, and I congratulate the Metropolitan police for listening to that call and implementing Operation Tenacity, as this was a concern that I heard from many Carshalton and Wallington residents. Can my right hon. Friend, at this early stage, give me an indication of how successful the operation has been for burglary arrest numbers?

Chris Philp

My hon. Friend is quite right to say that the Home Secretary has acted, ensuring that there are record numbers of police in London, whereas the Mayor of London very often simply plays politics. In relation to Operation Tenacity, and the police commitment to attend every residential burglary, I am pleased to report that the Op Tenacity activity has been extremely successful. In fact, it saw 1,700 arrests in just six weeks.

Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)

We now live, under this Government, in one of the most unequal countries in the world. Christmas is particularly hard for many people. Although I wish everyone in the House a happy Christmas, can we make sure that the police have the resources, back-up and backroom staff, without whom they cannot catch burglars? We need to stop burglary and reduce poverty in this country simultaneously.

Chris Philp

As I said, I am pleased to remind the House that since 2010, according to the crime survey of England and Wales, domestic burglary has fallen by an astonishing 53%. I agree with the hon. Gentleman about making sure that the police have adequate resources. That is why, as the Home Secretary said a few minutes ago, police and crime commissioners will receive next year up to £523 million in additional funding. By March next year, we will have an extra 20,000 police officers. Never in this country’s history have we had so many police officers, which is something that, I hope, people across the House can welcome.

20/12/2022
Ruth Edwards – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Fire Cover in Nottinghamshire

The parliamentary question asked by Ruth Edwards, the Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con)

Whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of fire cover in Nottinghamshire.

The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp)

The level of fire cover in Nottinghamshire is a matter for the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority, but I would observe that in Nottinghamshire the Labour-controlled fire and rescue service has cut firefighter numbers by 11% since 2016, despite its funding settlement having been about the same as other fire and rescue services, which, nationally have seen only a 1.6% reduction.

Ruth Edwards

The Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority is proposing to cut the night shift at West Bridgford fire station despite the fact that it will save no money, the station has higher night-time call-out rates than other stations in the county, and it will leave Rushcliffe as the only borough in Nottinghamshire without full-time fire cover at night. Can the Minister advise me on the options Members of Parliament have to challenge the decision-making of local fire authorities when it is clear that they are letting down our constituents and the brave firefighters who serve them?

Chris Philp

I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for her campaigning on the issue of Nottinghamshire fire services, which she has raised with me a number of times. There is certainly no financial excuse for what the fire and rescue authority is doing. This year, it received a 5.2% funding increase and, thanks to my hon. Friend’s campaigning, when the figures are published tomorrow, there will be further good financial news for the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority. On how the fire authority’s decisions might be queried, any concerns she has can be raised with the inspectorate and taken into account when the fire service is next inspected. Otherwise, the fire and rescue authority is made up of local authority representatives, who are accountable, periodically, via the ballot box.

Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is well led and staffed by excellent firefighters and non-firefighting staff alike. They keep our community staff in increasingly difficult circumstances. They would like to meet the Minister to discuss their challenges, particularly in relation to funding. Will the Minister take that meeting with them and with local MPs?

Chris Philp

Yes, I would be very happy to meet the hon. Member and his colleagues from Nottinghamshire, perhaps early in the new year, to discuss this issue. As I said, Nottinghamshire fire services got a 5.2% funding increase in this current year, and I think good news can be expected when the full settlement is published tomorrow. I would observe that, in common with the rest of the country, the number of fires in Nottinghamshire has substantially decreased by 45% over the last 12 years.

20/12/2022