The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 31677, what the average salary is of people awarded Tier 2 (ICT) visas to work in the IT industry; and how many such visas have been awarded in each pay band in each of the last three years.
Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold this information in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria she uses to assess a bid from a metro mayor to assume the additional role of police and crime commissioner.
Mike Penning
Any proposal submitted by a local area for an elected mayor to take on police and crime commissioner (PCC) functions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
In keeping with the Government’s broader approach to the devolution of powers to local people, it is for local areas to make the case and demonstrate that the transfer of PCC functions would be in the best interests of local communities and the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in relevant areas.
There is no presumption that an elected mayor would take on PCC functions. Local circumstances and the views of relevant PCCs are important factors in any consideration. Alongside this, another significant consideration is the issue of geographic boundaries and co-terminosity between the police area and the combined authority area.
Against that background, it is for local areas to make the case for any proposals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of reductions in international student numbers on employment.
Mike Penning
Such an assessment has not been made because the Government is delivering a strong labour market which has seen the employment rate for UK nationals grow to 74.6% in Q4 2015 – an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous year and the highest since records began.
The student migration system we inherited was too weak, and open to widespread abuse, damaging the UK’s reputation as a provider of world-class education. The National Audit Office reported that in 2009/10 up to 50,000 students may have come to work, not study.
We have clamped down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions selling immigration rather than education, and since 2010 we have struck off more than 920 bogus colleges. Visa applications for the further education sector, where abuse has been most prevalent over recent years, are down 75 per cent compared with 2010.
At the same time, we have maintained a highly competitive offer for international students who would like to study at our world-class institutions. This is borne out by the figures: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 16 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our world-leading Russell Group institutions are up by 39 per cent since 2010. There remains no limit on the number of genuine international students who can study in the UK.
We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tier 2 intra-company transfers for what roles or job descriptions were issued to UK companies in each of the last five years; and what salary each such transferee received.
James Brokenshire
Information on the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) that have been issued by Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) sponsors, broken down by the job titles of those they sought to employ and the salary each transferee was to receive, for each of the last five years, will be placed in the House Library. To break these figures down further into in and out of country applications, and whether the application was successful would require manual intervention that would incur disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 30500, what the alternative arrangements are that provide funding for National Crime Agency investigations into non-recent child sexual abuse.
Mike Penning
The non-recent child sexual abuse investigations being conducted by the National Crime Agency are in response to requests from the Chief Officer of the local police forces. As such, the funding for these investigations is from the local police forces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the UK’s membership of the EU to the UK’s work in identifying and detaining criminals.
James Brokenshire
Terrorism and serious organised crime are global threats that cross national borders. Our unique relationship with the EU gives UK law enforcement access to EU tools and instruments that help keep people safe and tackle serious and organised crime, but also mean we are not obliged to participate in new measures when we do not judge them to be in the national interest.
The tools and instruments that the UK participates in include Europol, an EU agency which supports cross-border police operations and intelligence sharing, and can assist in the identification of terrorist threats; the European Arrest Warrant, which allows swift extradition between EU countries of individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence; and the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), which enables law enforcement agencies around the EU to share live alerts, for example, for missing people and stolen vehicles. The UK is also in the process of implementing Prum, which will give us access to fingerprint and DNA data from other member states.
Since 2004, using the European Arrest Warrant, over 1,000 individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence have faced justice in UK courts and over 7,000 have been extradited from the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 30500, what assistance is provided by National Crime Agency CEOP Command staff to local force investigations into child sexual abuse.
Mike Penning
The National Crime Agency CEOP Command assists UK police forces to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse in a number of ways. This includes providing training and advice on specialist capabilities, specialist operational support, and expert child protection advice. For example, the Command assists local police forces with advice and guidance on interview and search strategies, categorisation of indecent images of children, victim identification and victim strategies. The wider NCA, including CEOP Command, also provides support to forces as set out in The NCA Commitment to Working in Partnership with UK Operational Powers, which is available on the NCA website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect that changes in qualification requirements for studying a BSc in paramedicine will have on recruitment into that profession.
Ben Gummer
There are currently 30 Higher Education Institutions across the United Kingdom delivering Health Care Professions Council approved pre-registration paramedic programmes. Of these, there are now 22 (73%) that are delivering BSc (Hons) degrees.
The commissioned numbers in 2012/13 were 563, in 2013/14 were 722 and in 2014/15 were 853. Planned commission numbers for 2015/16 are 1,124 and for 2016/17 are 1,729. This shows there has been an increase of successful applicants who wish to enter the profession and are undertaking an appropriate pre-registration programme of higher education.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve recruitment and retention in the ambulance service.
Jane Ellison
Recruitment and retention of ambulance service staff is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts. Many are taking direct action in this area now with national and international recruitment campaigns.
There are almost 2,000 additional paramedics in the system now than in 2010 and we are training another 1,900 over the next five years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding he plans to provide to local authorities for the provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis.
Jane Ellison
NHS England has announced that it will make available up to £2 million in 2016/17 and 2017/18 for early implementer test sites for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This funding will be made available to successful applications from local authorities.
These will run over the next two years and will aim to test the ‘real life’ cost effectiveness and affordability of PrEP as part of an integrated HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention service.
NHS England, Public Health England and the Department will consider the relevant findings from the test sites to inform their respective commissioning responsibilities for HIV care and treatment and HIV prevention.