Tag: Parliamentary Question

Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) parents of a minor, (2) siblings of a minor, and (3) other persons, were granted, on the basis of exceptional compelling, compassionate circumstances outside the Immigration Rules, a family reunion visa for reunion with a family member in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection, in each year from 2011 to date; and from which countries those persons have come.

Lord Bates

Family reunion applications are considered within the scope of the Immigration Rules. Under these Rules, only pre-existing families are eligible for family reunion i.e. spouse, civil partner, unmarried/same sex partner and minor children who formed part of the family unit at the time the sponsor (the person granted protection in the UK) fled to seek asylum.

Family reunion visas are available to help families that become fragmented. Family reunion is intended to allow family members who formed part of the family unit before the refugee fled their country of origin, to reunite in the UK.

The number of Family reunion visas issued and the country of application from 2011 to date can be found in the table below. It is not possible to break down the data to the applicant’s relationship with the individual that has already gained asylum in the UK.

To note: ‘*’ appears where there are less than three applications.

	Applications issued
Country of application	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015 (Jan-Jun)
Albania	*	*	*	5	–
Algeria	–	–	*	–	5
Bahrain	*	15	10	5	5
Bangladesh	–	10	5	10	10
Belarus	*	5	–	5	–
Belgium	–	5	5	–	5
Burma	20	25	5	5	5
Cameroon	60	40	30	55	15
Canada	*	*	*	–	*
China	25	15	20	20	10
Congo (Dem. Rep.)	80	55	70	45	15
Cuba	–	*	–	5	–
Denmark	–	*	5	–	5
Egypt	20	50	145	135	120
Ethiopia	685	475	450	295	85
France	5	–	5	*	–
Gambia	40	40	40	80	50
Georgia	–	5	5	*	–
Germany	*	–	5	–	–
Ghana	15	25	25	30	10
Greece	*	5	5	10	5
India	45	30	30	25	15
Iran	190	55	*	–	–
Iraq	–	–	*	35	30
Irish Republic	*	5	–	–	–
Israel	5	*	10	15	–
Italy	5	5	5	5	*
Ivory Coast	–	–	–	10	*
Jamaica	5	–	–	*	–
Jordan	20	40	95	385	60
Kazakhstan	*	*	–	–	–
Kenya	160	160	105	80	20
Kuwait	25	25	30	40	40
Lebanon	10	110	280	405	260
Libya	*	*	5	5	*
Morocco	–	–	*	10	5
Mozambique	*	*	–	–	–
Namibia	*	*	*	*	–
Nepal	10	–	10	15	5
Netherlands	*	*	5	5	–
New Zealand	*	–	–	–	–
Nigeria	5	10	10	10	5
No biometrics	775	595	740	630	80
Pakistan	345	305	360	525	300
Portugal	–	–	5	–	–
Qatar	–	*	5	*	5
Romania	–	–	5	–	–
Russian Federation	5	5	*	10	–
Rwanda	5	5	5	5	–
Saudi Arabia	5	10	10	25	40
Senegal	5	5	5	5	5
Sierra Leone	35	10	15	20	5
South Africa	55	25	20	25	10
Sri Lanka	305	250	305	220	105
Sudan	215	380	360	355	230
Sweden	–	5	5	*	*
Switzerland	–	–	5	–	*
Syria	235	105	5	–	–
Tanzania	15	5	10	10	5
Trinidad and Tobago	–	–	–	*	5
Tunisia	5	5	–	*	–
Turkey	55	215	330	550	215
Uganda	85	135	225	195	45
Ukraine	*	5	*	*	–
United Arab Emirates	25	100	120	75	70
United States	*	–	5	5	5
Uzbekistan	10	5	5	*	–
Vietnam	5	–	–	5	*
Zambia	10	*	–	10	*
Zimbabwe	640	265	145	110	25
Grand Total	4305	3670	4120	4540	1940

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01/01/2023

Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Written Answers of 16 November 2015 to Question 16305 and of 23 November 2015 to Question 17205, whether agreed funding is now in place for the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016.

Rory Stewart

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy, on 7 December 2015, PQ18354.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on lowering the Tier 2 visa scheme’s minimum salary threshold for chefs.

James Brokenshire

Acquiring this information on visa applications from chefs would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas & Immigration for the Tier 2 category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Home Office regularly receives representations to lower the criteria (including the salary requirement) for sponsoring chefs under Tier 2, the skilled worker route. Tier 2 is, however, reserved for graduate level occupations. We continue to welcome the very top chefs who promote innovative and authentic cuisine here in the UK — and these types of skilled chefs are on the shortage occupation list. The salary threshold applied to chefs was based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

We have been clear, however, that the restaurant industry needs to move away from an unsustainable reliance on migrant workers. We want to nurture more home-grown talent and encourage young people in this country who want to pursue a skilled career. This means the restaurant sector offering training to attract and recruit resident workers to meet their staffing needs.

The industry is starting to make progress in this area, recruiting and training more chefs in the UK, and this needs to continue.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support the Government gives to large pharmaceutical companies to partner with universities.

Joseph Johnson

In the last five years, Innovate UK has committed around £32M to support partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and universities in order to drive the translation of university-based research and commercial applications which tackle disease and life-threatening illnesses.

In addition, the Government is investing in three Catapult Centres supporting the life sciences sector – the Cell Therapy, Precision Medicine and Medicines Technologies Catapults. These centres have a particular focus on supporting collaborative research and innovation among small and medium sized firms.

Large companies are able to claim R&D Tax Relief through a 130% enhanced allowance or, alternatively, an 11% taxable credit via the R&D Expenditure Credit. In 2013/14, these schemes provided support of £950M to 3,950 businesses. Additionally, the UK’s Patent Box was introduced in 2013 and gives additional incentive to develop, retain and commercialise new, innovative patented products in the UK. The Patent Box offers an effective 10% corporation tax rate on trading profits earned in the UK from specified patents.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the progress of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme’s service transformation programme.

Alistair Burt

The Government’s transformation programme for children and young people’s mental health is aimed at improving children and young people’s mental health and providing additional support for those who experience mental health problems. The Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) programme includes training for professionals working in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) partnerships to put the patient at the centre of their treatment: young people agree goals and milestones with the professional, and participate in their care through regular feedback and outcome monitoring. The benefits of this approach are well-evidenced.

Unlike the adult programme, CYP IAPT does not create new services; it transforms CAMHS partnerships by training people to deliver evidence-based interventions so that those working in CAMHS do so in collaboration with children, young people and families, in every aspect of care and service design through better participation and regular feedback and outcome monitoring.

At present, 78% of young people aged under 19 are covered by CAMHS partnerships which are working to transform services by embedding the CYP IAPT principles, and the programme is being rolled out to cover the whole of England by 2018. The programme is currently developing a number of new curricula to address training gaps that have been identified during its implementation. These include interventions for 0-5 year olds, evidence-based counselling, combination therapy (pharmacology and psychological interventions), Learning Disabilities and Autistic Spectrum disorder, and staff working in inpatient settings.

A recent rapid deep dive audit of 12 partnerships within the programme showed:

― improved access through self-referral routes, single point of access, outreach services, evening and weekend appointments;

― compared to a national sample of mental health services in the United States, teams in services working with CYP IAPT had more proficient organisational cultures and more functional organisations;

― more efficient time between referral and assessment decreased by 73%;

― number of days between assessment and discharge decreased by 21%; and

― The percentage of closed cases by mutual agreement increased by 22%.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the review of the Staffordshire Transforming End of Life Care procurement, the patient consent and information governance aspects will be considered, including the transfer of information about patients on the End of Life Care Registers to private companies, even if the patients themselves do not know they are on such a register.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This is a matter for NHS England, which is reviewing the cancer and end of life service procurement in Staffordshire in the light of its review of the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and UnitingCare Partnership (UCP).

NHS England advises that issues around information governance and patient consent were not included within the scope of the original review into the termination of the UCP contract with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG and currently are not included within the scope of any follow-up investigations.

01/01/2023
Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to use data from border exit checks to estimate emigration from the UK.

James Brokenshire

Exit checks were introduced in April 2015. They will, over a period of time, provide us with a range of insights into the behaviours of migrants and how they comply with restrictions placed upon their length of stay in the UK.

Data collected from exit checks is a record of cross border movement. It may in the future help inform but will not in itself answer questions on emigration.

The Home Office has announced that it is considering the use of exit checks data for statistical reporting and intends to publish an initial evaluation of the use of exit checks for this purpose. The evaluation will be a technical assessment of the analysis carried out thus far and of the further analysis necessary to better understand short, medium, and long term opportunities.

The initial evaluation of the use of exit checks will be published on 25 August to coincide with the next quarterly immigration statistics release.

Publication of the initial evaluation on the use of exit checks will be on the GOV.UK website

01/01/2023
Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what funding has been provided to tackle terrorism in Northern Ireland under the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The PSNI will receive Additional Security Funding totalling £160m over this parliament. Over the next 5 years £2.5 billion will also be invested in the Security and Intelligence Agencies to create a bigger more capable global security and intelligence network. This is significant funding. It matches the severity of the terrorist threat, it demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the brave men and women in the police and intelligence agencies, and it is helping to keep people safe.

01/01/2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans continued participation in the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The UK will continue to participate in the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training until we leave the EU. Future participation after we leave the EU is a matter for the forthcoming negotiations.

01/01/2023
Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reintroduce charges for museum entry in the next year.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

This Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in the 2015 Conservative Party general election manifesto.

01/01/2023