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  • Bill Cash – 2022 Speech on Migration and Economic Development

    Bill Cash – 2022 Speech on Migration and Economic Development

    The speech made by Bill Cash, the Conservative MP for Stone, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    Although the High Court ruled that the Rwanda policy is lawful, as has been said there were only eight asylum claimants. Those cases have all been set aside by the Court, which said in its ruling that the circumstances of each claimant had not been considered properly. Latest Home Office website figures currently show that more than 160,000 individual cases are outstanding. Furthermore, as the Home Secretary—in whom I have the greatest confidence—stated, the European Court judge who issued the injunction clearly did so without proper consideration of the Rwanda policy, and such rulings do not command our respect.

    Does my right hon. and learned Friend accept that for all those reasons it becomes more essential than ever to apply the “notwithstanding” formula to the new legislation that the Prime Minister has announced for mid-January? That must also distinguish in our own law between genuine refugees and illegal economic migrants, not only in the interests of saving life, but also to prevent organised criminality, and to assert UK parliamentary sovereignty, overriding the European convention on human rights, and at the same time dealing comprehensively with the current backlog of those 160,000 outstanding asylum cases.

    Suella Braverman

    My hon. Friend makes an important point. The European Court of Human Rights did not rule on the lawfulness of our policy. It did not rule that the policy or relocations were unlawful, but it did none the less prohibit the removal of individuals on the 15 June flight, via interim and injunctive relief. We have a proud tradition of defending fundamental rights in this country, and we will always retain a robust approach to protecting and preserving human rights. However, that does not mean that we will have a migration system that can be abused and exploited by those who do not have legitimate claims to be here. As the Prime Minister announced last week, we will be bringing forward legislation to ensure that we have a robust migration system and secure borders.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on Migration and Economic Development

    Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on Migration and Economic Development

    The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    The Government have failed to stop criminal gangs putting lives at risk and proliferating along our borders; they have failed to prosecute or convict the gang members; and they have failed to take basic asylum decisions, which are down by 40% in the last six years. Instead of sorting out those problems, however, they have put forward an unworkable, unethical and extremely expensive Rwanda plan that risks making trafficking worse.

    The Home Secretary describes today’s court judgment as a vindication, but I wonder whether she has read it, because it sets out evidence of serious problems in Home Office decision making. It also identifies the significant financial costs of the scheme and the very limited number of people who will be covered, and certainly identifies no evidence that it will act as a deterrent or address the serious problems that we face.

    The court concluded that the Home Office’s decision making in each of the eight cases considered was so flawed and chaotic that those individual decisions have had to be quashed. There were cases of literally mixing up evidence and the names of individuals, so the Home Office was making decisions on the wrong people; there was confusion between teams in Glasgow and Croydon about who was deciding what and which information should be shared; and evidence of torture and trafficking was not considered. We also know that the Home Office attempted to send heavily pregnant women to Rwanda.

    That is a damning indictment of the decision-making process in the Home Office, which we know is not working because no decision has been made on 98% of the small boat arrivals in the last 12 months. Ministers seem to have decided that they are so incapable of getting a grip on the asylum system and of taking asylum decisions effectively here in the UK that they want to pay a country halfway across the world to take those decisions for us.

    On the lawfulness of the decision, the Court accepted that Rwanda does not have the processing capacity, including interpreters and legal support, needed to take asylum decisions, but it concluded that the agreement was still lawful because of two key points: the number of people Rwanda takes will be very limited; and lots more money will be provided by the UK Government. The Home Secretary did not tell us about any of those things. Will she now tell us, first, how many people she expects to send to Rwanda next year? Rwanda has said that it can accommodate 200 people. That is the people from 0.5% of this year’s channel crossings. The Home Office itself has said that there is no evidence that the scheme will act as a deterrent, and that the scheme is unenforceable and has a high risk of fraud.

    Secondly, can the Home Secretary tell us the full cost? The Court said that significant additional funding would be provided. The Government have already written Rwanda two cheques this year: one for £120 million, and another this summer for £20 million. Millions more are promised—but how much more? How much will the scheme end up costing per person? It looks as though it will be more than £1 million per person.

    Thirdly, the Court judgment says that there is no evidence that the UK Government sought to investigate either the terms of the Rwanda-Israel agreement or the way it had worked in practice. Why on earth not? That agreement was abandoned, and there is evidence that it increased trafficking and the activity of criminal gangs. Convictions for people smuggling have already dropped by 75% in two years; convictions for people trafficking are already pitifully low; and a former chief constable has warned that the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 will make that worse. Time and again, the Government have failed to tackle the criminal gangs driving the problem, and to make them pay the price. Instead of pursuing this unworkable, unethical, extortionately expensive and deeply damaging policy, the Government should use the money that they are investing in it to go after the gangs that are putting lives at risk. All that they are doing, time and again, is chasing headlines, which is a damaging distraction from the serious hard work that is needed to tackle the gangs and sort out the asylum system.

    The Home Secretary has said that the Conservatives are in the last chance saloon. Their policies put them there, and have let the country down. They are always ramping up the rhetoric, and never doing the serious, hard work, or using common sense. Britain deserves better than this. Britain is better than this.

    Suella Braverman

    I am very disappointed by the response from the shadow Home Secretary, and I am concerned that she is seeking to go against a legitimate, rigorous decision set out exhaustively by our independent judiciary, and is still suggesting that this is an illegitimate scheme. We see in the judgment that the scheme is lawful on several grounds. The judgment looked at the legislative authority for the scheme. It looked very closely at the claims that it breached articles 3 and 14 of the European convention on human rights, and article 31 of the refugee convention. It looked closely at whether it was fair, and at whether the right of access to justice was respected. It looked very closely at other public law grounds. On all those claims, the Home Office won. The Court concluded that it was and is lawful for the Government to make arrangements to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda, and for asylum claims to be determined in Rwanda, rather than in the UK. The judgment is a comprehensive analysis of the reasons why.

    The right hon. Lady asks about the eight individual cases. We accept the Court’s judgment on those cases. We have already taken steps to strengthen the caseworking process, including revising the information and guidance given to individuals during their assessment for relocation, but we have been clear throughout that no one will be relocated if that is unsafe for them, and support is offered to individuals throughout the process to ensure that it is fair and robust.

    The simple truth is that Labour Members have opposed every one of our efforts to deter illegal migration. They opposed the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, life sentences for people smugglers, and the removal of foreign national offenders, including drug dealers and rapists. All they offer is obstruction, criticism, the performative politics of opposition, and magical thinking. What do they actually offer? They say that we should return to the failed Dublin scheme—no matter that it was ineffective, and no matter that the EU does not want it. Labour Members want safe and legal routes as the answer, no matter that this Government have done more than any other in recent history, offering sanctuary to more than 450,000 people by safe and legal routes. No matter that Labour Members cannot define what routes they would stand up themselves, or that our capacity is not unlimited, and that there are more than 100 million people displaced globally. Would Labour give them all a safe and legal route to the UK?

    We cannot indulge in fictions. A fundamental reason why Labour Members cannot articulate a plan is that they cannot be honest with the British public about what they really want. The shadow Home Secretary could not even decide whether she would repeal illegal entry, even though she voted against it. Labour’s solution would be to turn our crisis of illegal migration into a crisis of legal migration, with open borders by the back door. Unlimited safe and legal routes are simply open borders masquerading as humanitarianism. Last week the Prime Minister and I announced our plan to tackle small boats. Today the Court affirmed the legality of a central piece of that plan, and tomorrow Labour still will not have a plan.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Migration and Economic Development

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Migration and Economic Development

    The statement made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the UK’s migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda.

    One hundred million people are displaced globally. Others want to move to a different country, often for economic reasons. This presents an enormous challenge for sought-after destinations such as the United Kingdom. Since 2015, this kind and generous country has welcomed nearly 450,000 people through safe and legal routes. The British people are eager to help those in need and they support controlled migration. They have opened their homes to refugees. But they do not want open borders.

    For decades the British people were told that this was immoral and that their concerns and opinions did not matter. Even today we see from certain quarters an unhealthy contempt for anyone who wants controlled migration. Such an attitude is unhelpful. Moreover, it is fanciful. We do not have infinite capacity. Already we are struggling to accommodate new arrivals, meaning that we spend millions every day in hotel bills alone.

    We cannot tolerate people coming here illegally. It is not legitimate to leave a safe country such as France to seek asylum in the United Kingdom. We have to break the business model of the people-smuggling gangs. Their trade in human cargo is evil and lethal, as we were tragically reminded very recently.

    There is a global migration crisis and it requires international solutions. In April, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), backed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), signed a ground-breaking migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda. They deserve enormous credit for their work on this. We agreed that people who come to the UK via dangerous, illegal and unnecessary means can be relocated to Rwanda to have their asylum claims considered there. Those in need of protection will be given up to five years of support, including education and employment training, along with help with integration, accommodation and healthcare.

    Being relocated to Rwanda is not a punishment but an innovative way of addressing a major problem to redress the imbalance between illegal and legal migration routes. It will also ensure that those in genuine need of international protection are provided with it in Rwanda. It is a humane and practical alternative for those who come here through dangerous, illegal and unnecessary routes. By making it clear that they cannot expect to stay in the UK, we will deter more people from coming here and make such routes unviable.

    There has been a great deal of misinformation about Rwanda. I visited Rwanda myself several years ago. She is a state party to the 1951 United Nations refugee convention and the seven core United Nations human rights conventions. It is a safe and dynamic country with a thriving economy. It has an excellent record of supporting refugees and vulnerable migrants. The UN has used Rwanda for the relocation of vulnerable migrants from Libya—and this was first funded by the European Union. Many migrants, including refugees, have already built excellent lives in Rwanda. Our partnership is a significant investment in that country and further strengthens our relationship.

    A myth still persists that the Home Office’s permanent secretary opposed this agreement. For the record, he did not. Nor did he assert that it is definitely poor value for money. He stated, in his role as accounting officer, that the policy is regular, proper and feasible, but that there is not currently sufficient evidence to demonstrate value for money. As he would be the first to agree, it is for Ministers to take decisions having received officials’ advice. Once the partnership is up and running, he will continue to monitor its efficacy, including value for money.

    In June, the first plane was ready to relocate people to Rwanda. Our domestic courts—the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court—upheld our right to send the flight. However, following an order by an out-of-hours judge in the European Court of Human Rights, the flight was cancelled. The European Court of Human Rights did not rule that the policy or relocations were unlawful, but it prohibited the removal of specific people. This was a “without notice” order and the UK was not invited to make representations to oppose it. As a result, we have been unable to operate relocation flights pending ongoing legal proceedings, but we have continued to prepare by issuing notices of intent for those eligible for relocation, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister recently outlined a comprehensive new approach to illegal migration.

    A judicial review was brought against the Rwanda partnership by a number of organisations and individual asylum seekers. The first part of proceedings considered a case that the partnership is unlawful; the second part argued that UK domestic processes under the partnership are unfair; and the third part argued that the policy is contrary to data protection laws. Today in the High Court, in a judgment spanning more than 130 pages, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift held that it is indeed lawful for the Government to make arrangements for relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda and for their asylum claims to be determined in Rwanda rather than in the United Kingdom. The court further held that the relocation of asylum seekers to Rwanda is consistent with the refugee convention and with the statutory and other legal obligations on the Government, including the obligations imposed by the Human Rights Act 1998.

    This judgment thoroughly vindicates the Rwanda partnership. Earlier today, I spoke to my Rwandan counterpart, Minister Vincent Biruta, and we confirmed our joint and steadfast resolve to deliver the partnership at scale as soon as possible. It is what the overwhelming majority of the British people want to happen. The sooner it is up and running, the sooner we will break the business model of the evil gangs and bring an end to the illegal, unnecessary and unsafe channel crossings. Now that our courts have affirmed its legality, I invite the Opposition to get behind this plan. I commend this statement to the House.

  • Wes Streeting – 2022 Speech on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    Wes Streeting – 2022 Speech on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    May I wish you, Mr Speaker, and all staff of the House a merry Christmas? I also thank the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) for securing this urgent question. I put on record my deepest condolences to the families of the children who have tragically passed away with strep A. The news that cases are surging has been deeply worrying for parents of children showing symptoms, and it comes at a time when the NHS is facing unprecedented pressure.

    We first heard about shortages of antibiotics to treat strep A almost two weeks ago, but when my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition raised the issue with the Prime Minister, he said:

    “There are no current shortages of drugs available”.—[Official Report, 7 December 2022; Vol. 724, c. 333.]

    At the same time, parents were going from pharmacy to pharmacy to find the antibiotics their children had been prescribed, and they simply were not available. Why did the Prime Minister not know that there was a problem, when it was plain to see for parents of young people across the country? Had the Government been aware of the problem sooner, surely they could have acted to secure supplies earlier? The Minister said that there has been no shortage, just a supply chain issue. For a parent turning up to a pharmacy and finding that it does not have the antibiotics, it does not make much difference whether this is called a shortage or a supply chain issue, as the antibiotics are not there. The Government must get a grip on this situation and be honest with the public about the reality on the ground.

    In addition to the export ban, will the Minister tell the House exactly what the Government are doing to shore up supply of drugs needed to treat strep A? During the past couple of weeks, as desperate parents have been looking for antibiotics, prices have disgracefully shot up. Will the Minister assure the House that the Government will come down like a ton of bricks on any company found to be exploiting this situation by jacking up prices for medication?

    This is about access to not just medicine, but GPs and A&E. Parents concerned about symptoms are advised to seek prompt medical advice, yet about one in seven patients cannot get a GP appointment when they need one, a record 2 million patients are made to wait a month before they see a GP and A&E departments are overwhelmed. So will the Minister assure parents of children with symptoms of strep A that they will be able to see a GP when they need to? Finally, given that there are strikes planned in the NHS this week, may I ask the Minister whether the Secretary of State plans to update the House tomorrow and explain the Government’s disgraceful inaction on that issue too?

    Maria Caulfield

    Let me reassure Members that, as I said in my opening remarks, there is no shortage of antibiotics to deal with strep A. There have been pressures on supplies; there have been five to six times the amount of prescriptions that are normally issued at this time of year. Let me give the House an idea of the sorts of figures we are talking about. This season, we have seen 74 deaths across all age groups in England, with 16 of them, unfortunately, having been deaths of children under 18—the vast majority have been among the over-65s. In the 2017-18 peak, we had 355 deaths of all ages, with 27 of those being deaths of children under 18. That just gives us an idea of the scale of the difference compared with the peak of 2017-18. We have put significant measures in place to expedite that supply. Manufacturers are ramping up production lines. Deliveries to pharmacies have been happening every day, but often when the supplies arrive there they go very quickly. That is why we have issued the SSPs already, so that pharmacies can allow the different medication to be dispensed, and the alternative antibiotics are there as well. May I also put on record my thanks to GPs and A&E staff, who have seen record numbers of people, particularly children, with concerns about strep A? We did lower the threshold to prescribe antibiotics and they have gone above and beyond in seeing as many children as they can, as quickly as possible.

  • Daisy Cooper – 2022 Speech on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    Daisy Cooper – 2022 Speech on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    The speech made by Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat MP for St. Albans, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    Across the country, parents are worried sick about the sharp rise in strep A infections. Tragically, strep A has caused the death of at least 19 children since September.

    Last Thursday, just a few days after insisting there were no shortages, the Government finally admitted that there were indeed serious shortages of three penicillin medicines and issued serious shortage protocols to give pharmacists emergency powers to deal with supply issues. Why on earth did they take so long?

    The Government will have seen the data on the number of prescriptions for strep A antibiotics, which started to rise more than a month ago. Health professionals, including Leyla Hannbeck, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, have been raising the alarm publicly for more than two weeks, and I called for a strep A summit to resolve the supply issues. Because the Government did not come clean sooner about the shortage of antibiotics, parents who are worried about their children have been left to travel to multiple pharmacies, GPs have had to find time to rewrite prescriptions and A&E departments have been overwhelmed by anxious parents and children who cannot access medical help when they need it.

    Why have the Government taken so long to act? Did they not look at prescription data, or did they just ignore it? Why did the Secretary of State insist on television that there were no shortages, when GPs, pharmacists, directors of public health and parents all said that there were? After shortages of lateral flow tests, hormone replacement therapy and so on—you name it—why are we in this position again? The Government seem incapable of forward planning, and we are stuck in a shortage groundhog day. Can the Minister update us on the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the sharp rise in the prices of antibiotics?

    Finally, we are in the lead-up to Christmas. Pharmacists have told me that some key contacts in the manufacturing companies are already on leave for the Christmas holiday. Families are making difficult decisions about the safety of their children and extended family. What action will the Government take now to ensure that families across the country can access the antibiotics they might need over the entire Christmas period?

    Maria Caulfield

    I reassure the hon. Lady that we have not waited to act. We have already issued serious shortage protocols, which are routine mechanisms when there is pressure on supplies. We have the stock of antibiotics in the country—as I outlined in my opening remarks, it is about supply issues. We are seeing five to six times the amount of antibiotics being prescribed at the moment. That is because the UK Health Security Agency has issued guidance to GPs, A&Es and healthcare professionals to lower the threshold of when they would normally give antibiotics. We are seeing significantly increased use of antibiotics. That is in addition to the prophylactic use of antibiotics by directors of public health, if they have had an outbreak locally. That is why we issued the initial SSPs already a couple of weeks ago so that pharmacists had flexibility in how they dispensed that medication. It is why on Friday we issued the new SSPs, which allow amoxicillin, clarithromycin, flucloxacillin, cefalexin, co-amoxiclav and erythromycin to be issued instead, if pharmacists do not have Penicillin V on their shelves. We are being as flexible as possible to give pharmacists that scope.

    We are monitoring this issue on a daily basis. May I reassure people that while these are higher than usual incidences for this time of year, overall for this season we are not yet at the 2017, 2018 levels, where we had a significantly higher number of deaths? Strep A occurs not just in—[Interruption.] Hon. Members do not want to listen. I think I have said enough.

  • Maria Caulfield – 2022 Statement on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    Maria Caulfield – 2022 Statement on the Supply of Strep A Treatments

    The statement made by Maria Caulfield, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I know families are concerned about the recent outbreak of strep A in children. Although the vast majority of strep A cases are mild and can easily be treated with antibiotics, a small number of children have gone on to develop serious infections.

    The UK Health Security Agency has already declared a national enhanced incident to co-ordinate our public response. Increased demand has led to some temporary supply issues, but I reassure Members on both sides of the House that we have stock of antibiotics and have taken a number of steps to deal with some of the supply issues.

    First, we have worked at pace to help to ensure that there are supplies of vital medicines to meet the increased demand. Earlier this month, we convened roundtables with manufacturers of the preferred treatment, penicillin V, and with major UK wholesalers. We continue to work with manufacturers and wholesalers to boost supply to meet demand. The key issue is getting stock to pharmacies across the country. We have brought forward stock to make sure it gets to where it is needed, and we are expediting deliveries. Deliveries to wholesalers and pharmacies continues to be made, with more expected in the coming days and weeks.

    Secondly, we have issued eight serious shortage protocols to allow pharmacists to supply not only alternative forms of penicillin, but alternative antibiotics. This will make things easier for pharmacists, general practitioners and, of course, patients. We have also added a number of antibiotics to our list of medicines that cannot be exported or hoarded.

    Finally, we have updated advice across the board. Further guidance was given to GPs and pharmacists on Friday as part of the new SSPs. My Department has provided advice to colleagues in primary and secondary care on the management of the current supply issues. We have also held a cross-party briefing for MPs, and a “Dear Colleague” letter will go out later today.

    I know this is a worrying time for families across the country, but I reassure them and people across the healthcare sector that we are managing the higher-than-normal number of strep A cases this winter and we have a range of medicines available.

  • Michael Gove – 2022 Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement 2023-24

    Michael Gove – 2022 Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement 2023-24

    The statement made by Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    Introduction

    On 12 December, I published a policy statement outlining proposals for the 2023-24 local government finance settlement and details of funding in 2024-25. Today, I have set out the provisional local government finance settlement for 2023-24 and launched our formal consultation on the proposals. This settlement provides a 9% increase in national level core spending power, making available almost £5 billion in additional resources, demonstrating how Government stand behind councils up and down the country.

    Together, the policy statement published on 12 December, and this proposed settlement:

    Give multi-year certainty to local authorities, allowing them to plan ahead with more confidence over the rest of the spending review period.

    Ensure stability by introducing a one-off funding guarantee to ensure that every council sees at least a 3% increase in core spending power next year before any local decisions on council tax rates.

    Provide around £2 billion in additional grant for children’s and adult social care in 2023-24.

    Maintain a balance on council tax, protecting residents from excessive increases while allowing councils to generate income to deliver local services.

    Certainty

    Local government has long called for greater certainty on funding following repeated one-year settlements. In the policy statement published on 12 December, the Government have provided this certainty by setting out clearly our intentions and proposals for the 2024-25 settlement.

    Stability

    Government recognise that all local authorities are facing pressures. In this proposed settlement we are taking action to provide stability for all local authorities, across all tiers of local government, to support the vital work they undertake for communities across the country.

    We are introducing a new, one-off funding guarantee that ensures every local authority will see a minimum 3% increase in their core spending power, before taking any local decisions to increase council tax rates.

    Social Care

    Adult and children’s social care services provide crucial support to care users and young people in need, and this proposed settlement provides significant additional funding for this key area of concern. Government have listened, and we know that many local authorities are already facing difficult decisions brought on by inflationary and demand pressures. This is why we are providing around £2 billion in additional grant for social care, compared to 2022-23. Additionally, for social care authorities, we are consulting on a 2% precept for 2023-24. The council tax referendum provisions are not a cap, nor do they force councils to set taxes at the threshold level. When taking decisions on council tax levels, local authorities should recognise the pressures many households are facing.

    We have also listened to councils’ concerns about implementing adult social care charging reform in light of these pressures. That is why Government have made the difficult decision to delay these reforms, and to prioritise core pressures rather than risk destabilising the market. The funding intended for implementation will be retained in local authority budgets.

    Council Tax

    The Government’s manifesto commits to continuing to protect local taxpayers from excessive council tax increases. This is an additional local democratic check and balance to avoid a repeat of what was seen under the last Labour Government when council tax more than doubled. The Government intend to proceed with a core referendum principle of 3% for 2023-24. Furthermore, we are proposing a bespoke council tax referendum principle of up to 3% or £5, whichever is higher, for shire districts. On top of this, we intend to proceed with a £5 referendum principle on band D bills for all fire and rescue authorities and a £15 referendum principle on band D bills for police and crime commissioners.

    This proposed package of referendum principles strikes a fair balance. The council tax referendum provisions are not a cap, nor do they force councils to set taxes at the threshold level.

    The Mayor of London has requested flexibility to levy an additional £20 on band D bills to the Greater London Authority (GLA) precept to provide extra funding for Transport for London (TfL). The Government have expressed ongoing concern about the management of TfL by this Mayor, and it is disappointing that London taxpayers are having to foot the bill for the GLA’s poor governance and decision making. While the Government will not oppose this request, any decision to increase the precept is solely one for the Mayor, who should take into account the pressures that Londoners are currently facing on living costs and his decision to raise his share of council tax by 8.8% last year.

    We are also today announcing £100 million of additional funding for local authorities to support the most vulnerable households in England. This funding will allow councils to deliver additional support to the 3.8 million households already receiving council tax support, whilst also providing councils with the resources and flexibility to determine the local approaches to support other vulnerable households in their area.

    Conclusion

    These proposals will provide councils with the support they need. They give certainty, ensure stability, provide significant additional resources for social care, and maintain balance on council tax.

    I welcome representations from all interested parties on the consultation we have launched today. The consultation will run until 16 January. The Local Government Minister will also be holding engagement sessions for Members of Parliament in the week commencing 9 January 2023.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Enabling the Legitimate Movement of People and Goods

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Enabling the Legitimate Movement of People and Goods

    The statement made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    Passports are about to enter the busy period in January, and plans are well advanced in preparation for that and for a high level of demand forecast across 2023. There was record demand for passport applications this year, with approximately 7.4 million applications processed by the end of October. Service standards have remained high since November, and 99.9% of UK standard applications were completed within the 10-week service standard in the week ending 20 November. Every effort is being made to return to the three-week service standard.

    The visa service has faced significant demands post pandemic and following Ukraine, and higher than forecast levels of demand. Considering this, it is performing well under pressure and, through supportive contingency measures, standard applications have returned to service standards and we are on track for complex applications to also return to service standards in December.

    Despite these challenges, staff productivity has remained high, and we continue to manage staff flexibly across services to reduce work in progress to minimal levels for passport and deliver the visa recovery by the year end.

    Border Force has seen passenger numbers increase to near pre-pandemic levels by the end of summer and also managed the introduction of post-EU exit goods checks and the first full year of EU citizens requiring passports and additional checks. The eGates have performed well and IT resilience has been strong, enabling over 90% of passengers to cross borders within tolerance levels.

    Border Force also reached its annual target for cigarette and tobacco seizures within seven months of 2022-23. In October, £35 million-worth of cigarettes and tobacco were seized, bringing the year-to-date total to £255 million —101%—of the annual target of £252 million. On alcohol, Border Force seized £4.3 million, bringing the year-to-date total to £25.1 million—63%—of the annual target of £40 million.

    The FBIS programme has built up the expertise and capability to reduce significantly the time taken to launch a brand-new visa route or to amend criteria for existing visa applications.

    We have made significant progress in digitising the immigration system. We are increasingly replacing physical and paper-based products and services with accessible, easy-to-use online and digital services. This has provided applicants with an easy online application process, including providing biometrics and establishing or verifying identity using their smartphones. A fully digital application process has been delivered for the BN(O) route and some points-based system routes and now for Ukraine schemes.

    All these achievements have been delivered against a challenging background and represent a significant effort across the Home Office in continuing to deliver on the people’s priorities. The Home Office remains committed to keeping the public safe, protecting our borders, and countering hostile state threats.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Tackling Illegal Migration

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Tackling Illegal Migration

    The statement made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    This year has been challenging for our efforts to tackle illegal migration due to pressures on the system, particularly due to consistently high numbers of arrivals by small boats and pressures on available accommodation, which have been exacerbated by responding to the war in Ukraine and continued instability in Afghanistan. I will continue to protect the public and keep our borders secure and the British people safe from harm.

    The Prime Minister recently set out a range of significant new steps the Government are taking to tackle the challenge of illegal migration, including:

    A new deal with Albania and changes to our approach to speed up the removal of Albanians with no right to be here. This includes assurances from Albania that it can offer the required protection, in line with our international obligations, to genuine victims of modern slavery; embedding Border Force officers in Tirana airport; increasing the threshold for people referred to the modern slavery system; establishing a unit to expedite Albanian claims, with 400 specialist staff and new country guidance for our caseworkers, making it clear that Albania is a safe country.

    Establishing a new, permanent unified small boats operational command, with 700 additional dedicated staff to deliver a more co-ordinated response to tackling crossings; bringing together military, civilian and NCA expertise to co-ordinate our intelligence, interception, processing and enforcement.

    Clearing the initial asylum decision backlog of legacy cases by the end of next year. We will make an initial decision in all cases that have been outstanding since before 28 June 2022.

    Plans to bring forward legislation next year to prevent abuse of our legal framework, which will make it unambiguously clear that people entering illegally should have no right to stay here, and will be returned to their home country or a safe country for their asylum claim to be considered.

    Due to the unprecedented number of small boat arrivals and the pressure from covid-19 on the asylum system, it has been necessary to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers. This is only ever a short-term solution and we are working with our accommodation providers to find appropriate dispersed accommodation across the UK.

    The new UK-French agreement that I agreed with my counterpart lays the foundations for deeper co-operation to tackle illegal migration and marks the next step for the close operational partnership between the two countries, which has prevented over 31,500 crossings—nearly 50% more than to this point in 2021.

    The arrangement means that, for the first time, specialist UK officers will also be embedded with their French counterparts, which will increase information sharing, improve understanding of the threat, and ensure that UK expertise is at the heart of efforts to disrupt crossings and clamp down on people smugglers. This more integrated approach will also include strengthened operational co-operation, including joint UK-France analysis teams, supporting the co-ordination and exchange of information by French command headquarters. We have signed the biggest small boats joint bilateral deal with France; we have put the Calais group on a permanent footing, showing the importance of this issue to our European partners; and we have agreed new levels of intelligence co-operation with our European neighbours.

    These measures build on the progress we have made through the year. We have introduced part 5 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which provides legislative clarity to victims and decision makers on victims’ rights, including the entitlement to a recovery period and the circumstances in which it may be withheld.

    We continue to return foreign national offenders by scheduled and charter flights. From January 2019 to March 2022, we have removed 11,532 FNOs. Since April 2020, we have chartered 156 flights to Europe and around the world. In the year ending June 2022, there were 3,250 enforced returns, of which 1,600 were to EU countries.

    Safe and Legal Routes

    We have continued to support those fleeing conflicts abroad, granting indefinite leave to remain to over 11,300 individuals from Afghanistan under ARAP or ACRS pathway 1.

    As of 24 November, 202,710 visas have been granted and 146,222 have arrived in the UK from Ukraine; 59,480 have been granted and 41,093 people have arrived under the Ukraine Family Scheme; and 143,230 visas have been granted and 105,129 arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

    Through the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route, there have been a total of 150,600 applications since its introduction on 31 January 2021 up to the end of September 2022, of which there were 144,576 grants—96%.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Policing

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Policing

    The statement made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

    Police Uplift

    The police uplift programme continues to support forces with additional police officers, and we remain on track to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. Data published on 30 September 2022 shows that 15,343 additional officers have already been recruited, accounting for 77% of our target. There are now 11 forces with the highest number of officers they have ever had: Cheshire, Dyfed-Powys, Essex, Kent, City of London, the Metropolitan, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, South Wales, Suffolk, and Thames Valley.

    The police workforce is more representative than ever before. For the first time ever, there are over 50,000 female officers—50,364, as at 30 September 2022, which is 34.9% of all officers in post. There were 11,477 ethnic minority officers, as at 30 September 2022, which is 8.2% of all officers in post, the highest figures on record.

    Police Performance

    His Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, fire and rescue services continues to shine a light on force performance. Humberside received an excellent report from its latest inspection, with six “outstanding” grades. Humberside was awarded the “outstanding” grade for preventing crime, treatment of the public, protecting vulnerable people, managing offenders, developing a positive workplace and good use of resources. It received a further two “good” grades and one “adequate” grade.

    Greater Manchester Police has made great strides in getting the basics right. Under strong leadership, it is responding faster to emergency calls and halved the number of open investigations since 2021. HMICFRS removed GMP from its “engage” phase in October 2022. I am pleased to see GMP working so constructively with HMICFRS and others to act on its inspection findings. I encourage others to learn from its experience.

    Six police forces remain “engaged” by HMICFRS, and I expect all forces to make the necessary improvements and work towards restoring public trust and confidence in the police.

    Police Culture

    We recognise that police culture and standards need to improve to rebuild public trust and confidence. We are bringing forward part 2 of the Angiolini inquiry to focus on these issues and are reviewing the process of dismissals to ensure that policing can swiftly remove officers who fall well short of the standards expected of them.

    We have commissioned the National Police Chiefs’ Council to conduct a review of operational productivity in policing, led by Sir Stephen House. This will address issues that may affect the anticipated outcomes from our investment in policing.

    We believe that a policing career must be open to talented and committed people from across our communities, including those who do not have a degree or want one. That is why I have commissioned the College of Policing to develop options for a new non-degree entry route. The current transitional non-degree entry route will be kept open in the meantime.

    Reducing the Risk to Homeland Security

    The Home Office has continued to focus relentlessly on reducing risk across the full range of threats to our homeland security. In October, counter-terrorism police responded swiftly to an attack on a migration facility in Dover that was declared as terrorism.

    On 30 October we announced a refresh of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. This will ensure that we are able to best protect the public from the enduring threat of terrorism. The refresh will maintain clarity and consistency of purpose, and ensure that the necessary tools are in place to tackle terrorist hatred and violence.

    Our counter-terrorism system never stops learning. Volume 2 of the Manchester Arena inquiry was published on 3 November 2022. This covered the emergency services’ response on the night of the attack. The Government will respond fully when all three volumes have been published. However, we are already enhancing our response using the learning from the attacks—for example, in improving joint working between the emergency services—which will feed the refresh of CONTEST. We have also received the independent review of Prevent, which we will look to publish next year alongside His Majesty’s Government’s response. We will reflect the lessons and learning from the Shawcross review, along with those from the numerous inquests, inquiries and other reviews from recent years through the CONTEST refresh.

    I have today issued a further written ministerial statement providing an update on our progress on developing Martyn’s law—also known as the protect duty. This is a significant milestone in the development of this legislation—the first of its kind—which will keep people safe by scaling up preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks. This legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows. This is a recommendation in Volume 1 of the Manchester Arena inquiry. This duty has been tirelessly campaigned for by Figen Murray, who tragically lost her son Martyn in the Manchester Arena attack. I would like to pay tribute to her, alongside all other victims, survivors and those affected by these heinous events.

    Access to data is fundamental to the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes. The UK-US data access agreement entered into force on 5th October 2022. This world-first capability will fundamentally change the way we are able to fight serious crime across the UK, including terrorism, organised immigration crime and child abuse. The agreement permits certain UK public authorities to obtain data directly from US-based communications service providers. This will allow us to access vital data more quickly than ever before. Operational benefits are already being derived from the agreement.

    Earlier in the year, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office delivered a transformative package of work through emergency legislation to strengthen financial sanctions legislation, creating new register of overseas entities and reforming unexplained wealth orders.

    We are building on that work through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on 22 September 2022. This cracks down even further on kleptocrats, criminals and terrorists who abuse our open economy, and ensures that we drive out dirty money from the UK. It strengthens the UK’s reputation as a place where legitimate businesses can thrive and enhances our ability to tackle new and emerging threats such as the use of crypto-assets, ransomware and the growth of cyber-enabled fraud.

    The National Crime Agency’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell is also delivering significant success, with nearly 100 disruptions against Putin-linked elites and their enablers. It has frozen over £18 billion-worth of assets in the UK. On 1 December 2022 it conducted a major operation to arrest a wealthy Russian businessman on suspicion of offences including money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury.

    The National Security Bill, which is now at its Committee stage in the House of Lords, represents a fundamental reform of our framework for tackling state threats. It includes a suite of new measures to tackle the full range of modern-day state threats, from sabotage and spying to foreign interference and economic espionage. It will ensure that our world-class law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the modern tools, powers and protections they need to counter those who seek to do the UK harm.

    The first meeting of the new Defending Democracy taskforce took place on 28 November 2022. The taskforce’s primary focus will be to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference. The taskforce will work across Government and with Parliament, the UK intelligence community, the devolved Administrations, local authorities and the private sector on the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions.