Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab) (Urgent
Question):To ask the Home Secretary if she will make a statement
about refugees from Ukraine. The Secretary of State for the Home
Department (Priti Patel) I am grateful for this opportunity to
update the House on the Government’s humanitarian response to
Putin’s depraved war on Ukraine. As the House knows, the UK’s
humanitarian support for Ukraine has been developed following close
consultation...Request free trial
(Normanton, Pontefract and
Castleford) (Lab)
(Urgent Question):To ask the Home Secretary if she will make a
statement about refugees from Ukraine.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department ()
I am grateful for this opportunity to update the House on the
Government’s humanitarian response to Putin’s depraved war on
Ukraine. As the House knows, the UK’s humanitarian support for
Ukraine has been developed following close consultation with its
Government and Governments in the region. On 4 March, I launched
the Ukraine family scheme, which applies to immediate and
extended Ukrainian family members, and everyone eligible is
granted three years’ leave to enter or remain. Today, I want to
set out further changes that I am making to the process to make
it quicker and simpler.
I have two overarching obligations: first, to keep the British
people safe; secondly, to do all we can to help Ukrainians. No
Home Secretary can take these decisions lightly, and I am in
daily contact with the intelligence and security agencies, which
are providing me with regular threat assessments. What happened
in Salisbury showed what Putin is willing to do on our soil. It
also demonstrated that a small number of people with evil
intentions can wreak havoc on our streets.
This morning, I received assurances that enable me to announce
changes to the Ukraine family scheme. Based on the new advice
that I have received, I am now in the position to announce that
vital security checks will continue on all cases. From Tuesday,
Ukrainians with passports will no longer need to go to a visa
application centre to give their biometrics before they come to
the UK. Instead, once their application has been considered and
the appropriate checks completed, they will receive direct
notification that they are eligible for the scheme and can come
to the UK.
In short, Ukrainians with passports will be able to get
permission to come here fully online from wherever they are and
will be able to give their biometrics once they are in Britain.
That will mean that visa application centres across Europe can
focus their efforts on helping Ukrainians without passports. We
have increased the capacity at those centres to over 13,000
appointments a week. That streamlined approach will be
operational as of Tuesday 15 March in order to make the relevant
technology and IT changes.
I will of course update the House if the security picture changes
and if it becomes necessary to make further changes to protect
our domestic homeland security. Threat assessments are always
changing and we will always keep our approach under review. In
the meantime, I once again salute the heroism of the Ukrainian
people.
I have to ask the Home Secretary, why does it always take being
hauled into the House of Commons to make basic changes to help
vulnerable people who are fleeing from Ukraine?
A maternity hospital was bombed yesterday in an attack on newborn
babies and women giving birth. People are fleeing for their lives
and, up to now, the response from the Home Office has been a
total disgrace, bringing shame upon our country. A 90-year-old
holocaust survivor was left in makeshift accommodation in Poland
even though her granddaughter was struggling to get here. Mums
with small kids have been told that they cannot get an
appointment for weeks and have had to queue for days to get
biometrics in freezing weather in Rzeszów, only to be told that
they then have to travel 200 miles to Warsaw to pick up their
visas.
It is welcome that the Home Secretary is now introducing the
online approach. We know that different ways of doing this were
tried for Hong Kong visas, but why has it taken so long when she
has had intelligence for weeks, if not months, that she needed to
prepare for a Russian invasion of Ukraine? If we still have to
wait until Tuesday for this new system to come in, what is to
happen for everybody else in the meantime? Why is she not
bringing in the armed forces? They have offered to help. We have
had 1,000 troops on stand-by to provide humanitarian help for two
weeks, so why not use them now to set up the emergency centres
and to get people passported through as rapidly as possible and
get them into the country?
What about the Ukrainian nurse here on a healthcare visa? Is she
finally to be allowed to bring her elderly parents to the
country, which we have asked for for so long? Is this still just
being restricted to those with family? Are they still going to
have to fill in multiple online forms, or will the Home Secretary
say that all those who want to come to the UK having fled the
fighting in Ukraine can now come here without having to fill in
loads of online forms or jump through a whole load of hoops?
This has just been shameful. We are pushing vulnerable people
from pillar to post in their hour of need. Week after week we
have seen this happen. It is deeply wrong to leave people in this
terrible state. Our country is better than this. If she cannot
get this sorted out, frankly she should hand the job over to
somebody else who can.
As ever, I am delighted to be in the Chamber. In fact, Mr
Speaker, as you know, we were intending to give a statement this
morning, so far from the comments from the Opposition Members,
the right hon. Lady should have some perspective on all this.
If I may, I will just respond to some of the points that the
Opposition party has made—of course, it is the job of the
Opposition to attack the Government rather than find collective
solutions and support the approach that the Government are
taking. First and foremost, I have always maintained that we will
take a pragmatic and agile approach to our response. We are
making important changes. The right hon. Lady has asked why we
are not making these changes immediately. They are subject to
digital verification. There is no comparison to British national
overseas schemes because 90% of Ukrainians do not have chip
passports, so they would be excluded from any such scheme and
approach.
Visa applications are important in this process. It is important
that we are flexible in our response, and we have been. We are
seeing that many Ukrainians do not have documentation. This
country and all Governments, including probably a Government that
the right hon. Lady once served in, will recognise that there was
something known as the Windrush scandal and it is important that
everyone who arrives in the UK has physical and digital records
of their status here in the UK to ensure that they can access
schemes—[Interruption.] Opposition Members may holler, but the
process is vital in terms of verification, notification and
permission to travel. It is important to give people status when
they come to the United Kingdom, so that they have the right to
work, the right to access benefits and digital verification of
their status. That is absolutely right.
It is really important to remember again that although we have
known that this attack has been coming, we have to work with the
intelligence and security agencies. No disrespect to the right
hon. Lady, but these checks and data—biographical and the
warnings index—are important security checks that can be done
through the digital process. They have been verified by the
intelligence and security services, and we have to work with them
in particular.
At a time of war and conflict, it is really important that we
work together. I reflect on many of the comments and observations
that I have heard directly from members of the Ukrainian
community in this country, who I have spent time a great deal of
time with this week, not just on their applications and how
applications are processed but on how applications can be made
both in the UK and outside the United Kingdom. There are not
swathes and swathes of forms; there is a clear application
process for families who undertake it.
We have been working within the Government, I emphasise to those
in the House who want to listen to me rather than talk over me,
and it is through that engagement, importantly, that many
families have said that they want to see the country come
together in the support. Rather than have misinformation about
VAC appointments, which originated from the Opposition party, we
should stick with the factual information about the scheme.
Everybody should work together not just in promoting the scheme
but in making sure that those who need our help are united in our
collective approach to not only how we serve them but how we
support them in getting their family members over to the United
Kingdom.
(Sutton Coldfield)
(Con)
Of course my right hon. Friend is absolutely right that many of
the people who are fleeing from this appalling murder and mayhem,
from war crimes and from breaches of the international rules of
war want to remain as close as possible to the areas from which
they have been driven, so that when this appalling catastrophe is
over, they can return. Will she keep in touch with our European
partners on both their practices and procedures so that we help
these desperate people whom our constituents are rightly intent
on us assisting, and so we are part of a co-ordinated and
effective European response to this horrendous humanitarian
crisis?
My right hon. Friend is right to refer to the need for a
co-ordinated approach, and also to the response within the
region. It is very clear that families want to stay there. I
receive calls every day from my counterparts in the
region—Ministers of the Interior—who are asking for aid to
support those families who want to stay in the region because
they want to go back home; and the ambassadors in the region are
saying the same.
My right hon. Friend asked about the EU in particular. I am in
constant contact with Commissioner Johansson to discuss how we
can support the region and, specifically, countries and Ukrainian
nationals in the region. The need for that co-ordinated response
is so important, and the British Government, through a
whole-Government effort, are supplying not only financial aid and
support but practical aid and equipment to many countries in the
region on the Ukrainian border that are asking us for direct help
and support.
Mr Speaker
I call the Scottish National party spokes- person, Brendan
O’Hara.
Brendan O’Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
We broadly welcome the Government’s U-turn—it is a big step
forward—but, as we have heard, it did not have to be this way.
This war was foreseen, and the humanitarian crisis that has
resulted from it was widely predicted. As I said yesterday, the
Government have lagged behind the public, and I suspect that
public pressure in many Conservative MPs’ inboxes has brought
about this change, welcome as it is.
Yesterday, at the Home Affairs Committee, the Ukrainian
ambassador was shocked to learn from my hon. Friend the Member
for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East () that the Ukrainians
who are currently here without permanent residency, namely
students and workers, had absolutely no rights that would allow
them to bring relatives to the UK under the bespoke system. The
ambassador said that he would raise the issue with the Home
Secretary. Did he do so, and is that loophole covered by the
measures that she has announced? May I also ask what discussions
she has had, and will have, with the devolved Administrations
about how to ensure that these measures are successful?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for the approach and the tone that he
has taken. It is important for us to work together, and the
Immigration Minister is in touch with the devolved
Administrations. As we have made clear from day one, these are
important discussions about the need to work collegiately and
collectively on our response. This cannot be done purely through
central Government; we have to work across the country to provide
the support that is needed. Yesterday I was in Manchester and
Derby, meeting members of the Ukrainian diaspora community to
hear about their needs and to discuss how we can work not only
centrally but with local authorities to give wider support.
The hon. Gentleman asked some important questions about, for
example, students. There are many others who have leave to stay
in this country and can have their leave extended to 36 months,
and we are making that clear across the board. I have also been
clear about the agility of our response, and about our approach
to enabling family members to come here as well. That work is
under way in the Department, and is taking place right now. As I
have said, I will come back to update the House. I am also in
touch with the Ukrainian ambassador nearly every day, primarily
because a range of cases inevitably arise and casework is
complicated. Many Members of Parliament have been using
caseworking facilities that have been provided for them in
Portcullis House. As we identify challenges—not everyone has
documentation, not everyone has a passport—we need to find ways
in which we can work together to bring people here, which is why
everything is under review and why we have that agile
response.
(West Worcestershire)
(Con)
I welcome the Home Secretary’s announcement. May I make a further
suggestion—a practical one, I hope—that could alleviate the
situation? According to the House of Commons Library, there are
35,000 Ukrainian citizens in the UK, and I know that they are
sick with worry—worried to death—about their elderly mothers,
their babies, their grandchildren and so on. Would it not be
possible for us to have a hub for them here in the UK, so that
everything could be done from here and they could be given
provisional visas to come into the country, and we could then
check the biometrics here?
I thank my hon. Friend for her suggestion and comments. We are
actually doing this across the country now. Yesterday I was in
Manchester, where we are working with the Ukrainian community
group, and also in Derby. There is a whole network in the
Ukrainian diaspora, and they have asked us not for a hub in
London—we have one in the Ukrainian social club in London, and we
stepped that up at the beginning of the week—but for hubs within
community centres. We are establishing that and working with the
community to do that.
Mr Speaker
I call the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, .
(Kingston upon Hull North)
(Lab)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. While I welcome the changes for Ukrainian
passport holders, many Ukrainians do not have passports, as the
Home Secretary has just said. I want to ask her about TLScontact,
which has been subcontracted by the Home Office to carry out
biometric checks. The chief inspector of borders and immigration
told the Home Secretary that TLScontact was so hellbent on making
profit that its use posed a risk of “reputational damage” to the
UK. With Ukrainians fleeing for their lives and the chaos at the
visa application centres with long waits and few appointments,
can the Secretary of State tell me why that company is allowed to
profit from the suffering and misery of Ukrainians by telling
them that if they make additional payments, their cases will be
expedited and they will get appointments more quickly? Is that
right?
Let me just share the information I know about the contracted
service with TLScontact. First and foremost, we have surged
capacity at visa application centres, as I have said several
times in the House. That is a contractual process that we have,
alongside working with Home Office staff in country, and further
staff have been sent out. The right hon. Lady asked specifically
about the contractual arrangements with TLScontact. Our priority
has been to surge its staff in country to create more
appointments, and we have surged appointments. There have been
6,000 appointments available this week, and as of Tuesday 15
March, there will be 13,000 appointments for people who do not
have documentation and passports. We can prioritise those without
documentation and passports. Those with passports can use the
digital service that will be set up and go live from Tuesday. I
will come back to the Chair of the Select Committee on the
contractual details, primarily because these details are
organised through the Departments and there is a procurement
process that goes on. I will write to her on the specifics. With
regard to Ukrainian nationals coming to the United Kingdom to be
reunited with their families, this is a free service. There are
no charges in place whatsoever.
(East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
I welcome the measures announced today. They will be coming in
next Tuesday, but could not the Home Secretary today suspend the
carrier liability duty for Ukrainian passport holders presenting
at Krakow or Warsaw airports to come to the UK so that they can
have the checks done in a secure setting here and be granted at
least a visitor’s visa? Or could she not remove Ukraine from the
list of excluded countries so that they could come here in the
same way as an American tourist and be granted a visitor’s visa,
subject to checks being carried out in a secure setting? Am I
wrong?
As ever, my hon. Friend is making practical suggestions, but I am
afraid that those checks cannot be suspended. There has already
been work across Government to look at the carrier liability
aspect. It is the electronic authorisation to travel that we are
speeding up through this digital system, so that once the
individual receives the authorisation, they can go straight to a
port, show they have authorisation to travel and then board a
train or plane to get the United Kingdom. We cannot make any
other travel changes on that basis because of the wider
implications that that has for other carriers.
(Rhondda) (Lab)
I think the whole House just wants the Government and the UK to
be as generous and unbureaucratic as possible, and if that is
where we are getting to, we are pleased, but there is something
that still nags away at me. As I understand it, from what we were
told in the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Government have known
since October or November last year that Putin either wanted or
intended to do this. So, on so many levels we have been really
running to catch up, and a lot of us are asking why we did not
know that we needed to put all this in place two months ago.
Also, I want Putin to be in a court of law, but the International
Criminal Court cannot judge a leader just on the basis of
initiating a war of aggression, so will the Home Secretary work
to change that law?
The hon. Gentleman is right that we knew this attack was planned.
Our schemes have obviously been developed with the Governments in
the region, which I must emphasise. Right now, the countries in
the region have different requirements of the Home Office in how
we undertake our checks and process individuals. We are trying to
simplify this to make it easier across the board.
Last week, the Polish Government asked us not to process people
in close proximity to the border but to use our visa application
centres. The Hungarian Government have asked us for a totally
different approach, and they have asked for liaison officers on
the ground. The Romanian Government are asking us to come to the
border. We have deliberately chosen to use the facilities of the
visa application centres to give certainty and consistency of
approach. Clearly, our objective throughout has been to try to
streamline the process.
The digital piece is challenging; it is not straightforward. We
have to change our codes, our systems and our structures, while
recognising that many Ukrainians do not have electronic
passports. Passports and travel documentation are not consistent
around the world, hence my comment about the chip checker on the
BNO scheme, under which 97,000 visas have been granted.
The hon. Gentleman asked about President Putin and war crimes,
and I assure the House that significant work is taking place in
this area across Government and with the police and the Crown
Prosecution Service.
The laws need to change.
Exactly, the laws do need to change. We will look at every single
aspect of prosecutions and how we can ensure that we all achieve
the right outcome.
(Wycombe) (Con)
I am grateful for what my right hon. Friend said about the number
of appointments there will be, and I am grateful to the visa
application centre staff for working so hard, but I understand
that the Warsaw centre closes at 5 pm and at weekends. Could she
do something to extend the opening hours?
My hon. Friend makes an important point. The opening hours are
because of labour laws in Poland. There have been extensive
discussions with the Government, the Foreign Office and the Home
Office on extensions. We would love the centres to work much
longer hours, including at weekends. Believe me, we have been
pursuing this. As I said, every country in the region has a
different response and different laws that we have to respect and
work with. We are doing everything we possibly can to get those
extensions.
(Edinburgh South West)
(SNP)
I do not think I have ever seen my Edinburgh South West
constituents more angry than they are this week about what the
Government have done, or not done, so far.
The fictional Prime Minister Jim Hacker once said:
“It doesn’t do the Government any good to look heartless and
feeble simultaneously”.
Well, I am afraid this Government have for the past week. I
welcome this U-turn, but will the Home Secretary take the
opportunity to apologise to the Ukrainian refugees whose
suffering has been needlessly exacerbated by the Home Office’s
ineptitude? And will she apologise to my many constituents who
have Ukrainian relatives whose suffering has been exacerbated by
her Department’s ineptitude?
To correct the hon. and learned Lady, since I became Home
Secretary we have welcomed 20,000 Afghan refugees and 97,000 Hong
Kongers to the United Kingdom over the last two years. These
numbers are unprecedented, and I will take no lectures from her
about heartlessness, particularly in light of the lack of take-up
of the dispersal scheme for people coming to the United Kingdom
who need housing. On those fleeing persecution, she and her
Government need to look at themselves.
The hon. and learned Lady has heard me tell the House a few times
about the work we are doing directly with the Ukrainian community
and diaspora to help their family members come over. It would be
good to recognise that we achieve the right outcomes not just by
working together but by supporting them through the application
process.
You have not done that to date.
Actually, we have. I am sorry if the hon. and learned Lady has
not been able to use the many facilities we have made available
to her constituents and her to make these cases come through.
Sir (South Swindon) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement today, and she
knows that I and others have been pushing for tech and biometrics
to be used more constructively. On the repurposing of officials
and their movement to the front- line, not just from within the
Home Office, but from across Government, will she work with the
excellent new refugees Minister to ensure that we can get that
sense of co-ordination and urgency here? As Russia leaves the
Council of Europe and denounces the European convention on human
rights, the slide into tyranny continues. This is a crisis that
will not wait.
My right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right; we are
blessed with the appointment of our noble Friend in the other
place as refugees Minister, because this is about co-ordination.
This is about national co-ordination, not about one Department or
another Department; this is “whole of Government effort”, a
phrase I have used several times in this House. The refugees
Minister will be overseeing much of the community sponsorship
scheme, which will come in due course, and there will be further
announcements about that scheme, too.
(Stretford and Urmston)
(Lab)
Will the Home Secretary confirm that Ukrainians with dual
nationality, for example, Ukrainian and Romanian nationality,
will none the less be able to come to the UK under the family
scheme?
Yes, the hon. Lady is absolutely right on that. We are seeing
many dual nationals come forward, which is why we are absolutely
trying to streamline the system to make it easier for them to
apply. The other point to make about applications is that these
applications can be made in-country— in Ukraine. Again, that will
speed up the ability of these people to come to the UK.
(Sevenoaks) (Con)
I am grateful for the announcement today, which will directly
benefit the families of my constituents. May I ask for a point of
clarification? Can a Ukrainian who has a Ukrainian ID card rather
than a passport apply entirely online?
No. This will be passports only, because of all the security
checks that can be made through passport data. This shows part of
the problem of the wider challenge we have had on documentation.
These types of cases will need to go to the visa application
centres, but, as I have said, we have just increased the capacity
to more than 13,000 appointments. Of course, if any other issues
arise, we can also pick up casework directly.
(Bath) (LD)
It is disappointing that the right hon. Lady needs to be dragged
here to make the process simpler and quicker. A lot of the people
in this country will not understand why it is so complicated. She
has already responded to the hon. Member for East Worthing and
Shoreham () on why we cannot just let people come here and have
the checks done here, as we do for millions of visitors from
non-visa countries. So will she at least commit to looking into
whether that is possible, because Ukrainians who flee war have
gone through days and weeks of trauma and exhaustion, and they
deserve to be treated better?
I have always made it abundantly clear in the House that our
approach is always under review —it is under review for a range
of issues, for example, as the situation changes or the security
threat level changes. The hon. Lady has just asked why we cannot
just let people through. There is a range of advice that I have
to consider. Having considered all the advice and looked at the
approach we can take, my priority has been to streamline the
approach. Clearly, it is not appropriate to keep sending people
who do not necessarily need to go to visa application centres to
those centres. We can now prioritise those who are more
vulnerable and do not have documentation, and we want to focus on
those individuals. The final point to make is that not only are
we as a country generous in our approach to people fleeing
persecution, but this is how the Government’s approach has always
been, in terms of safe routes, legal routes, Afghan refugees and
British nationals overseas who have come to the UK. That has been
at the heart of the Government’s work. For every crisis that
takes place in the world there is no single solution. We have to
develop bespoke solutions, which is what we have done.
Dame (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
As one of the top six customers of the Home Office on immigration
issues, I have seen how this situation underlines the chaos in
the Home Office’s immigration system. It is really struggling to
keep up with the basics and when dealing with this surge it has
understandably crumbled under the pressure. I am concerned that
we have been waiting for all these days. We know that security
checks need to take place, but what security risk is there from
90-year-old women, from people in their 60s, from mothers and
small children? Has the right hon. Lady not given some thought to
progressing them through faster and doing more checks on them
here in the UK?
Yes, and that is exactly what we have been doing.
(Forest of Dean) (Con)
I welcome what the Home Secretary said about combining security
with a generous approach, both of which are essential and must be
delivered. In my experience of the Home Office, officials there
who are focused on the protection of our country respond well to
clear and decisive leadership, so may I check something so that
it is clear? Does the Home Secretary retain overall
responsibility for the whole of our refugee policy, including the
humanitarian sponsorship scheme? People should know where the
buck stops. When does she expect to come to the House to set out
further details on that scheme?
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is fair to say that
he will be too familiar with the various processes around
immigration checks, digitalisation and security, and the wider
considerations that constantly have to be made. In terms of wider
refugee policy, this is a whole-of-Government effort, so parts of
it, particularly the community sponsorship route that I announced
to the House last week, will be led by the Department for
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which will lead on that
primarily because of the local authority engagement and
safeguarding that is required. There will be further
announcements on that. The work of the Minister for Refugees will
be split between both Departments to assist with the
co-ordination effort that is required. I know my right hon.
Friend will be familiar with how the Syrian vulnerable refugee
scheme was created. In effect, we are trying to build on some of
the previous models that have worked successfully in
government.
(Stone) (Con)
I commend my right hon. Friend for the calm and collected manner
in which she presented the statement and for the manner in which
she has dealt with the really serious and complicated problems
that this situation represents. Furthermore, I commend Members
from both sides of the House who have shown conspicuous interest
in trying to get together on this subject rather than just
producing carping criticisms.
I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and his acknowledgement
of the difficult work. As a country, our priority is of course
absolutely to bring people over from Ukraine at their time of
desperate need and give them the protection that they need. As I
said, every crisis requires a bespoke response and that is what
this Government have been working on.
(Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
The Home Secretary is doing a difficult job at this stressful
time because of the horrible war that Putin has unleashed against
these innocent people, but may I give her one tiny bit of advice?
We really want to keep this cross-party support for the people in
Ukraine, but will she remember that sometimes her tone is a bit
aggressive? She did lose some of us on the Opposition Benches
when she seemed to suggest that we could not be trusted with
security information. We were also a bit disappointed when she
got her facts wrong about what was happening in Calais.
I acknowledge the hon. Gentlemen’s comments. It is important
that, as a country and in this House in particular, we unite
against Putin and what he is doing. We must never lose sight of
what President Putin is doing to Ukraine and the people of
Ukraine. That is something that this entire House, particularly
this week, should absolutely get behind.
(Wellingborough) (Con)
I am grateful to the Home Secretary for her approach. Please
forgive me, but I did not hear correctly whether it was 13,000
appointments per day or per week. She mentioned many of the
countries where we have visa application centres, but a
disproportionate number of people have gone to the small country
of Moldova, which is not in the EU. Have we beefed up the visa
application centre there?
Yes. First, on the visa applications at VACs in the region, once
we launch the digital approach, those 13,000 appointments next
week will primarily be for those individuals who are vulnerable,
without documentation, who will need our help to get their
status, and we will need to do much more work with them.
Secondly, on Moldova, I spoke to EU Commissioner Johansson on
Monday. She called me specifically about assistance for Moldova,
which is having a very challenging time not just in respect of
the number of refugees but at its borders. Moldova is finding
that a number of third-country nationals are now presenting,
trying to present themselves as Ukrainians when in fact they are
not, and they have border-security problems as well. We have been
specifically asked to provide assistance with security equipment
and help to prevent weapons from coming into the country. I have
also spoken to the Minister for Internal Affairs there this week.
A lot of work is taking place directly to support the Government
there as they support people fleeing Ukraine.
(Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
(PC)
My constituent, Gareth Roberts of Trawsfynydd, is presently
travelling to the Slovakia border with his wife, Natasha, to meet
her daughter and granddaughter. Gareth is a fluent Russian and
Ukrainian speaker and is well able to help the family make the
digital applications, but he tells me that the applications can
be made only in English and that this will directly affect many
vulnerable Ukrainian applicants. Will the Secretary of State
confirm that it will be possible, in future, to make these
applications in Ukrainian? Better still, will she waive all these
restrictive visa requirements?
The applications are in English, because the checks have to be
done in the UK by British people. Work is taking place to see
what else we can do. In particular, we are bringing in Ukrainian
and Russian speakers to help us not just with translations, but
to see what more we can do to deal with getting forms in the
right language and to have more staff in our centres, working
directly with the Ukrainian community. That also applies in the
UK in the hubs that we are creating.
(Kensington) (Con)
I warmly welcome today’s announcement, which I and other
colleagues have been calling for. As my right hon. Friend knows
after her visit at the weekend, which I thank her for, the
Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain is headquartered in my
constituency. Given the amount of correspondence and issues that
it receives, I wonder whether she would consider a direct link
for it into the Home Office?
I give my thanks to the centre for everything that it has been
doing. It was very humbling to spend so much time with the people
there on Sunday. I was able to understand from them the issues,
barriers and challenges that they face. I have said from day 1
that we should work with the community. We have to ensure that
everything that we do works for the people there. We are
providing direct help. We are setting up a hub specifically in
the centre for the community. I have been quite struck by some of
the complexities that we have seen, particularly with elderly
family members and how they can come to the United Kingdom. The
hub in my hon. Friend’s constituency will be replicated in some
of the other locations that I referred to earlier on.
(South Shields) (Lab)
My constituent’s Ukrainian wife, Liudmula Florence, was turned
away from the UK visa office in Warsaw and told that she had to
book an appointment and make an application online. The UK
immigration website repeatedly stated, “Sorry, there is currently
a problem with the service. Please try again later.” She
eventually was given an appointment, but not until 17 March. What
is Liudmula supposed to do while the Home Secretary is getting
her act together?
If the hon. Lady had listened to my statement earlier on, she
would have heard what the process is. In fact, the application
can be done digitally from Tuesday. If she would like to present
me with the case, I would be very happy to look at it straight
after —[Interruption.] Well, we do have the hub in Portcullis
House, which has been working through cases. I do not know
whether the hon. Lady has been using that service. If she has
difficulty with that, she is very welcome to give me the case
straight after the urgent question and I will make the calls
myself directly.
(North East Bedfordshire)
(Con)
I was shocked to hear the shadow Home Secretary imply that Labour
would throw away or downplay essential security checks in its mad
dash to be seen to be doing something. I know that our Home
Secretary will stand firm on our borders. Will she also use this
opportunity to thank the many thousands of families around this
country who have stepped forward to say that they wish to give
support to Ukrainian families and will she tell
them—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. To be honest, I do not remember it quite how the hon.
Gentleman does. I do not want a slanging match, and we need to be
correct on the information that we challenge, so, please, let us
check Hansard.
I am grateful, Mr Speaker, and if I got that wrong, I apologise
to the shadow Home Secretary. My point was about the balance that
the Home Secretary has to take. Will she use this opportunity to
thank the many thousands of British families who have stepped
forward to say that they wish to help Ukrainian families, and
tell them that she will work night and day to enable them to
fulfil their generosity?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right in everything he has
said—there is no question whatsoever about that. The Ukrainian
community across the United Kingdom has been extraordinary in its
resolve and fortitude at a very difficult time to provide
much-needed support and resource and, importantly, to support
people coming over to the United Kingdom. I do not want to
pre-empt any further statements on community support, primarily
because there is a scheme under development in Government, but
many members of the community have been shaping that scheme and
how that help can be given.
(Motherwell and Wishaw)
(SNP)
I spoke this week in this place about a constituent of mine.
Yesterday he made it to Warsaw with his Ukrainian wife and their
daughters, to be told that he might get an appointment on 18
March but that they were not sure because the systems were down
and they would have to wait until they came back up to check that
that was possible. I do not think anything the Home Secretary has
said today will help my constituent forward, because he has been
told to apply yet again. The systems are not working. The only
things working are the women—they are mainly women—that I have
seen down in Portcullis House. They are working their butts off
to try to help, but the systems do not work and online
applications will make things even worse.
Sorry, but our systems have been working and they are working. I
cannot comment on the hon. Lady’s particular case or the
generalities she has spoken about, but, as I have said, I will
happily take the matter away and look at it directly. I cannot
respond to general statements about systems not working when
there are thousands of applications being made on a daily
basis.
(Ashford) (Con)
I welcome the extra flexibility that my right hon. Friend has
introduced into the system, particularly the capacity to take
biometrics in this country, which she will know many of us have
called for. Are these new arrangements simply for those coming on
the family route or do they apply more generally? If the former,
can she give some indication of when we will hear more about the
humanitarian sponsorship route?
The simplifications are to the family scheme. It is the same
scheme, but we are simplifying and digitalising the process. I
cannot pre-empt the humanitarian scheme, which is being led by
DLUHC, but there will be statements. I cannot say when, because
the Department is working on the details of the scheme.
(Nottingham South)
(Lab)
May I raise the case of Artur Nadiiev, a Ukrainian PhD student at
the University of Nottingham? Artur has encountered confusion and
difficulties in applying for a UK student visa. He is currently
in Munich. On 5 March, UKVI advised that he needs to take a
tuberculosis test to obtain a visa, even though Home Office
updated rules for Ukrainian citizens travelling to the UK state
that TB tests have been waived. Can the Home Secretary clarify
whether Artur can now obtain his visa and come to the UK without
needing to travel to a third country in order to obtain a TB
test?
That is absolutely correct.
(Blackpool South) (Con)
This country has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those
fleeing for their lives, and I welcome the various routes we have
made available to those displaced from Ukraine. There will always
be those who seek to exploit this country’s generosity for more
malicious aims, so will my right hon. Friend confirm that the
integrity of the appropriate security checks will not be
compromised in speeding up the visa process?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that has been verified
through the agencies and Departments we work with.
(Westminster North) (Lab)
With one of the largest Ukrainian populations in the country in
Westminster, I welcome this late change of heart by the
Government. I hope it will work, and work considerably more
effectively than the Afghan scheme did. May I seek clarification
on the issue of work visas? Does this scheme mean that those here
on work visas will be able to bring, for example, dependent
relatives?
As I said earlier, we are looking at all categories, including
Ukrainians on work visas and even student visas, and how we can
make that happen.
(South West Surrey) (Con)
I welcome today’s announcement and thank the Home Secretary for
listening to the House. My constituent Larry Sullivan owns a
technology business in Russia and has some very able young
software engineers desperate to get here. They would make a big
contribution to the UK economy. They are fanatically against
Putin’s war of aggression. Is there a route for them to come here
before Putin slams the door shut?
If I may, I will come back to my right hon. Friend and discuss
that with him, because there will be ways.
(Sheffield South East)
(Lab)
Last week, I asked the Home Secretary about the arrangements for
refugees when they come here. Many of them will need places for
their children in schools and mental health support, and, under
both schemes, many will want accommodation. She said that the
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is
responsible for these arrangements through the community
sponsorship scheme, but is the Home Office then responsible for
people under the family scheme? In the Select Committee on
Monday, we asked the DLUHC permanent secretary, who confirmed
that currently there are no arrangements in place, none have been
agreed, and he could not give a timetable for when they would be
agreed. Will the Home Secretary update the House on what the
arrangements are under both schemes, or will the DLUHC Secretary
come to this House in the near future to update us?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the sponsorship route is
led by DLUHC. As we discussed in the House last week,
accommodation will be a vital part of sponsorship, as will the
engagement with local authorities. I cannot pre-empt the work of
DLUHC. Further statements will be made on this. He also spoke
about the family scheme. The community and family members are
absolutely working together on that. There is no doubt—we should
be very clear about this—that access to public funds and public
services is absolutely guaranteed within the family route. That
is why we are working on this collectively across Government. It
is a Government effort; it is not about one Department versus
another, although some will lead on various details. We are
working with DLUHC but also with the devolved Administrations, in
particular, to give them the support they need when more members
of the Ukrainian community come over to be reunited with their
families.
(Gedling) (Con)
I welcome today’s announcement, which I am sure will also be
welcomed by the many Gedling residents who also want a generous
approach. My right hon. Friend has spoken about the processing
centres in Poland, but will she update us on the processing of
visas for those Ukrainian refugees currently in northern
France?
My hon. Friend makes an important point. We have surged our visa
application centre capacity across the region. There are sites in
France, with work in Calais and in Lille, and we are looking to
expand our capacity in France based on working with the French
Government, who are effectively identifying, right now, the
various routes that people are using to travel through France to
the United Kingdom.
(Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)
My constituents have been in touch with me about this issue on
many occasions, and I think that they will think it perverse that
those who are considered vulnerable will still have to make these
journeys to the centres. Has the Secretary of State done an
assessment of how many of the people they are seeing fit into the
vulnerable category, how many people this change will actually
help, and what more can be done to help the vulnerable?
The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is important to
restate that about 90% of Ukrainian nationals do not have chip
passports, for example, whereby the digital scheme would
automatically apply to them to make it easier. The reason we are
clearing the VAC system now is to help those in the vulnerable
people abroad category, including the elderly and those who have
not travelled previously. A frequent theme that comes back from
members of the diaspora community here is that many are still
reluctant to leave Ukraine—they are still in Lviv and thinking
about coming. We are encouraging them to engage with their family
members here so that we can give them support. We do not yet have
a full assessment. That is why we are working with the Ukrainian
community in this country for them to share as much information
with us as they possibly can.
(Harrow East) (Con)
President Putin has not only unleashed death and destruction on
the people of Ukraine but is also involved in ethnic cleansing,
and we should face up to that. Many of those fleeing in fear of
their lives will want to go back after Putin’s forces have gone
from the country. Others will want to resettle. Will my right
hon. Friend make the system as flexible as possible so that those
who want to resettle in the UK can do so, but those who want to
come on a temporary basis will be able to return to their native
country?
This is the theme that we hear constantly throughout the
community—a recognition that, of course, people will want to go
home. It is their country; it is the place of their birth; it is
where they have lived their lives. There is no question about
that. That is why we are taking a consistent approach across all
schemes to the leave period that people can come here for, even
those on temporary leave.
The point about ethnic cleansing is so valid. There are still
people of Ukrainian origin in Russia who are subject to appalling
persecution. Those people are also in our thoughts, and we want
to consider how we can help them, too.
(Edinburgh North and Leith)
(SNP)
Yesterday, I spoke to a senior member of the Ukrainian community
in my constituency. He wanted to know what sorts of resettlement
schemes are being looked at to support orphans and unaccompanied
children arriving here, and whether the Home Secretary would
consider waiving all visa requirements for them.
This is a very important point. I have had similar discussions
with the Ukrainian community across the country. As I may have
mentioned previously in the House, there are a number of issues
around safeguarding children, particularly those travelling
through Europe, and even at the border, a number of safeguarding
and trafficking cases are now materialising. In terms of
unaccompanied children and orphans coming to the United Kingdom,
we have to work across Government with the relevant Departments.
Local authority work is being stood up to look at safeguarding
and protection and how children can be brought over to the UK in
a safe way, to ensure they come to our country and are given all
the help and support they need.
(Newcastle-under-Lyme)
(Con)
I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. She will know that
Simon Tagg, the leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council,
together with all the other local authority leaders across
Staffordshire, wrote yesterday to the Prime Minister and the Home
Secretary saying that the people of Staffordshire and the
authorities in Staffordshire stand ready and able to welcome
Ukrainian refugees. Will the Home Secretary work with the
Communities Secretary to make sure we in Staffordshire can play
our part?
The answer is yes.
(Cardiff West) (Lab)
My constituents, who I am not naming publicly at their request,
found out in December that they were expecting a baby through
surrogacy in Ukraine. I visited the hub yesterday, and they have
been told that the surrogate mother does not qualify under the
family visa scheme. I have been told by the Home Secretary’s
officials that nothing can be done about it. After yesterday’s
scenes of the bombing of the maternity hospital in Ukraine, the
Home Secretary can only imagine how my constituents are feeling
about their baby, who is expected in a few months’ time and who
is a British citizen upon birth. Will she look again at this
policy personally, with a view to making a small tweak to it for
the small number of families who fall into this category?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise the issue of
surrogacy cases—a number of those cases have been raised with me.
We are absolutely looking to make changes to this: there are
various requirements we need to make in the UK with those
particular families who will be expecting a child through a
surrogate, and we are looking at how that can all be brought
together and families united. I am aware of these cases.
(Buckingham) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement this morning, and
thank her for the number of times she has made herself available
to engage with all Members on these important issues, in the face
of rapidly changing circumstances. Given the changes she has
announced this morning, can she give me an assurance that we have
now reached the optimum point in the balance between her first
duty, which is to protect the national security of our country,
and stripping away every unnecessary piece of bureaucracy that
prevents or delays us from helping, supporting and welcoming
people fleeing the war at Putin’s hand?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said in my statement,
our No. 1 priority is to keep our country safe, while
streamlining processes where we can. We will continue to do so;
we will not stop here. My final point is that situations can
change, and with that, threat assessments can change as well.
Obviously, I will keep colleagues updated on that.
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
The Home Secretary has been on the wrong side of history and the
wrong side of humanity. We are talking about women, children and
older people. My constituent’s friend has just crossed the border
into Poland, and when she went to get her visa she was told to go
back to a city called Kyiv, in the middle of a war zone. There is
still chaos at the borders—the Home Secretary shakes her head,
but she was told that. There is chaos at the borders, so why can
people not come visa free to the UK border to collect their
documentation and then get the warm welcome that the Home
Secretary talks about?
I refer the hon. Lady to the statement I made earlier. I cannot
comment on the anecdotal evidence that she has given, but bearing
in mind that Kyiv is obviously under siege, it is thoroughly
inappropriate if anybody made that comment.
(Southend West) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement, which will be
richly welcomed by the Ukrainian families in Southend West I have
been meeting. In particular, I welcome the digitalisation of the
family scheme. My question is around that. The devil is not in
the detail with digitalisation, but the scale. We currently have
tens of thousands of applications being made. Can my right hon.
Friend assure me that the scheme will cope with the scale we may
have on it?
These are big digital challenges that we all face, there is no
question about that, but we are working through assurance to
ensure that systems can cope and withstand some of the wider
technological and digital challenges that come from a hostile
country that we are effectively trying to operate against.
(North Ayrshire and Arran)
(SNP)
I and my constituents in North Ayrshire and Arran welcome any
improvements that can be made to the current scheme for those
Ukrainians who are fleeing violence, but there still seems to be
a lack of urgency and flexibility from the UK, so what more will
the Home Secretary do as the humanitarian situation deteriorates,
as we all sadly fear it will? Does she have any concerns about
how history will judge the UK’s response relative to the EU’s
response on this matter?
I refer to my comments earlier, but let me make it abundantly
clear for the hon. Lady that in terms of the EU response, we are
working in co-operation and collaboration with the EU. There is
no doubt about that whatever. The EU has a different approach,
but even at this stage it has not agreed the number of people who
will go country by country. We are working with them at a very
difficult time not only on the humanitarian approach, but on
ensuring that we support each country that has been heavily
affected not just in terms of border issues, but in receiving
Ukrainian refugees. That is a collective response not just from
the British Government, but in conjunction with the EU.
(Harrogate and Knaresborough)
(Con)
I welcome the simplification of the scheme that my right hon.
Friend has announced today, and I recognise how hard the job for
the Home Office team is. As we make every effort to help those
fleeing this crisis, can she provide a bit more information to
the House about the surge capacity that she has put in for Home
Office staff to process visa applications in countries where the
majority of the Ukrainian refugees are fleeing?
Yes, I can. I have already spoken about the increased capacity at
visa application centres. I can also tell the House that work is
taking place with the MOD in country and in region. For example,
we know that one of the main surges is taking place in Poland.
That is because Poland is on the frontline and bringing in people
from Ukraine in huge numbers. We are supporting the Polish
Government in many ways. With that, we will be working with the
MOD teams already in Poland not only to surge staffing, but to
look at what more we can do to provide wider humanitarian support
for Ukrainian refugees in country.
(Rutherglen and Hamilton
West) (Ind)
Can the Home Secretary provide an update on the discussions with
the Scottish Government on the intake of refugees from Ukraine
and how many Scotland can home?
Yes, I can. Discussions are ongoing, and there is a call taking
place later today with the Scottish Government.
(The Cotswolds)
(Con)
I was first on Tuesday and last on Thursday—it seems perfectly
fair. I welcome what my right hon. Friend has done today with the
new flexibilities, listening to what people have said up and down
the country. Will she look at every practicality to speed up this
system? Ukraine was a reliable country in producing its
documentation, so can we have maximum flexibility in the
documentation that people are able to provide? If they provide
biometric and electronic data in another form—an identity card or
something like that—we should accept that. A lot of elderly
people will have never needed to renew their passports, and we
should accept Ukrainian passports whether electronic or not. A
simple thing: can we have enough translators if the forms have to
be in English and enough people in post to answer queries, rather
than asking people to go to the back of the queue when they get
it wrong?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right on that. The documentation
matter is constantly under review. Within the security context
that I have spoken about, there are certain checks that can be
done out of country and there are certain checks that will be
done in the United Kingdom, as I outlined in my statement.
The point about translators is absolutely valid. Across the whole
civil service across the United Kingdom, there has been a call
for Ukrainian and Russian speakers to come forward for that very
purpose—that took place some time ago. With that, of course, it
is all about the simplification of process. We are non-stop in
finding ways, many of them through digital and technology
processes, so that people do not have to go to VACs. We are
constantly looking at how else we can streamline the system. It
is almost a blockchain approach here. We are going through that
day in, day out, so I can give my hon. Friend that assurance.
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The hon. Member for North East
Bedfordshire () suggested that the
Opposition Front Bench had said that we should throw away
security checks, which has never been the case. On that basis, I
will accept the apology that he put forward, if he confirms that
apology.
indicated assent.
Mr Speaker
Thanks for that.
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