Written questions by Downie.

What discussions she has had with organisers of the Scottish Rally Championship regarding the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of compliance with the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 on the Scottish Rally Championship.

Awaiting answer.

How many Ukraine visas extensions applications have been affected by technical issues in each of the last three years.

The number of applications affected by technical issues does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.

When the technical difficulties affecting Ukrainian Visa Extension scheme applications will be resolved.

UKVI is not aware of any current technical issues impacting the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme. In rare circumstances, applications submitted to UKVI may encounter technical difficulties, which are not related to one specific area. Once identified, UKVI strives to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, however, timescales depend on each application’s individual issues.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what processes will be put in place to verify the legitimacy of (a) organisations and (b) communities wishing to act as sponsors for refugees.

The Government’s Asylum and Returns Policy Statement published on 17 November 2025 announced transformative changes to Safe and Legal routes that will fundamentally reshape how the UK offers opportunities to refugees and receiving communities. Work is underway at pace to operationalise these new routes, and further details will be provided in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025. what support her Department is planning to give to communities to increase their (a) capacity and (b) ability to welcome refugees.

The Government’s Asylum and Returns Policy Statement published on 17 November 2025 announced transformative changes to Safe and Legal routes that will fundamentally reshape how the UK offers opportunities to refugees and receiving communities. Work is underway at pace to operationalise these new routes, and further details will be provided in due course.

What plans she has to use Artificial Intelligence to (a) determine and (b) confirm the age of groups other than asylum seekers.

Assessing age is a complex task and no method or combination of methods can definitively determine age. In order to strengthen the age assessment system, the Home Office is exploring facial age estimation technology. Work has been commissioned to test and trial this technology to understand its capabilities. The testing and assurance will be key in informing policy development and to ensure its use is proportionate. The technology will not be used in isolation but is intended to provide additional information to the decision maker. The Government will issue further information regarding testing and assurance in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, how her Department will assess the tolerance levels of the Artificial Intelligence determining the ages of asylum seekers.

Assessing age is a complex task and no method or combination of methods can definitively determine age. In order to strengthen the age assessment system, the Home Office is exploring facial age estimation technology. Work has been commissioned to test and trial this technology to understand its capabilities. The testing and assurance will be key in informing policy development and to ensure its use is proportionate. The technology will not be used in isolation but is intended to provide additional information to the decision maker. The Government will issue further information regarding testing and assurance in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what support will be provided to UK-based family members when making an asylum application for a non-UK based relative under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.The refugee family reunion route has been temporarily suspended while the Government undertakes a full review and reform of the current family rules to ensure we have a fair and properly balanced system.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what steps her Department will take to build the necessary capacity for ensuring that early legal advice is available.

Reforms to the appeals system, including the development of a new independent appeals body will help asylum seekers have access to justice, overcome delays and restore public confidence. Early legal advice will be embedded as a core part of these reforms.We will work closely with the Ministry of Justice to understand and manage the justice impacts of all proposals, including ensuring there is sufficient capacity to deliver early legal advice.Further details on these reforms will be set out in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what criteria her Department will use to define communities when considering community sponsorship for refugees.

The Government’s Asylum and Returns Policy Statement published on 17 November 2025 announced transformative changes to Safe and Legal routes that will fundamentally reshape how the UK offers opportunities to refugees and receiving communities. Work is underway at pace to operationalise these new routes, and further details will be provided in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, how her Department will evaluate Artificial Intelligence to determine the age of migrants prior to use.

Assessing age is a complex task and no method or combination of methods can definitively determine age. In order to strengthen the age assessment system, the Home Office is exploring facial age estimation technology. Work has been commissioned to test and trial this technology to understand its capabilities. The testing and assurance will be key in informing policy development and to ensure its use is proportionate. The technology will not be used in isolation but is intended to provide additional information to the decision maker. The Government will issue further information regarding testing and assurance in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, when she plans to announce further details on the Protection Work and Study route for refugees.

The full details of the Protection Work and Study route, remain subject to further policy development which will be set out in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what criteria her Department will use to determine whether an application's healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, cannot be fully met in their country of origin.

A claimant may claim that requiring them to leave the UK would breach their human rights due to a serious medical condition, which could be a physical illness or mental health issue. Such cases must be considered in accordance with our obligations under Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The threshold in Article 3 medical cases is very high, as set out in the UK Supreme Court case of AM (Zimbabwe) [2020] UKSC 17, which affirmed the Article 3 medical threshold as set out in the European Court of Human Rights case of Paposhvili v Belgium [2017] Imm AR 867. We are committed to the ECHR and we believe that people should never be subject to torture. However, the interpretation of “inhuman or degrading treatment” has been expanded over time. As a consequence, we see examples of foreign national offenders who are being allowed to stay in the UK on the basis of an Article 3 protection claim, despite committing serious criminal offences in the UK. Others have blocked a deportation because their healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, cannot be fully met in their country of origin. To retain public confidence, the ECHR and other instruments must evolve to face modern challenges. We are working with key partner countries over concerns that the interpretation of “inhuman or degrading treatment” has extended in scope, limiting their ability to make sovereign decisions on migration in their own democracies. The criteria, for considering healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, will be set out in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what support will be provided to a UK-based unaccompanied child making an asylum for a non UK-based family member under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.The refugee family reunion route has been temporarily suspended while the Government undertakes a full review and reform of the current family rules to ensure we have a fair and properly balanced system.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what criteria her Department will use to assess the capacity and ability of communities to welcome refugees.

The Government’s Asylum and Returns Policy Statement published on 17 November 2025 announced transformative changes to Safe and Legal routes that will fundamentally reshape how the UK offers opportunities to refugees and receiving communities. Work is underway at pace to operationalise these new routes, and further details will be provided in due course.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what process her Department will use to designate whether a country is a safe home country.

The asylum and returns policy statement sets out the intention to deal swiftly with protection claims that are made by nationals of manifestly safe countries in an attempt to frustrate their removal. This policy does not relate to any designation of a specific country as manifestly safe, but rather a holistic assessment of whether there is a basis on which a prolonged assessment of a claim is required, for example through an additional interview. This is distinct from existing legislative provisions (under s94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002) which allow all or part of a country to be designated as safe, for the purposes of assessing whether a claim should be certified as clearly unfounded.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, whether artificial intelligence will ever be used as the sole evidence source for age assessment for migrants.

Assessing age is a complex task and no method or combination of methods can definitively determine age. In order to strengthen the age assessment system, the Home Office is exploring facial age estimation technology. Work has been commissioned to test and trial this technology to understand its capabilities. The testing and assurance will be key in informing policy development and to ensure its use is proportionate. The technology will not be used in isolation but is intended to provide additional information to the decision maker. The Government will issue further information regarding testing and assurance in due course.

What steps she is taking to reform visas for care workers seeking employment in the UK.

The Government published the White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ on 12 May 2025. The White Paper set out its intention to end overseas recruitment for social care visas. The Government will set out further details in the near future.

What assessment she has made of the spousal visa regulations.

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform of the family route and a wide range of other areas.In September 2024, we commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules. There will be no changes to the current threshold of £29,000, until the MAC review is complete. We will then consider their report and decide whether to implement any of the recommendations.Information on statistics relating to family visas is available from the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK publication. Data on family visas can be found in the Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.The statistics relate to applications and outcomes (grants, refusals, lapsed and withdrawn) of entry clearance visas granted for family reasons. Family Partner visa grants is available from Table Vis_D02. The 'family' route covers visas where an individual is applying for a visa on the basis of their relationship to a person settled in the UK or a British citizen.