Instruments of interest
Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 334)
Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2024 (SI 2024/1218)
36.Among the changes made by these instruments are:
37.Reintroducing visa requirements for Columbia: prior to November 2022, Colombian nationals required a visa to enter the UK as a visitor, although not to transit the UK airside to another destination. In November 2022, all visa requirements were removed. The Home Office states that this led to a “significant and sustained increase” in Colombian nationals travelling to the UK to claim asylum, quoting statistics that there have been more such claims per quarter in 2023 and 2024 than in the entire ten years preceding the change. These instruments therefore reintroduce a visitor visa and introduce an airside transit visa for Columbia. The Home Office states that transit visas are necessary to prevent Columbian nationals from travelling to the UK using transit provisions but claiming asylum on arrival.
38.Extending permissions for Ukrainian nationals: Those living in the UK with permission under the existing Ukraine Schemes, and eligible family members, will be permitted to apply, fee-free, to remain for an additional 18 months from when their existing permissions expire, with unchanged entitlements. All existing Ukrainian schemes will also be streamlined into a single Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, opening on 4 February 2025. The Government has reiterated its “longstanding position” that none of the Ukraine schemes, including these changes, provides any route to permanent settlement in the UK for Ukrainian citizens. The Government states this is because “the aim of the Ukraine schemes is to provide temporary sanctuary for Ukrainians while the conflict in Ukraine continues”, and moreover that this position “reflects the express wishes of the Ukrainian government, who have been clear that they need their citizens to return to Ukraine to help recovery efforts, once it is safe to do so”.
National Health Service (Ophthalmic Services and Optical Charges and Payments) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1250)
39.This instrument rolls out free NHS sight testing to day and residential special educational settings (SES) in England, delivering on a commitment made in the NHS Long Term Plan 2019.12 Children and young people receiving education in these settings will be able to access free sight tests within their school (if it has opted-in to provide the service) and receive help towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses, if required. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says that children and young people with learning disabilities are more likely to have serious sight problems and require glasses, but face challenges accessing high street NHS sight testing services and instead, often have to use services provided in hospitals. Therefore, access to sight testing in a familiar environment, adapted to the child or young person with learning disabilities, is a benefit. These Regulations follow a pilot run by NHS England in 83 SES since 2021, which showed 46% of pupils who used the in-school service received a prescription for glasses that they otherwise may not have received.13
40.In supplementary material, the DHSC told us it estimates free NHS eye tests have the potential to reach around 165,000 pupils in SES. However, for these schools to be able to offer free NHS eye tests, they must opt-in to receive the service, which will be commissioned by Integrated Care Boards. The DHSC told us that so far, 566 schools out of a potential 2,022 have expressed an interest in hosting these services. As schools will be able to opt-in at any point, the House may wish to explore how the DHSC might further encourage take-up. The free NHS sight testing service will be optional for pupils and only provided where informed consent has been received from the pupil or on their behalf. Schools will be asked to work with the eye test provider to communicate the availability of these services to pupils, parents and guardians. For schools that do not opt-in, pupils will continue to be able to access NHS sight testing in high-street and hospital settings, and to receive this for free if they are eligible.
12 NHS, The NHS Long Term Plan (January 2019), p 52: https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nhs-long-term-plan-version-1.2.pdf [accessed 9 December 2024].
13 NHS, Special Schools Eye Care: Proof of Concept Evaluation Report (November 2022), p 29: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PRN00196-ii-special-schools-eye-care-proof-of-concept-evaluation-report.pdf [accessed 10 December 2024].