Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is she taking to tackle fraudulent Certificates of Sponsorship as a route for illegal immigration.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Certificates of sponsorship (CoS) are electronic documents created by sponsors licensed by the Home Office. If we identify that a fraudulent, non-genuine CoS has been submitted, that does not match our records, we shall refuse the application.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the average time taken to process an asylum claim after July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The specific data requested is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement summary tables’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within six months is published in table ASY_D03 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operates swiftly.
As a result, asylum decision making increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024.
The Home Office continues to take action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on people who have been deported.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by nationality and destination are published on a quarterly basis. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, and are currently available to the end of December 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
In addition, a note providing an overview of the number of people who have been returned from the UK since 5 July 2024 was published on 31 March 2025, and can be found here: Returns from the UK from 5 July 2024 to 22 March 2025 - GOV.UK.
3,594 FNOs were returned in this period, which is an increase of 16% compared to 3,101 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).
Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether non-Syrian nationals displaced by the Syrian civil war seeking asylum have had their claims paused following the general pause of Syrian asylum claims from December 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions. The pause also applies those who have previously been habitually resident in Syria. The pause is being kept under constant review and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions, we will resume the processing of them.
Asked by: Martin Rhodes (Labour - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the number of children in the UK who are (a) stateless and (b) at risk of statelessness.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who entered the UK on a visa and who now live in (a) asylum hotels and (b) other state-funded accommodation are from (i) Pakistan, (ii) Nigeria and (iii) Sri Lanka.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on the ‘Source of asylum claims in 2024’ was published by the Home Office on 30th March 2025. The remaining requested data is not available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in the UK on tourist visas went on to claim asylum in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on the ‘Source of asylum claims in 2024’ was published by the Home Office on 30th March 2025. The remaining requested data is not available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in the UK on student visas later claimed asylum in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on the ‘Source of asylum claims in 2024’ was published by the Home Office on 30th March 2025. The remaining requested data is not available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) people seeking asylum and (b) refugees to (i) develop their skills and (ii) increase their employability.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The UK has a long history of providing protection to those that need it and supporting refugee integration and employment. This includes work across government to ensure that mainstream services meet the needs of refugees.
Refugees granted refugee status or humanitarian protection (as well as those
arriving under one of the UK’s resettlement schemes) have immediate access to the labour market, including employment support from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work coaches in the same way as other jobseekers. Unemployed refugees are eligible for full funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learning.
In addition, through the Skilled Worker visa, the UK has labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to take up employment in the UK. We are currently reviewing labour mobility initiatives for refugees and displaced people to ensure we are learning from what works to increase employability and outcomes.
We continue to provide local authorities with a core tariff to support the integration of those who arrive through the UK’s Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy. We work across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees and continue to keep our policies under review.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visas expired before the recipient left the country in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in legislation, an individual is liable to removal from the UK if "the person requires leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom but does not have it". The Home Office has not historically recorded the means by which individual becomes liable to removal, and we could only collate and verify the requested information on visa overstayers for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Government has already begun to deliver a major surge in the removal of people with no right to be in the UK, with over 24,000 returns recorded between 5 July 2024 and 22 March 2025.
Further data on returns activity is published quarterly and can be found on gov.uk at Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).