Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the Prime Minister’s special envoy for negotiations regarding the British Indian Ocean Territory sovereignty dispute was aware of the 1966 Agreement (1) when negotiating in Washington DC on behalf of the UK Government during 2024 and 2025, and (2) when the agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago was signed on 22 May 2025.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer I provided on 22 December in response to Question HL12715, and I gently point out to her that the Government has always been aware of the Exchange of Letters to which I referred in that answer, even if they appear to have taken some Opposition parties by surprise.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many soldiers and their families are on accommodation waiting lists or assigned to accommodation a significant distance from their work because priority for housing was given to the families of Afghan refugees.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No Armed Forces families have been displaced from their Service Family Accommodation either within barracks, or on housing estates close to their place of work, to house Afghan families.
No Service Families are on waiting lists or have been assigned accommodation a significant distance from their work because priority for housing was given to Afghan families.
The Ministry Of Defence’s priority is and will always remain, to accommodate Serving personnel and their families.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many armed forces families have been displaced from their Service Family Accommodation (1) within barracks, and (2) on housing estates close to their place of work, to house families of Afghan refugees since 6 January 2022.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No Armed Forces families have been displaced from their Service Family Accommodation either within barracks, or on housing estates close to their place of work, to house Afghan families.
No Service Families are on waiting lists or have been assigned accommodation a significant distance from their work because priority for housing was given to Afghan families.
The Ministry Of Defence’s priority is and will always remain, to accommodate Serving personnel and their families.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children of Afghan refugees attending schools in or near army barracks across the UK are being taught in classes segregated by sex.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL11797), what steps they take to ensure that those living in the vicinity of a prison are notified in the event that a foreign national offender is released without being deported immediately.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no mechanism to notify the public living in the vicinity of a prison if a Foreign National Offender (FNO) is released.
When a FNO is released into the community, they are subject to supervision and monitoring by the probation service in the same way British citizens released from prison would be. The Home Office will pursue removal of FNOs whether in prison or the community where a deportation order has been made.
The HMPPS Victim Contact Scheme provides a service for the victims of offenders who are convicted of a specified violent, sexual or terrorism offence and are sentenced to twelve months or more imprisonment. Victims who decide to receive the service are allocated a Victim Liaison Officer who will keep the victim updated on key stages throughout the sentence, including when the offender (whether FNO or not) is released.
In the year-ending October 2025, over 5,400 FNOs have been returned which is 12% higher than the 12 months prior.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL11798), whether those in charge of hotels in which asylum seekers are house are required to inform the Home Office of any residents who have disappeared and what steps are taken to locate such residents.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office accommodation is non-detained, asylum seekers are free to come and go from the sites.
The Home Office expects the highest standards from accommodation providers, who are expected to conduct regular checks across the asylum estate including reporting police for disappearing of asylum seekers. A detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by accommodation providers and the standards we expect can be found in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts.
Schedule 2 to AASC contract provides:
Accurate and auditable daily site registers maintained in accordance with the Home Office’s requirements. The Provider must inform the Home Office as soon as they become aware of an unauthorised absence of an asylum seeker from the relevant Initial Accommodation
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL11798), whether those in charge of hotels in which asylum seekers are housed are required to keep accurate and up-to-date records of (1) current residents, and (2) residents who have disappeared.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office accommodation is non-detained, asylum seekers are free to come and go from the sites.
The Home Office expects the highest standards from accommodation providers, who are expected to conduct regular checks across the asylum estate including reporting police for disappearing of asylum seekers. A detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by accommodation providers and the standards we expect can be found in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts.
Schedule 2 to AASC contract provides:
Accurate and auditable daily site registers maintained in accordance with the Home Office’s requirements. The Provider must inform the Home Office as soon as they become aware of an unauthorised absence of an asylum seeker from the relevant Initial Accommodation
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL11798), how they can speed up the removal of illegal immigrants if they do not know the location of these individuals.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A range of measures is employed to maintain contact with individuals, including both face-to-face and digital reporting mechanisms. Immigration Enforcement possesses powers to trace and locate individuals who abscond, with a dedicated team that works in collaboration with the police, other government departments, and commercial organisations.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many convicted foreign nationals awaiting deportation have been released from HMP Huntercombe in the last 2 years owing to the Home Office's failure to provide the necessary deportation documents on time.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Foreign national offenders (FNOs) are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. The timeliness of criminal court proceedings and extensive periods on remand means many prisoners will reach their Early Removal Scheme (ERS) window immediately, or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.
HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) are working closely with the Home Office to ensure the ERS process runs as efficiently as possible focusing on operational improvements and more robust data.
Latest published information shows that between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 2,632 FNOs were removed directly from prison under ERS, which is a 10% increase compared to the 2,385 in the same period 12 months prior.
We make every effort to ensure that a FNO’s removal by deportation coincides with their release from prison upon completion of their custodial sentence. Legal or re-documentation barriers can frustrate immediate deportation. Despite the barriers we face, we remain resolute in our commitment to deport those who would abuse our hospitality and make our communities safer for everyone.
The information requested is not available from published statistics.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many illegal immigrants who left asylum hotels in the past 5 years have not since been accounted for.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has set out the most sweeping changes to our asylum system in a generation to restore order and control to our borders.
This includes speeding up removals of illegal migrants from the UK – with almost 50,000 people removed since July 2024.
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.