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.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of a net contributor to the tax system.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no set definition of a net contributor to the tax system. All taxpayers contribute to the public finances, supporting the provision of our public services.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the total income tax receipts for taxpayers aged 16–17 years old in each of the past three financial years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Estimates for the total income tax liabilities for taxpayers aged 16-17 years old for the three latest available financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 are set out below. Information after the financial year 2022-23 is not currently available.
Year | Tax liabilities of 16-17 year olds (Millions) (£) |
2020-21 | 9 |
2021-22 | 12 |
2022-23 | 13 |
Source: Survey of Personal Incomes, tax years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23
Notes on the table
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the percentage of free prescriptions in England that remain uncollected by patients and are subsequently destroyed by the NHS; and what is the average cost of uncollected and destroyed prescriptions to the Exchequer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of prescriptions that are uncollected. The majority of uncollected prescriptions can be disassembled, and the medicines returned to the pharmacy’s stock, ready to be used to fill other prescriptions.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the Universal Credit overpayment rate for the financial years (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and how these figures compare to the forecasted rate used in the Spring Budget 2023 and Spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Universal Credit (UC) overpayment rate was 12.7% of expenditure in the financial year 2022-23, and 12.4% of expenditure in the financial year 2023-24.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 12.1% in 2022/23, an underestimate of 0.6ppts from actual 2022-23 outturn (12.7%).
At Spring Budget 2024, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 13.2% in 2023/24, an overestimate of 0.7ppts from actual 2023-24 outturn (12.4%).