Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration, if any, they are giving to the forfeiture of the NHS pensions of Mr Amran Hussein and Dr Muhammad Iqbal following their recent convictions.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Under NHS Pension Scheme Regulations, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, may direct all or part of a member's pension benefits be forfeited where the member has been convicted of a relevant offence committed before those benefits become payable. Any decision on forfeiture is considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Government does not comment on individual cases.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers have been removed from Northern Ireland in the past three years; whether the Government possess confirmations of their departure from the United Kingdom and return to another state; and how many such returns were made to the Republic of Ireland.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not routinely produce statistics showing from where in the UK a failed asylum seeker has been removed. A transparency publication updated on 19 August (Northern Ireland enforcement activity between 1 October 2022 and 31 May 2026 - GOV.UK) shows that between 1 July 2024 and 31 May 2026, Immigration Enforcement conducted 2,913 enforcement visits in Northern Ireland resulting in 2,425 arrests, with nearly 1,000 (963) people subsequently returned, almost 500 (493) of which had a destination of Ireland. These numbers are not however specific to asylum seekers and include both asylum-related and non-asylum encounters.

The latest official statics on returns published on 27 August (How many people are returned from the UK? - GOV.UK) show that in 2025 there were 521 returns (enforced and voluntary) to Ireland (table Ret_D02 of the ‘returns detailed datasets’). These figures are from across the UK however and are not specific to Northern Ireland encounters.

Obtaining the specific information you have requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wood of Anfield on 27 July (HL1989), whether they will commence the recording by data fields of (1) the nationality of asylum seekers, (2) how they entered or came to be in the United Kingdom, and (3) which country they travelled from most recently before reaching the UK.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes the number of asylum claims raised by nationality, and the number of people claiming asylum by prior route, by nationality in the Asy_D01 and Asy_D01a tables available here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

Asylum seekers arrive in the UK through a range of routes before claiming asylum. In the year ending June 2026, 41% had previously entered on a visa or other leave, 40% arrived by small boat, 12% arrived via other illegal entry routes, and 8% entered via other routes or could not be matched to a route of entry.

Information on countries asylum seekers travelled from before reaching the UK this information is not published. It is held as “free text” on individual case files and can only be extracted manually at disproportionate cost.

The number of people claiming asylum in the previous three years, and to date in the current year is shown below:

Source: Asy_D01 Asylum claims raised, by nationality, age, sex, UASC, applicant type, and location of claim.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report that the new Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland described herself as the Ambassador to Great Britain when presenting her credentials.

Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided on 8 September in response to Question 26855 which is copied below:

All Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary accredited to the Court of St James's are Ambassadors to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.