Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers have spent at least six months awaiting a decision on their asylum claim in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office publishes information on asylum applications and resettlement in the Immigration statistics quarterly release. Data on the number of asylum applications that are currently awaiting an initial decision are published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets (which is attached), which includes whether cases have been waiting less or more than 6 months.
The number of people awaiting an initial decision is a subset of the total number of people in the asylum system (‘asylum work in progress’), which also includes those awaiting appeal outcomes and failed asylum seekers that are subject to removal from the UK. The total number of cases in the asylum system is published in the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic impact of offering the right to work to asylum seekers who have spent six months awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Asylum seeker right to work is a complex issue, not least given the potential incentive it can provide to make dangerous journeys to the UK or to make ill-founded claims simply to be able to work whilst they are considered
A review of the policy is ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the net contribution to the economy generated by those granted asylum in the UK over the financial year 2019–20.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office has not made an assessment of the net contribution to the economy generated by those granted asylum in the UK over the financial year 2019–20.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement in the Home Office press release 'Alarming rise of abuse within modern slavery system', published on 20 March, that “Our generous safeguards for victims are being rampantly abused by child rapists, people who pose a threat to national security and failed asylum seekers with no right to be here”, how many people that took advantage of the modern slavery safeguards in each of the last five years fit the profiles described.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We are committed to ensuring victims of modern slavery are identified quickly and provided with the support they require to start to rebuild their lives.
In March 2021, the Government published a report on issues raised by people in immigration detention. This provides data on some of the concerns we are seeking to address through the New Plan for Immigration. This is available at: Issues raised by people facing return in immigration detention - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
There are concerns about the potential for a referral to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to be used to frustrate Immigration Enforcement processes or to gain access to support inappropriately.
For example, there has been a growth in NRM referrals being made after a person enters immigration detention. In 2019, 16% of people detained within the UK following immigration offences were referred as potential victims of modern slavery. This is up from just 3% in 2017.
This raises legitimate concerns that some referrals are being made late in the process to frustrate immigration action and that legitimate referrals are not being made in a timely way. The New Plan for Immigration will address both concerns.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many National Referral Mechanism referrals submitted to (1) the National Crime Agency, and (2) UK Visas and Immigration, are awaiting a conclusive grounds decision, broken down by year of submission.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The National Crime Agency regularly publishes National Referral Mechanism (NRM) data, including the “National Referral Mechanism Statistics Annual Report 2018” on 20th March 2019, available at:
These published statistics include a summary of current status for cases between 2013 and 2018, including numbers of cases pending a NRM decision (Reasonable Grounds and Conclusive Grounds combined).
The statistics also provide the decision status of 2018 cases, including those pending a Conclusive Grounds decision (as at 12 March 2019), split by grouped nationalities (UK, EU (non-UK), Other, and Not Known), and by claimed exploitation type.
The statistics also detail the number of cases allocated to each Competent Authority in 2018, however the published statistics do not provide breakdown of pending decisions by Competent Authority, i.e. National Crime Agency and UK Visas and Immigration.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many potential victims of modern slavery referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2018 had been through the NRM before.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The National Crime Agency regularly publishes National Referral Mecha-nism (NRM) data but does not publish data on potential victims that have been through the NRM previously.
The National Crime Agency published the National Referral Mechanism Statistics Annual Report 2018 on 20th March 2019:
http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/2018-nrm-statistics/1019-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-annual-report-2018
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are offering to communities outside London, including (1) Inverclyde, (2) Rochdale, (3) Manchester, (4) Boston, and (5) Leicester, to tackle knife-related crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 9 April 2018, the Government published a new Serious Violence Strategy to take action to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. The Serious Violence Strategy set out the Government’s response to serious violence and it outlines an ambitious programme involving 61 commitments and actions. Since launching the Strategy in April last year, we have made significant progress in delivering on our key commitments including:
• The Early Intervention Youth Fund of £22m, which is already sup-porting 29 projects in England and Wales
• Provision of £3.6m for a new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. The centre was established to tackle violent and exploitative criminal activity associated with county lines and became fully operational in September 2018;
• The National County Lines Coordination Centre has co-ordinated two separate weeks of intensive law enforcement action resulting in more than 1000 arrests, over 1300 individuals engaged for safeguarding, and significant seizures of weapons and drugs;
• An anti-knife crime Community Fund which provided £1.5 million in 2018/19 to support 68 projects;
• The Offensive Weapons Bill to strengthen legislation on firearms, knives and corrosive substances; and
• A national knife crime media campaign - #knifefree - to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime.
On 2 October 2018 the Home Secretary announced further measures to address violent crime:
• a consultation on new legal duty to underpin a ‘public health’ ap-proach to tackling serious violence this would mean police officers, education partners, local authority and health care professionals will have a new legal duty to take action and prevent violent crime.
a new £200 million youth endowment fund- this will be delivered over 10 years and will support interventions with children and young people at risk of involvement in crime and violence. It will focus on those most at risk, such as those displaying signs such as truancy, aggression and involvement in anti-social behaviour; funding interventions to steer children and young people away from becoming serious offenders; and
• an Independent Review of Drug Misuse. On 8 February, we appointed Dame Carol Black to lead a major review that will look into the ways in which drugs are fuelling serious violence.
The approach establishes a new balance between prevention and the rigorous law enforcement activity. It will shift our approach towards steering young people away from crime in the first place and put in place measures to tackle the root causes. We believe that the approach set out in the Strategy, with a greater emphasis on early intervention, will address violent crime and help young people to develop the skills and resilience to live happy and productive lives away from violence but we cannot deliver this alone
On 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Spring Statement that there will be £100 million additional funding in 2019/20 to tackle serious violence, including £80m of new funding from the Treasury. This will allow police to swiftly crack-down on knife crime on the areas of the country and also allow investment in Violence Reduction Units.
Inverclyde is in Scotland and is therefore covered by the Scottish Government. Through the Early Intervention Youth Fund and the anti-knife crime Community Fund, we have invested in projects in Greater Manchester (including Rochdale) and Leicester. All forces, including Greater Manchester Police, Leicestershire Police and Lincolnshire Police (including Boston) participated earlier this month in Operation Sceptre, the national week of enforcement action against knife crime.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have received a decision on their case in the last 18 months were waiting for a decision for (1) over two years, (2) 18 months to two years, (3) one year to 18 months, and (4) six months to one year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested, however we are committed to publishing more detailed figures in future data releases.
We are able to provide a breakdown of total applications pending by duration (±6 months), but we can’t separately identify UASC’s in the dataset. The table has been reproduced below:
Pending Duration (Initial Decision) | Main applicants | Main + dependants |
More than 6 months | 12,213 | 16,555 |
Less than 6 months | 15,043 | 19,300 |
Total | 27,256 | 35,855 |
Children and unaccompanied children seeking asylum, like anyone else claiming asylum in the UK, can claim in two ways; either at port of entry or at one of the national intake units.
The Home Office takes its responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously, including ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of the child. There are stringent statutory and policy safeguards in place in the asylum process for unaccompanied children, in recognition of their additional needs.
While in the UK, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are looked after by local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. Under these arrangements, children are assessed with regard to their individual needs and provided with access to education, accommodation and health services, as would be provided to any other looked after child in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have not yet received a decision on their case have been waiting for a decision for (1) over two years, (2) 18 months to two years, (3) one year to 18 months, and (4) six months to one year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested, however we are committed to publishing more detailed figures in future data releases.
We are able to provide a breakdown of total applications pending by duration (±6 months), but we can’t separately identify UASC’s in the dataset. The table has been reproduced below:
Pending Duration (Initial Decision) | Main applicants | Main + dependants |
More than 6 months | 12,213 | 16,555 |
Less than 6 months | 15,043 | 19,300 |
Total | 27,256 | 35,855 |
Children and unaccompanied children seeking asylum, like anyone else claiming asylum in the UK, can claim in two ways; either at port of entry or at one of the national intake units.
The Home Office takes its responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously, including ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of the child. There are stringent statutory and policy safeguards in place in the asylum process for unaccompanied children, in recognition of their additional needs.
While in the UK, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are looked after by local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. Under these arrangements, children are assessed with regard to their individual needs and provided with access to education, accommodation and health services, as would be provided to any other looked after child in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children transferred to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 have now received section 67 leave to remain since its creation in June 2018.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In June 2018 we announced a new route to settlement for those children transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 who do not qualify for international protection.
Over 220 unaccompanied children have been transferred to the UK under section 67, and transfers of eligible children are ongoing. We will not provide a running commentary on numbers and will publish the details, including the specific form of leave granted, once all children are in the UK.