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 HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much tax revenue has been generated by those granted asylum in the UK for the financial year 2019–20.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold information on the migration status of individuals paying Income Tax as that detail is not required for the operation of Income Tax.
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 Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 23 April (HL14837) in which he said that the Department of Health and Social Care had made "no assessment" of the ability to screen for ectopic pregnancies via telemedicine abortion services, how they are ensuring that the clinical guidance set by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is sufficient to prevent ectopic pregnancies from going undiagnosed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is the role of clinical experts such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to set clinical practice and ensure that it includes appropriate guidance on identification of ectopic pregnancies.
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 Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability to screen for ectopic pregnancies via telemedicine abortion services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
No assessment has been made. The Department does not set clinical practice. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has issued clinical guidelines Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and abortion care: Information for healthcare professionals. A copy is attached. The guidance sets out that taking a history and a symptom-based approach, with an ultrasound if indicated, is consistent with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on the diagnosis and management of ectopic pregnancy. The Royal College’s guidance includes a decision aid for clinicians to use to help determine if an ultra-sound scan is required.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 16 February (151601 and 150684), what consideration the Human Tissue Authority gave to the ethics of the home use of abortion pills, approved in March 2020; and what assessment that Authority has made of the impact of at home abortions on (a) sewage and (b) non-recyclable waste systems.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is not within the Human Tissue Authority’s remit to consider the ethics of the home use of abortion pills or to make any assessment of the impact on sewage and non-recyclable waste systems.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any national triage system has been put in place in hospitals for the upcoming winter period; if so, (1) what are the criteria of that system, (2) what guidance they have circulated to hospitals about that system, and (3) whether any such guidance states that all patients should be triaged based on care need rather than age.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Health Service has repeatedly instructed staff that no patient who could benefit from treatment should be denied it. Clinicians are focused on assessing the individual needs of patients and providing the care that will benefit them best.
When issuing guidance on restoration of non-COVID-19 health services, NHS England instructed providers to make full use of available capacity whilst protecting the most vulnerable. Furthermore, throughout the pandemic, public health measures have protected our most vulnerable patients. For example, we have ensured care home residents and staff are protected, including testing all residents and staff, ring-fencing £1.1 billion for infection control and making a further £4.6 billion available to councils to address pressures caused by the pandemic.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of deaths from (1) dehydration, (2) malnutrition, and (3) bed sores, in (a) care homes, and (b) hospitals, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Dear Lady Stroud,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question regarding what estimate has been made of the number of deaths from (1) dehydration, (2) malnutrition, and (3) bed sores, in (a) care homes, and (b) hospitals, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (HL10551).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in England and Wales. The most recent set of final figures published are for deaths registered in 2019[1]. The final information on deaths registered in 2020 will be released in summer 2021.
As part of our provisional analysis for 2020 so far, we released an article, Analysis of death registrations not involving coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales: 28 December 2019 to 10 July 2020[2]. Table 1 shows the number of deaths in each week and the corresponding 5-year average for disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration), malnutrition and nutritional anaemias. Information on bed sores, and breakdowns by care homes and hospitals, is not available.
Cause of death is defined using the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition (ICD-10).
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Weekly provisional figures on Non-COVID-19 deaths due to disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration), malnutrition and nutritional anaemias. England and Wales, weeks 1 to 28 combined[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
| ICD-10 codes | Cause of death groups | Age group | Deaths |
2020 | E86–E87 | Disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration) |
| 173 |
E86–E87 | Disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration) | 65+ | 172 | |
5-year average | E86–E87 | Disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration) |
| 103.4 |
E86–E87 | Disorders of fluid electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration) | 65+ | 128.8 | |
2020 | D50–D53, E40–E64 | Malnutrition and nutritional anaemias |
| 29 |
D50–D53, E40–E64 | Malnutrition and nutritional anaemias | 65+ | 75 | |
5-year average | D50–D53, E40–E64 | Malnutrition and nutritional anaemias |
| 20.8 |
D50–D53, E40–E64 | Malnutrition and nutritional anaemias | 65+ | 66 |
Source: ONS
[3] A non-COVID-19 death is a death where COVID-19 is not mentioned on the death certificate. The ICD 1 definitions for COVID-19 are UO7.1 and UO7.2.
[4] ‘Due to’ refers to when the condition was the underlying cause. An ‘underlying cause of death’ refers to the main cause of death.
[5] For deaths registered from 1 January 2020, cause of death is coded to the ICD-10 classification using MUSE 5.5 software. Previous years were coded to IRIS 4.2.3. Further information about the change in software is available on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/causeofdeathcodinginmortalitystatisticssoftwarechangesjanuary2019
[6] These figures represent death registrations. There can be a delay between the date a death occurred and the date a death was registered. More information can be found in our ‘Impact of registration delays’ release: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/impactofregistrationdelaysonmortalitystatisticsinenglandandwales/2018
[7] All figures for 2020 are provisional.
[8] Figures include deaths of non-residents.
[9] Caution should be used when analysing conditions with low numbers of deaths as these can have high levels of year on year variation relative to the number of deaths.