Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their timeline for the full implementation of the ATLAS caseworking system; and whether they expect it to be fully operational in 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Atlas caseworking system is replacing the legacy CID (Case Information Database) system and we expect to decommission CID in the first half of 2025. Atlas is already fully operational in practice, with almost all in-country caseworking across Migration & Borders being processed on it since mid-2024. A small handful of exceptional immigration routes remain to transition over from CID to Atlas in the next few months.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the ATLAS caseworking system will include functionality to track and report on the (1) number, and (2) demographics, of individuals granted leave to remain with a 'no recourse to public funds' condition; and if so, when this functionality will be fully operational.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Atlas system records, as part of a leave to remain decision, whether an individual has been given a 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF) condition, and every individual who has an immigration application record on Atlas has their nationality, gender and date of birth recorded as standard. Management Information related to the NRPF condition is expected to be available by late summer 2025, following the transition of caseworking for a small number of remaining immigration routes onto Atlas.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 November (HL2389), in which he says that the Home Office review into immigration detention will not assess all areas of the Brook House Inquiry, whether they intend to review the recommendations in another review or assessment, and what would the timescale be for this work.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The previous government published a command paper on 19 March 2024 in response to the Brook House Inquiry report. Positive progress continues to be made in addressing the Inquiry’s findings.
A cross departmental working group chaired by the SCS Deputy Director for Detention Services has been meeting since September 2023. The working group continues to meet monthly to consider and monitor delivery of the Inquiry’s recommendations, providing oversight and overarching governance to monitor Inquiry recommendations. Home Office Ministers are fully sighted on progress.
30 out of the 33 recommendations made have been accepted or partially accepted, with 12 recommendations met and closed as of October 2024. The remaining recommendations remain on track for closure by summer 2025.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 14 October (HL Deb cols 17GC–20GC), when they intend to publish the terms of reference for the Home Office review into immigration detention, including Rule 34 and 35 of the detention centre rules.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Adults at Risk review should be completed by Spring 2025. It is a wholesale review of the Adults at Risk policy, including Rule 34 and Rule 35 of the detention centre rules. To ensure the review is not constrained, there are no formal terms of reference.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 14 October (HL Deb cols 17GC–20GC), whether the review into immigration detention will consider the recommendations of the Brook House Inquiry and reassess which of its recommendations to accept.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Adults at Risk review forms part of the response to one of the recommendations of the Brook House Inquiry (Recommendation 9: Review of the operation of Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001). However, it will not cover all areas of the Brook House Inquiry and will not reassess the recommendations made.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Action Plan to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants agreed by the G7 and published on 21 October, what plans they have to work with international partners to develop more accessible legal routes for migration.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The United Kingdom has a long history of providing sanctuary to those who need it. This country will always work alongside others to help those fleeing war and persecution and we value the importance of working with international partners to address the challenges of irregular migration.
Alongside tackling the criminal people smuggling gangs and fixing our asylum system, we are focused on supporting the relocation of those who have been identified as eligible for resettlement under our resettlement schemes and fixing the gaps in existing routes. That is why we have affirmed our ongoing commitment to the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS); supported the reunification of Afghan families under the ACRS route; provided sanctuary for Ukrainians under our Ukraine schemes; and provided routes for Hong Kongers under our Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum liaison officers are currently in post in the Home Office, and whether there are any plans for further recruitment to support newly recognised refugees through the move-on process.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is working to make sure individuals have the support they need to integrate and work following a positive asylum decision and to help local authorities better plan their assistance to those individuals.
Support for newly recognised refugees is available through Migrant Help and their partners, which includes advice on how to work and support themselves with housing.
A new team of Asylum Move On Liaison Officers (AMLOs) is being operationalised to work with individuals at the start of the Move On process alongside Migrant Help to ensure a successful Move On. A virtual AMLO support team will be created to provide data and support to local authorities. The teams will work nationally when they are fully set up.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals have been identified as eligible for resettlement schemes and have authorisation to travel to the UK, but who currently reside in Lebanon and are awaiting travel confirmation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Work continues at pace to resettle eligible individuals under UKRS from Lebanon. The number of individuals and families resettled is a changing picture due to the operational nature of the scheme, making it difficult to release numbers of eligible individuals due for resettlement at this time. Statistics on the number resettled will be recorded and reported in the relevant quarterly immigration data sets.
It can be confirmed that the UK Government is working as quickly as possible to bring those families who have been accepted onto the UK Resettlement Scheme to the UK by securing seats on flights where they become available.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans with the UN Refugee Agency to expedite the travel of those eligible for UK resettlement who currently reside in Lebanon.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Work continues at pace to resettle eligible individuals under UKRS from Lebanon. The number of individuals and families resettled is a changing picture due to the operational nature of the scheme, making it difficult to release numbers of eligible individuals due for resettlement at this time. Statistics on the number resettled will be recorded and reported in the relevant quarterly immigration data sets.
It can be confirmed that the UK Government is working as quickly as possible to bring those families who have been accepted onto the UK Resettlement Scheme to the UK by securing seats on flights where they become available.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether an impact assessment has been undertaken of the proposed changes to the Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner’s fee structure, including the impact on charitable immigration advice services.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office together with the Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner (OISC) ran the fees consultation for a period of 12 weeks, which closed on 5 June 2024. The consultation was designed to help best understand the impact of proposals to amend the structure of the fees charged by the OISC to its registered advisers, and to minimise the risks of any adverse impact. The findings from the consultation are currently under review.