Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been received into Home Office accommodation each year since 2021 in (1) Leicester, and (2) Leicestershire.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The wellbeing of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our priority. We maintain that the best place for these children to be accommodated is within local authority care.
There are currently no unaccompanied children in hotels and there has never been unaccompanied asylum seeking hotels in Leicester. Nationally all unaccompanied children’s hotel accommodation has been empty since 18 November 2023. Of the 7 hotels which were operational in 2022, 6 of those were closed permanently on 30 November 2023.
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels were safe and supported as we sought urgent placements with a local authority.
The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have gone missing from Home Office accommodation since 2021 in (1) Leicester, and (2) Leicestershire.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The wellbeing of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our priority. We maintain that the best place for these children to be accommodated is within local authority care.
There are currently no unaccompanied children in hotels and there has never been unaccompanied asylum seeking hotels in Leicester. Nationally all unaccompanied children’s hotel accommodation has been empty since 18 November 2023. Of the 7 hotels which were operational in 2022, 6 of those were closed permanently on 30 November 2023.
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels were safe and supported as we sought urgent placements with a local authority.
The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made a decision about whether the power under the Illegal Migration Act 2023 for the Home Office to accommodate children will come into force; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Illegal Migration Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act seeks to ensure the only way to come to the UK for protection will be through safe and legal routes and will take power out of the hands of the criminal gangs and protect vulnerable people, including children.
Following the High Court ECPAT judgment and Supreme Court judgment on Rwanda, the Government is carefully reflecting on commencement of the powers in the Act, including those relating to the accommodation and transfer of unaccompanied children.
These powers have not yet been commenced and a decision will be made in due course. The Act does not change a local authority’s statutory obligations to children from the date of arrival and that the best place for an unaccompanied child is in the care of a local authority. This is something the Government was consistently clear about during the Illegal Migration Act’s passage through Parliament.
We are working at pace with Kent County Council, other government departments and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied asylum seeking children urgently and sustainably.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many complaints the Health and Care Professionals Council has received since 2020 regarding professionals under their regulation providing evidence of parental alienation in court cases.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department does not hold the information requested. As the independent regulator of 15 health and care professions, the Health and Care Professions Council is responsible for receiving and handling complaints about practitioners on its register.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the school attendance rates are in (1) Leicester, (2) Leicestershire, and (3) nationally, broken down in each case by (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) special schools; and how these rates have changed since 2019.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department publishes national statistics on pupil absence from schools in England. Figures covering the full academic year are available up to 2021/22. Figures for Leicester, Leicestershire and England from 2018/19 to 2021/22 are available in attachment table 1.
Since September 2022 the department has also published attendance statistics based on daily data collected from schools that are signed up to do so. These are not directly comparable with the national statistics but are intended to provide an early indicator. Figures for Leicester, Leicestershire and England for 2022/23 are available in attachment table 2.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish a response to the report by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner The Family Court and domestic abuse: achieving cultural change, published on 17 July.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Government has received the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s report; “The Family Court and domestic abuse: achieving cultural change”. We are considering the recommendations made and will publish a full response by early November 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to update the Implementation Plan which accompanied the report by the Ministry of Justice Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases, published in June 2020.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Government published a delivery update on the Implementation Plan on 25 May 2023. The update sets out the comprehensive action taken so far and the next steps.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Audit Office's report on the Government's Asylum and Protection Transformation Programme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The NAO report into the Asylum & Protection Transformation Programme fully recognises the significance of the transformation programme, and the efforts of the Home Office to reform the asylum and protection system.
The report acknowledges the key work the programme has done to date to tackle the challenges facing the asylum system, but notes concern around securing dispersal accommodation, and the ability of decision makers to clear the backlog. The report suggested three recommendations for the programme to increase its chances of success, all of which are accepted and embedded within our programme approach going forward.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the value of the Inter-Faith Network, and (2) the risks of withdrawing funding from the Network.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This department has provided funding to the Inter Faith Network since 2006/07 and is grateful to the Inter Faith Network for its work to promote understanding between different faiths and none. The department monitors all funded organisations throughout the lifecycle of their project for the purposes of assessing delivery against workplan targets, compliance and evaluation, in line with best practice for the management of public funding and to ensure value is demonstrated. When making funding decisions, the Government considers a wide range of factors, including government priorities and current budgetary pressures.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of using and converting (1) RAF Scampton, (2) MDP Wethersfield, (3) the Northeye site, and (4) the Bibby Stockholm barge for asylum-seeker accommodation; and what assessment they have made of the value of the contracts to the agencies managing these sites.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with accommodation and other support whilst their claim for asylum is being considered.
Ongoing work across government is being undertaken to identify and secure alternative, more appropriate, cost-effective accommodation options around the country. In exploring potential alternative large sites, we continue to consider all available options to source appropriate and cost-effective temporary accommodation.