Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many claims for compensation under the Windrush Compensation Scheme remain outstanding; and when they expect to settle the remaining claims.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested information can be found on Tab WCS_05 of Windrush Compensation Scheme data: July 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) released on 29 August 2024. As at end of July 2024, 856 compensation claims were in the Work in Progress category.
We will ensure the victims of the appalling Windrush scandal have their voices heard and the compensation scheme is run effectively, with a new Windrush Commissioner.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they anticipate having paid compensation in full to claimants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Windrush Compensation Scheme is determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled at the earliest point possible. The Scheme is making significant progress towards achieving this aim and has paid over £80 million in compensation as of January 2024. However, each person’s claim is deeply personal and deserves to be processed with the utmost care and sensitivity. This holistic approach necessarily takes time but is ultimately beneficial to individuals.
The Scheme does not therefore, impose time limit targets for concluding claims.
The Scheme has reduced the time to allocate a claim for a substantive casework consideration, from 18 months to under 4 months. The 4-month period includes all essential eligibility checks, together with a Preliminary Assessment to make an initial payment of £10,000 wherever possible. The Scheme has no end date so that people are not prevented from claiming compensation and there is no cap on the amount of compensation that will be paid overall.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of Windrush Compensation Scheme claims they have paid in full so far.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Information on the total number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have received a compensation payment is published as part of the Transparency Data release. The latest published data, covering the period up to the end of January 2024, is available here: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: January 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
As of January 2024, over £80 million has been paid in compensation across 2,233 claims.
An individual could have more than one claim under the Windrush Compensation Scheme rules, for example as a primary claimant, close family member, or as a representative of an estate. In addition, a claim may receive a preliminary, interim and/or full and final payment.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 29 February (HL Deb col 1190) where he stated that "there are legal proceedings" concerning the decision "not to proceed with some of the recommendations" contained in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review by Wendy Williams, what is the nature of those proceedings.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The “legal proceedings” refer to a Judicial Review, brought by three claimants, to challenge the decision, made in December 2022, of the former Secretary of State for the Home Department to not implement three of the Windrush Lessons Learned recommendations. The three policy recommendations are: recommendation 3, run reconciliation events; recommendation 9, introduce a Migrants’ Commissioner; and recommendation 10, review the remit and role of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of preparedness to deal with bush fires in hot weather.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with other departments and key stakeholders including Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities to mitigate the risk of wildfire as set out in the Wildfire Framework for England. The framework can be found at Wildfire Framework for England | Fire England.
Each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area, through their Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), having regard to other key local responders, the top local and national risks, and the communities which they serve.
The government recognises the risk that wildfire presents for landscapes and communities and recently wrote to Local Resilience Forums to share lessons and recommendations from the recent 2022 wildfire season. Further actions are set out in the third National Adaptation Plan, which was recently published: Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 10 July (HL8747), how many claims are yet to be settled under the Windrush Compensation Scheme; and when they expect those claims to be settled.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The latest Transparency data for the Windrush Compensation Scheme was published on 21 June 2023, which covers the period up to the end of May 2023.
We understand ‘yet to be settled’ to mean claims which have not received a final decision and are in the ‘Work in Progress’ category.
The requested information, regarding how many claims are in the ‘Work in Progress’ (WIP) category can be found on Tab WCS_05 of Windrush Compensation Scheme data: May 2023 - GOV.UK
The Transparency data note 12 defines WIP as “WIP defined as claims at Registration, Eligibility, Preliminary Payment Consideration, Casework and QA stages, excluding any claim that has received a final offer at Payment, and any claim at Tier 1 and Tier 2.”
The department does not impose time limit targets for concluding claims, as each person’s claim is deeply personal and deserves to be processed with the utmost care and sensitivity. This holistic approach necessarily takes time but is ultimately beneficial to individuals.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in dealing with compensation claims by Windrush victims.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The victims of the Windrush scandal suffered terrible injustices, and this Government remains steadfast in our commitment to do everything in our power to right the wrongs. We are determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled. We are making significant progress towards achieving this aim, and we have now paid or offered more than £75 million in compensation as at the end of May 2023. Over 66% of claims received by the end of May 2023 have had a final decision.
Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected communities and stakeholders about how the Scheme operates and its accessibility. The changes we made to the Scheme in December 2020 and August 2022, mean people receive significantly more money more quickly. Last year we published redesigned claim forms and refreshed casework guidance, with the aim of reducing the time taken to process claims and improving individuals’ experiences of applying to the Scheme. We also made changes to the Homelessness category and created a new category, ‘Living Costs’, to compensate close family members for certain contributions to a primary claimant’s living costs. These significant and positive policy changes were made following consultation with claimants and stakeholders.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of the RAF base at Wethersfield in Essex as a site for housing migrants.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
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.
Work across government was undertaken to identify and secure more appropriate, cost-effective accommodation options around the country. The site will provide basic, and functional accommodation whilst asylum seekers await a decision on their claim.
The Home Office, supported by the MoD, is working on proposals which will see the current MoD Wethersfield site providing suitable accommodation for single adult male asylum seekers.
The site at MoD Wethersfield is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, helping to minimise the impact on local communities and services. This includes 24/7 security to reduce the need for police patrols, on-site catering, healthcare and transport provision for those housed on site.
The safety and security of the local communities, those resident on the sites and the sites themselves are of the utmost importance. We are working closely with local police forces and other stakeholders to ensure appropriate security arrangements are in place.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for the issuing of firearm licences.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The safety of the public is our first priority and we keep firearms controls under review. We introduced new Statutory Guidance for firearms licensing for Chief Officers of Police on 1 November 2021. This is helping to improve the quality of police licensing procedures and achieve greater consistency across police forces, because police forces now have a legal duty to have regard to the Statutory Guidance when carrying out their licensing functions. The Statutory Guidance also made it a requirement for relevant medical information to be provided to police in all cases before the application for a firearm certificate is considered. The Statutory Guidance was refreshed on 14 February following a review after its first year in operation.
Following the conclusion on Monday 20 February of the inquest into the tragic shootings which occurred in Keyham in August 2021, and the issuing of a report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the report following a recent inquiry by the Scottish Affairs Committee into firearms licensing, we are giving urgent but careful consideration to recommendations made to the Home Office about firearms licensing.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the low clear up rate of home burglaries; and what steps they will take to address this.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact invasive crimes such as home burglary can have on individuals and the wider community. That is why we established the Safer Streets Fund to help prevent these crimes from happening in the first place, supporting the deployment of solutions such as home security, increased streetlighting and CCTV in high crime areas.
The Home Office is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to encourage forces to learn from each other and share best practice, and in June 2022 the NPCC launched the Burglary Power App to help officers gather evidence and investigate burglaries.
The Government welcomes the recent commitment given by Chief Constables and Commissioners across England and Wales that there should be police attendance at all home burglaries. We will work with the Residential Burglary Taskforce, National Police Chiefs' Council, HMICFRS and College of Policing to monitor and report on delivery against this.
To ensure police forces have sufficient resources to respond to the challenges they face we have committed to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers by March 2023, with over already16,753 in place at the end of December 2022.
The Home Office is working with partners across the criminal justice system to increase the number of cases being charged and prosecuted, and reduce the time taken to reach this point.