Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue the Vulnerable Persons Refugee Scheme after 2020.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We are making positive progress in our work with key stakeholders and international organisations on our future Asylum and Resettlement Strategy. This includes consideration of the UK’s resettlement offer beyond 2020.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their priorities for the European Migration Fund; and what is the size of the fund in the present financial year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), to which this question presumably relates, is operated in the UK by the AMIF UK Responsible Authority. The total value of the fund to the UK is currently €538.2m.
AMIF operates on a funding year different to the financial year, the AMIF year runs 16 October to 15 October, furthermore funding is allocated for the full 7-year programme.
In agreeing the AMIF UK National Programme with the European Commission, the UK proposed an even spending plan across the programme, and the funds can be utilised flexibly across the programme, so the spending plan is only a rough guide.
There is not a set amount allocated for the current financial year. To date the UK has utilised €372m, this figure includes both expenditure and funding committed by grant agreement. In addition, the Responsible Authority is currently undertaking an open call for proposals for integration related activities for a value of up to £50m.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the European Migration Fund is being allocated to local authorities and in particular to child refugees.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), to which this question presumably relates, is operated in the UK by the AMIF UK Responsible Authority. The total value of the fund to the UK is currently €538.2m.
Funding is not allocated directly to local authorities unless they have applied for funding through an open call for proposals operated by the Responsible Authority, one of which is currently open with £50m available for organisations to apply for, for integration related activities for third country nationalS, including refugees. The Home Office, as the department with responsibility for migration, is also able to apply for AMIF funds, and has received a significant amount of AMIF funds to date.
There is no particular amount allocated to managing child refugees. A full list of funded projects is published each August on the AMIF page of www.gov.uk along with the UK National Programme and information about calls for
proposals.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Crown Territories, in particular the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, about the possibility that they will take part in receiving (1) unaccompanied child refugees in Europe, and (2) refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey under existing schemes for refugee families.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
In the early stages of developing the UK's response to the refugee crisis, conversations were held between the UK Government and the Crown Dependencies to explore whether the infrastructure and capacity existed in the Crown Dependencies to support the resettlement of refugees under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. Any offers of capacity and support for the UK schemes now or in the future are welcome.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in total have been transferred to the UK to date under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016; and of the remaining places, how many children in total have been allocated a place but have not yet been transferred to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We remain fully committed to delivering our commitment to transfer the specified number of 480 children under Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 and are working very closely with participating States, to deliver the scheme in line with their national laws.
Over 220 children are already in the UK. We will not provide a running commentary on numbers and will publish the details once all children are in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children initially relocated to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 have subsequently been reunited with family members; and whether those relocations will be included in the specified number of 480 children to be transferred under section 67 of that Act.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Dublin Regulation establishes a clear mechanism for unaccompanied children who have claimed asylum in another EU Member State to be transferred here to have their asylum claim assessed if they have a qualifying family member legally present in the UK, and where transfer is in the child’s best interests.
Unaccompanied children who are relocated to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 are placed in the care of a local authority. Any child relocated under section 67 occupying a space offered by a local authority will count towards the specified number of 480. Local authorities will review a child’s care needs on an ongoing basis. If a child has relatives in the UK, the local authority may subsequently decide that placement with that family is in the child’s best interests. However, this is a decision for local authorities, not the Home Office.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 7 November (HL2748), when they will publish the results of their review of planning law in relation to basement developments; and what action they propose to take.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We are grateful to those who have contributed to the Basements Planning Review by responding to the Call for Evidence. We intend to publish a summary of the responses shortly.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) advances in treatments for multiple sclerosis for NHS patients, including the recently approved first short course oral treatment, cladribine tablets; and (2) the extent to which new treatments will help to reduce burdens on NHS services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department has made no such assessment.
Through its technology appraisal programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether selected drugs and treatments represent a clinically and cost effective use of National Health Service resources, taking into account the impact on the health service of a product.
NICE is currently developing guidance on the use of cladribine for treating multiple sclerosis and expects to publish final guidance in December.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve NHS patient access to the latest innovative cost-effective medicines for multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Through its technology appraisal programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on the clinical and cost effective use of drugs and other treatments. Wherever possible, NICE aims to publish draft guidance on significant new drugs as soon as possible after licensing. NICE has recommended a number of drugs as treatments for multiple sclerosis.
Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued. This is reflected in the NHS Constitution as a right to NICE approved drugs.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of residential basement excavations on the quality of life of those living in the neighbourhood.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
As part of our recent review of the planning law and regulations which relate to basement developments, we held a call for evidence which sought examples of good practice in the effective use of the current planning framework in managing basement developments. This included how the planning system can be used to mitigate any potential adverse impacts arising from such developments. We are grateful to the Noble Lord for his support and feedback around this issue.