Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 17 July (HL9083), whether they will now answer the question put; namely what is the current daily cost of providing accommodation for asylum seekers other than in hotels; and how this compares with the daily cost in 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what legal costs they have incurred in dealing with claims for asylum, including appeals, launched by those arriving in the United Kingdom through irregular and illegal means in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what grants they have given to non-government organisations and other groups assisting those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom during the past three years, and to which organisations and groups.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested information could only be collated and verified through manual checks by all grant making policy teams within the Home Office, something that could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current daily cost of providing accommodation for asylum seekers other than in hotels; and how this compares with the daily cost in 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2024/25 annual report, published on 17 July 2025, states on p75 that £2.1bn was spent on hotels in 2024-25, at an average of £5.77m per day, compared to 3.0bn spent on hotels in 2023-24, at an average of £8.3m per day.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the integration of immigrants in the UK, and what programmes they provide to encourage integration.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office’s Immigration White paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced proposed reforms in a wide range of areas – including integration, community cohesion, and language requirements – further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of France about the departure of 1,195 asylum seekers in small boats on 31 May.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in the Home Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons on 2 June, the French Minister of the Interior and the French Cabinet have now agreed that their maritime rules need to change to tackle the kind of tactics seen on 31 May. We will continue to cooperate closely with our French counterparts on the action necessary to disrupt and dismantle organised immigration crime gangs.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of applications for asylum made by those who have entered the UK illegally in small boats have been successful in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Of the 105,754 people who arrived on a small boat between April 2022 and March 2025 and claimed asylum, 32,506 have subsequently been granted asylum or some other protection status. This data is published in Irr_D03 in the 'Irregular migration detailed datasets' as part of the 'Immigration system statistics quarterly release' on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people deported from the United Kingdom have returned illegally in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A deportation order requires an FNO to leave the UK and prohibits them from entering the UK while it remains in force. Anyone discovered at the border attempting to do so will be automatically denied entry or detained.
Entering in breach of a deportation order is a criminal offence under section 24(1)(a) of the 1971 Act, so if an individual who was previously deported is found again in the UK, other than at the border, they will again be liable to be detained and returned to prison.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they will provide to meet the cost of asylum applications for those entering the UK via small boats in the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not allocate funding based on the route by which asylum seekers have entered the UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Spain about allowing UK passport holders to use e-gates at Spanish airports.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have secured confirmation that there will be no legal barriers to eGates use for UK nationals travelling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit System.
But the Prime Minister has been clear that we believe European countries should go further and faster now.
We are therefore working with individual Member States at pace to make that transition happen as soon as possible. This includes discussions with Spain.