Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that those formally associated with the Assad regime, including those responsible for torture and the suppression of human rights in Syria, are not given asylum in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
While all asylum claims are routinely considered on their individual merits, it is standard procedure to deny protection to anyone who has committed crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious crimes abroad or acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what clothing and other allowances are made available to asylum seekers who arrive in the United Kingdom whether through official channels or illegally.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of destitute asylum seekers. Details of what is considered essential can be found in the annual asylum support rate review reports, published on gov.uk; www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-review-of-cash-allowance-paid-to-asylum-seekers.
Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream benefits.
Further information about support asylum seekers may be entitled to can be found at Asylum support: What you'll get - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what benefits asylum seekers are entitled to receive upon their arrival in the United Kingdom, whether they came via official channels or illegally.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of destitute asylum seekers. Details of what is considered essential can be found in the annual asylum support rate review reports, published on gov.uk; www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-review-of-cash-allowance-paid-to-asylum-seekers.
Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream benefits.
Further information about support asylum seekers may be entitled to can be found at Asylum support: What you'll get - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions of individuals accused of smuggling migrants across the English Channel in small boats have taken place in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
From January 2022 to 23 October 2024 Home Office Immigration Enforcement convicted 188 individuals identified as small boat pilots and four individuals for their involvement in an organised crime gangs linked to small boat criminality.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average time taken to deport a non-UK citizen convicted of a serious criminal offence from the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not regularly published.
The Home Office publishes a quarterly paper on statistics on foreign national offenders (FNOs) subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published in the Immigration Enforcement Data, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q2 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office also publishes quarterly statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The published statistics refer to all enforced returns of FNO’s which include deportations, as well as cases where an FNO has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals convicted of serious criminal offences are awaiting deportation from the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not regularly published.
The Home Office publishes a quarterly paper on statistics on foreign national offenders (FNOs) subject to deportation action, living in the community. These are published in the Immigration Enforcement Data, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q2 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office also publishes quarterly statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The published statistics refer to all enforced returns of FNO’s which include deportations, as well as cases where an FNO has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of their arrangements with the government of France in preventing illegal crossings of asylum seekers in small boats via the English Channel.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
So far this year, the UK’s joint work with France has prevented over 20,000 of these dangerous and unnecessary crossing attempts of the Channel by migrants in small boats. The UK has been working with France over a number of years to stop these crossings, and we have provided funding to enable French Authorities to field more law enforcement officers than ever before against the criminal gangs who organise these crossings and who profit from the jeopardy into which they place others.
Around half of all crossing attempts are stopped, but we know that more is required. That is why we have set up the Border Security Command, to smash the gangs responsible for this trade. We have recently announced investment of up to £75 million into border security, which includes funding new technology to support specialist operations being run across Europe and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards tackling gangs of people smugglers facilitating English Channel crossings.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The overall mission of the Border Security Command (BSC) is to work with our domestic and international partners to tackle organised immigration crime, and wider border security threats. The small boat crisis, fuelled by dangerous criminal smuggler gangs, is undermining our security, and costing lives.
Martin Hewitt CBE QPM has now been appointed as Border Security Commander to lead the co-ordinated response to enhance our border protection. The Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and will tackle the root of the problem by going after these dangerous criminals and bring them to justice.
The Home Secretary has also announced up to £75 million in new investment for the Border Security Command. This will deliver cutting edge new technology, extra officers and further covert capabilities across the border security system.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions have taken place in the past 10 years of individuals accused of smuggling migrants across the English Channel in small boats.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not routinely publish the information you have requested, and we are unable to provide this information, as it 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 how many asylum seekers are currently being accommodated in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales and (4) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support and accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. It does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates asylum accommodation costs by type.
The total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent stats release at Gov.UK.
The government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly including reducing the use of hotels over time. Additionally, the Government will be reviewing current Home Office arrangements to ensure efficiency and deliver value for money.