Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial allowances their contractors are permitted to provide to asylum seekers per month for (1) food, (2) clothing, (3) mobile phones, (4) education, (5) leisure activities, (6) accommodation, and (7) transport.
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 asylum seekers or dependents who appear to be destitute or are likely to become destitute within a prescribed period, while their asylum claim is being considered.
Details of what is considered essential can be found in the annual asylum support rate review reports, published 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 contractors they have engaged to assist with the management of asylum seekers, and what fees those contractors have been paid in (1) the last financial year, and (2) the current financial year to date.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested data is not centrally held in an easily accessible form, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes 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 assessment they have made of reports that one in 12 residents of London are “hidden and transient”, which includes people living at secondary addresses, visitors and tourists and irregular migrants.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Noble Lord will wish to be aware that those media outlets who published those reports have subsequently published corrections accepting that they were not accurate. Estimates of the illegal population are inherently uncertain, and no current accurate assessment is available.
Robust procedures are in place to ensure that individuals with no right to be in the UK are removed, either voluntarily or through enforcement action.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial provisions are made available to those who arrive to this country illegally in small boats, for clothing, food, laundry and other essentials; and whether such persons have immediate access to all NHS services.
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 asylum seekers or dependents who appear to be destitute or are likely to become destitute within a prescribed period, while their asylum claim is being considered.
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(opens in a new tab).
Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream benefits.
The Home Office and its contractors work closely with the NHS, local authorities and non-governmental organisations to ensure that asylum seekers can address any necessary healthcare requirements
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)(opens in a new tab)
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.