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.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many units of accommodation, including hotel rooms, (1) are currently being used to house persons who have submitted claims for asylum in the United Kingdom; and (2) they have reserved or acquired to accommodate those who may yet arrive and seek asylum in the United Kingdom.
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.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial provision has been made in the current financial year to provide (1) accommodation, and (2) food and provisions, to those currently awaiting a response to applications for asylum in the United Kingdom.
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.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they apply when assessing requests for public inquiries into the deaths of persons as a result of terrorist activity in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A Government Minister may establish an Inquiry if particular events have caused, or are capable of causing, public concern. The Inquiries Act 2005 sets this out in statute and can be viewed here: Inquiries Act 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering alternatives to the current forms of asylum seeker accommodation and, if so, what they are.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office 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 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes our accommodation sites, as we continue to identify a range of options to reduce the use of hotels. Additionally, the Government will be reviewing current Home Office arrangements to ensure efficiency and delivering value for money.
The number of asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support is published quarterly. At the end of quarter four 2003 published statistics indicate that there were 47,148 people housed in Dispersal Accommodation and a further 30,362 in receipt of subsistence only support. The geographical location of these supported asylum seekers was not published at that time. Since 2019 data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation has been published at Asylum and resettlement datasets - 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 assessment they have made of the cost of housing asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office 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 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes our accommodation sites, as we continue to identify a range of options to reduce the use of hotels. Additionally, the Government will be reviewing current Home Office arrangements to ensure efficiency and delivering value for money.
The number of asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support is published quarterly. At the end of quarter four 2003 published statistics indicate that there were 47,148 people housed in Dispersal Accommodation and a further 30,362 in receipt of subsistence only support. The geographical location of these supported asylum seekers was not published at that time. Since 2019 data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation has been published at Asylum and resettlement datasets - 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 whose responsibility it is to determine where asylum seekers are temporarily housed while their cases are being considered, and what criteria are applied in order to reach such decisions.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The criteria for accommodation allocation can be found in the following link: Allocation of asylum accommodation policy (accessible) - 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 whether any asylum seekers who are residing in Northern Ireland have criminal records in their countries of origin.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
This data can only be obtained at disproportionate costs as it would require a manual search through individual records to establish their address and whether they have a criminal record in their country of origin.
All individuals who claim asylum are subject to mandatory security checks against their claimed identity including criminality checks on UK databases for, amongst other things, convictions, pending prosecutions, wanted or missing reports. This is critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system.
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 response by the government of France to migrants crossing the English Channel.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The UK maintains regular contact with the Government of France on our joint cooperation to tackle illegal migration at the shared border. The UK has committed several funding packages to support this work, including a bilateral arrangement which was reached between the UK and France on 20 July 2021.
Last year’s investment saw the French doubling the numbers of officers patrolling beaches. Our partnership with France has helped stop over 29,000 illegal crossings since the start of the year - almost twice the number at this stage last year.
The work of the UK-France Joint Intelligence Cell has supported more than 500 arrests and dismantled 55 organised crime groups since it was established in July 2020.
We remain committed to supporting the French through our joint response which we recognise requires long term and ambitious action. We continue to strengthen our productive and constructive relationship with the French Government to respond to new challenges.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for asylum in the UK they are processing each month; and what assessment they have made of the time that will be required to clear the backlog.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office is unable to report how many applications for asylum are being processed each month as this information is not recorded and held in a reportable format. However, we do publish data on the percentage of asylum applications processed within 6 months of the date of claim and can be found at Immigration and protection data at gov.uk.
The Asylum Transformation programme aims to bring the asylum system back into balance and modernise it.
It is focused on increasing productivity in deciding asylum claims by streamlining, simplifying and digitising the system to speed up processes and increase efficiency and output.