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.
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 process the backlog of applications for asylum in the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are currently dealing with a sustained high level of new asylum claims, including from those who have recently arrived on small boats, which is creating additional pressures on the asylum system.
The Home Office have an asylum transformation programme which will help bring down the backlog in cases by increasing the number of decision makers processing cases, improving the use of digital technology, including remote interviews, to speed up the process and concentrating on deciding older claims, cases with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children.
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 were processed in the last 12 months; and what were the determinations arrived at.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the Immigration Statistics Quartlerly Release, which can be found on gov.uk. Data on initial decisions on asylum applications are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’ which can be found on gov.uk and attached as Annex A. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2022. Data for July 2022 to the end of September 2022 is set to be published on 24 November 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ section on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made, if any, of the amount of money that has been made by people trafficking migrants across the English Channel this year.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Government remains committed to tackling Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) and disrupting the Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) responsible. The Government and law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to tackle the criminal networks who facilitate people smuggling from source countries to Europe and then the UK, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations. The NCA undertakes investigations into complex and serious OIC offences, arresting offenders in the UK and overseas and bringing them to justice.
We also pursue those involved in the financial flows that support this activity. Using criminal powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, an individual can be prosecuted for money laundering offences if sufficient evidence is obtainable and CPS agree to charging, or civil powers within the same act permit the action to be taken against the money concerned. Both these approaches are used to undermine the financial flows supporting small boat and wider clandestine smuggling, both in the UK and with foreign partners.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce visa-free travel for relatives of UK citizens living in Ukraine during the current emergency.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
There are no current plans to introduce visa free travel for relatives of UK citizens living in Ukraine. However, the Government has made a number of changes to help relatives of UK citizens to enter the UK.
On 27 February 2022, the Government made changes to allow Ukrainian family members of British nationals to apply for a family migration visa, free of charge, if the British national usually lives in Ukraine.
The Home Secretary announced on 1 March a fee free, bespoke Ukraine Family Scheme which allows both the immediate (spouse, civil partner, durable partner, minor children) and extended (parent, grandparent, adult children, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, in laws and their immediate family) family members to join their relatives in the UK. The sponsoring relative must be a British citizen, a person who is present and settled in the UK (including those with settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme), a person in the UK with refugee leave or with humanitarian protection or a person in the UK with limited leave under Appendix EU (pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme). This route was launched on 4 March.
A Ukrainian national with a valid passport is able to apply online for a Ukraine Family Scheme visa without the need to enrol their biometrics until after arrival in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of undocumented people in the UK; and what steps they are taking to ensure that any such people people are tested or treated for COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As you will appreciate, by its very nature, it is impossible to know the precise size of the illegal migrant population within the UK and thus the Home Office does not seek to make any official estimates.
The Home Office is following national guidance in relation to Covid-19 testing, as set out by Public Health England. Since quarantine measures were introduced in June, those individuals who are encountered illegally entering the UK have been placed in facilities where they must self-isolate for 14 days, given we cannot be certain which countries they have travelled through.
Anyone who is symptomatic will be taken to designated accommodation and tested according to Public Health England guidance. An adapted regime is in place in our facilities to enable social distancing and reasonable restrictions are in place to manage the risks of Covid-19 spreading.
Additionally NHS trusts have been advised that no immigration checks are required for overseas visitors that are known to be only undergoing testing or treatment for COVID-19: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-entitlements-migrant-health-guide
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what costs have been occurred so far in this financial year as a result of any increase in the number of people arriving in the UK by boat in order to claim asylum.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Whilst the numbers of people arriving in the UK by illegally-facilitated small boats have increased this financial year, numbers of those arriving by other illegal means, such as air, have fallen.
The Home Office publishes data regarding its financial accounts on the GOV.UK website as part of its financial reporting procedures, and also as part of the transparency agenda. The latest report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020.
We do not routinely publish breakdowns of operational Departmental spending, and 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 Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with international partners about changing the criteria for eligibility to claim asylum in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
To date, the Government has not held discussions with international partners about changing the criteria for eligibility to claim asylum in the UK.