Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their press release on 1 May stating that detention capacity had been increased to more than 2,200 spaces for those being removed to Rwanda, how many additional detention spaces have been created for this purpose and where they are located.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office currently operates seven immigration removal centres (IRCs) throughout the UK
As of 24 April the Home Office has the capacity to detain around 2,200 people in IRCs, including those liable for removal to Rwanda.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were given entry clearance to the UK in the last recorded 12-month period on the basis of (1) family life as a partner or parent, or (2) exceptional circumstances in compliance with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The number of applications for entry clearance to the UK that are made on the basis of family life as a partner or parent and any exceptional circumstances in compliance with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
The published online transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their press release on 1 May stating that individuals are to be detained for removal to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, how many such individuals they anticipate will be granted immigration bail in the interim.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As all detention decisions are particular to the individual concerned it would be inappropriate to predict the extent of any related future activity.
The government has repeatedly stated that it will not be providing a running commentary on the removals process.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the letter they received from the government of Brazil in 2011 that sought a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK, and a copy of their response to that letter.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
The Department for Work and Pensions received diplomatic correspondence from the Brazilian government in 2011 and DWP officials met with officials at the Brazilian Embassy in London to discuss the request. There was no further action.
We do not publish another country’s diplomatic correspondence or the content of negotiations without their consent.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they can provide further details about the cross-Government working group created to manage the delivery of Brook House Inquiry report recommendations, including (1) what are the group's terms of reference, (2) who will be its members, and (3) whether minutes of its meeting be made publicly available.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to reflect on the findings in the Brook House Inquiry report and progress is being made on recommendations. The Government response will be published in due course.
This work is being overseen by a Senior Civil Servant (SCS), the Director of Detention Services. A specialist cross government working group has also been established to manage delivery of recommendations, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Health and Social Care.
The Home Office will continue to monitor the implementation of any changes resulting from the report’s recommendations.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address recommendations 10, 15 and 18 of the Brook House Inquiry report, published 19 September 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to reflect on the findings in the Brook House Inquiry report and progress is being made on recommendations. The Government response will be published in due course.
This work is being overseen by a Senior Civil Servant (SCS), the Director of Detention Services. A specialist cross government working group has also been established to manage delivery of recommendations, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Health and Social Care.
The Home Office will continue to monitor the implementation of any changes resulting from the report’s recommendations.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to the Brook House Inquiry report, published 19 September 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to reflect on the findings in the Brook House Inquiry report and progress is being made on recommendations. The Government response will be published in due course.
This work is being overseen by a Senior Civil Servant (SCS), the Director of Detention Services. A specialist cross government working group has also been established to manage delivery of recommendations, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Health and Social Care.
The Home Office will continue to monitor the implementation of any changes resulting from the report’s recommendations.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Senior Civil Servant appointed to oversee the Government’s consideration of the Brook House Inquiry report, published 19 September 2023, will continue overseeing the implementation of the recommendations after the Government has published its response; and whether the Government's response will include (1) an obligation to monitor the implementation of the report's recommendations, and (2) a requirement to present regular reports to Parliament on the progress of those recommendations.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to reflect on the findings in the Brook House Inquiry report and progress is being made on recommendations. The Government response will be published in due course.
This work is being overseen by a Senior Civil Servant (SCS), the Director of Detention Services. A specialist cross government working group has also been established to manage delivery of recommendations, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Health and Social Care.
The Home Office will continue to monitor the implementation of any changes resulting from the report’s recommendations.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many dentists delivered NHS services in Sussex for each year from 2015 to the present.
Answered by Lord Markham
The following table shows the number of dentists delivering National Health Service treatment for Sussex Integrated Care Board in each year from 2015/16 onwards:
Year | Number of dentists who have performed some NHS treatment |
2015/16 | 1,080 |
2016/17 | 1,072 |
2017/18 | 1,116 |
2018/19 | 1,116 |
2019/20 | 1,050 |
2020/21 | 991 |
2021/22 | 1,062 |
2022/23 | 1,030 |
Source: NHS Dental Statistics for England
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken any preparatory work proceeding any planned refurbishment or reconstruction of Eastbourne General District Hospital.
Answered by Lord Markham
We are committed to delivering a new hospital at Eastbourne District General Hospital which forms part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) scheme for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; this also includes works at Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital. All NHP schemes represent hospitals that require a high need for investment in the estate and have been assessed based on a combination of criteria including the level of Critical Infrastructure Risk and deliverability upon joining the programme. We are working closely with the trust to support the development of their Strategic Outline Case and identify opportunities for early construction work to support main scheme delivery. The New Hospital Programme has provided over £9 million in scheme development funding up to the end of 2022/23, and a further £4.7 million was provided in 2023/24 to support the development of business cases for early enabling works to take place.