Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total number of people already in the UK likely to be affected by the increase in (1) visa fees, and (2) the Immigration Health Surcharge, scheduled for 4 October; and whether they have undertaken an equalities impact assessment.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office has undertaken Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) for visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) increases. The visa fee EIA was published on 19 September on gov.uk, the IHS EIA is due to be published shortly.
The link to the EIA can be found at the below link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-nationality-fees-equality-impact-assessment
Regulatory Impact Assessments produced to accompany the legislation to increase the visa fee and IHS respectively analyse the potential impact on migration, broken down by visa product and delineated on applications made in and out of country.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made provision to support migrants already in the UK who are unable to afford the forthcoming increase in visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Where a person applying on a family and human rights immigration route is unable to afford the visa fee and/or the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), they are able to submit a Fee Waiver application to request that the Fee and/or IHS is waived. Where this is backed by clear and compelling evidence provided by the individual, the fees may be waived if the applicant cannot afford them.
Exemptions from visa fees and the IHS are also in place for certain vulnerable cohorts, including asylum seekers, looked after children and Victims of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the official statistics published by the Home Office Irregular migration to the UK, year ending June 2023, published on 24 August, which found that "small boat arrivals account for less than half (46 per cent) of the total number of people claiming asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2023", by what means the other 54 per cent of people seeking asylum arrived in the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on small boat arrivals in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ release. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals on these applications can be found in table Irr_D02 of the ‘irregular migration detailed datasets’.
Other entry routes to the UK may include:
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on (1) refugees, and (2) local authorities, of starting the move-on period for refugees granted asylum at the point they receive notice of their asylum decision instead of when they receive their Biometric Residence Permit.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
An individual remains eligible for asylum support for a prescribed period from the day they are notified of the decision on their asylum claim. Where someone is given notice that their asylum claim has been granted, their appeal has been allowed or their asylum claim has been refused but they have been given leave to enter or remain, the prescribed period in legislation is 28 days. Individuals should make plans to move on from asylum support as quickly as possible. Migrant Help are available to provide ‘Move On’ support, which includes advice on accessing jobs, housing and benefits.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average time taken for a person to receive their biometric residence permit after being granted refugee status.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have arrived in small boats across the English Channel since 7 March; and how many people crossed during each month from March 2022 to March 2023.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Statistics releases about irregular migration, including arrivals in small boats, are published regularly.
The latest statistics, to the end of March 2023, may be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-march-2023.
The next quarter of statistics is due to be published on 24 August 2023. The Home Office needs to ensure that information intended for publication meets the standards and requirements set for departmental publications. It would not be in the public interest for the Home Office to release this information prior to meeting such standards.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many referrals were made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to (1) the UK Resettlement Scheme, (2) Community Sponsorship, (3) the Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and (4) the Family Reunion Scheme, in each of the past three years; and how many referrals were not accepted in each of those schemes.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Between 2015 and March 2023, just over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This includes those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, as well as family members of refugees, alongside our global resettlement schemes. The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through existing resettlement schemes and is one of the largest recipients of UNHCR referred refugees globally, second only to Sweden in Europe since 2015.
Under these schemes, the UNHCR will refer refugees for resettlement after undertaking an assessment of people’s needs and vulnerabilities. The UK does not seek to influence which cases are referred by the UNHCR under these global schemes.
Family Reunion is not referral based. It is an application based route.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s 2022 report on UK aid’s results in education, and their official response to that report, what progress they have made in reforming and improving their capacity to assess the impact of their basic education programmes on improving foundational learning outcomes for children in partner countries.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The 2022 Independent Commission for Aid Impact report recommended FCDO accelerate work with partner governments to improve its ability to collect and use reliable data on children's learning. As a result, we developed a new Data for Foundational Learning programme, of up to £27 million (2023 - 2027), to strengthen the data on children's learning in low- and middle-income countries. This programme started implementation in March 2023. Through the Global Coalition for Foundational Learning, we are promoting a shared commitment to foundational learning for all. Additionally, we are improving our internal results framework to better measure impact on improving learning.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the development of free, quality, public education systems in the developing world, particularly in areas where state provision is weak or non-existent.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We have bilateral education programmes in 19 countries. FCDO projects work closely with governments where state provision is weak, using UK-led research on what works to influence policy on how to reach the most marginalised, particularly girls. The Girls' Education Challenge programme has supported over 1.5 million children to receive education since 2012. We are the largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education which works with governments, including in fragile and conflict affected countries, to strengthen government education systems. In February, we announced a new pledge of £80 million to Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, including those who are children and those with mental health needs, following the announcement on 29 March of plans to use former military bases to house refugees and asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are engaged with a number of Local Authorities and key stakeholders on sourcing appropriate accommodation for asylum seekers including those announced on 29th March 2023. We are committed to engaging with local authorities and local partners to support successful delivery.
For any large sites the Home Office are exploring use, Multi-Agency Forums are being held with the Local Authority and other key stakeholders before implementation. Any concerns relating to the Local Authority’s ability to meet statutory requirements can be raised and discussed in that forum. We are committed to continuous engagement with local authorities and local partners to understand and mitigate identified risks, including impact on local services.