Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ensure that all those seeking to make an asylum claim have a safe and clear route to do so.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights. Since 2015, we have offered over half a million people a safe and legal route to the UK. With the scale of disruption and the lamentable situations that too many people find themselves in across the globe, we will never be able to provide a route for all or that meets every eventuality.
Through the cap on safe and legal routes, we are seeking to get a better idea on the capacity of local authorities to resettle refugees. By setting the cap, based on the actual capacity of the UK, we can continue to welcome people to the UK in a sustainable way and put the UK’s resettlement model on a stable and predictable footing. The consultation with local authorities is now closed. The final figure will be agreed to by Parliament. Parliament will have an opportunity to debate and vote on the cap before it comes into force.
It is only by bearing down on illegal migration, and through reverting to more sustainable management of our safe and legal routes through the cap, that we can continue to focus on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability. We believe our resettlement schemes are the best way to provide much needed support for those who need it.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the waiting period for asylum seekers to be granted the right to work to six months rather than the current 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Asylum seekers who have had their claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List. This is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.
Whilst we keep all policies under review, there are no immediate plans to change the existing policy.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure school children are made aware of current global conflicts.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The national curriculum does not mandate teaching about current global conflicts. It is important that pupils understand national and global events and schools are free to teach age-appropriate content on these topics within the context of their citizenship curriculum. The national curriculum for citizenship includes content on the need for mutual respect and tolerance for people of all backgrounds, human rights, the UK legal system, and international law. The citizenship curriculum also develops pupils’ skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints and present reasoned arguments. The national curriculum for citizenship is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.
As with other areas of the curriculum, the government does not prescribe how citizenship should be taught. Schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the need of their pupils, drawing on the expertise and support of subject associations and other organisations that produce and quality assure resources. To support schools to deliver a high-quality curriculum, Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum resources. On 2 October 2023, Oak launched its second cycle of procurement for curriculum sequences and teaching resources, including for secondary citizenship. Cycle 2 is scheduled for completion by Autumn 2025.
The government has also published resources on the Educate against Hate website to help schools to speak about the news, ongoing conflicts and hold discussions on difficult topics with pupils. The resources are available at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/blog/posts/how-to-speak-about-the-news-ongoing-conflicts-and-hold-discussions-on-difficult-topics-with-students/.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for preventing the deportation of individuals, brought to the UK as children, when they turn 18.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Individuals who entered the UK under the age of 18 and committed an offence after turning 18 are considered for deportation in line with legislation. Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.
The Government is determined to do everything possible to protect the public and remove foreign criminals from the UK.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure voluntary aid to Ukraine reaches its right destination.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's humanitarian support to Ukraine is delivered through a coordinated system to provide the most value for both the Ukrainian people and the British taxpayer. Outside of this, cash donations through established and well-coordinated emergency response appeal mechanisms, such as the Disaster Emergency Committee, are the most effective way to support populations in crisis. We encourage UK companies wishing to make in-kind donations to explore opportunities through existing partnerships with the United Nations, the Red Cross or Non-Governmental Organisations; or to reach out to established registered charities on The Charity Commission and Fundraising regulator website at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with other European countries about tackling levels of immigration.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
His Majesty’s Government continues to enhance our cooperation on migration with partners across Europe, and beyond.
UK Ministers and officials continue to raise these issues in bilateral and multilateral discussions with both our European partners and with countries outside of Europe. This Government has emphasised that tackling organised immigration crime is a Europe-wide issue; our cooperation with France saw small boats crossings reduce by 36% in 2023 when compared to 2022, and the signing of a landmark joint communiqué between the Prime Minister and his Albanian counterpart saw 5,000 Albanians returned to Albania in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage a full ceasefire in Gaza.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No-one wants to see this conflict go on a moment longer than necessary, and an immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out. To achieve that, a number of things would need to happen: Hamas agreeing to the release of all hostages, and no longer being in charge of Gaza; the threat from Hamas terror and rocket attacks ending; and an agreement for the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza in order to provide governance and services and, increasingly, security.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ease the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to seek the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East. We are employing the full range of our diplomatic and security efforts, working with allies and international partners to counter groups seeking to undermine the region's peace, stability, and prosperity. It is in all our interests to work together to avoid regional escalation.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy to stop all dangerous channel crossings.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Illegal Migration Act, which this Government has enacted, is an important part of our response to illegal migration. The Act marks a vital step forward to stopping dangerous, unnecessary, and illegal journeys to the UK by removing the incentives for people to take these routes in the first place.
The UK and French governments are committed to working together to stop small boat crossings of the English Channel, and in March 2023 the Prime Minister and President Macron agreed an ambitious new, multi-year, deal that will see us intensify our cooperation with the French government to prevent small boat crossings, with the aim of improving the interception rate and drastically reducing the number of crossings year-on-year. This new agreement is seeing more French personnel being deployed, supported by cutting-edge surveillance technologies and equipment; a new Zonal Coordination Centre has been established, responsible for the coordination and deployment of all relevant French law enforcement, supported by the UK and including permanently embedded British officers, and more work being done to disrupt organised crime gangs through improved intelligence sharing.
In 2023, our cooperation with France prevented over 26,000 individual crossings by small boat to the UK. Since the Joint Intelligence Cell was set up in July 2020, we have dismantled 82 organised criminal gangs responsible for people smuggling of small boats migrants.
We have developed a comprehensive illegal migration strategy to stop the boats and we are focused on delivering it; this has already seen a reduction in small boat crossings by a third in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage local authorities to increase the amount of land made available for food allotments in England.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognises how important allotments and other open spaces are for local people and have introduced a range of new powers and opportunities for local planning authorities to promote healthy and safe communities, including allotment provision and access to healthier food.
Our Green Infrastructure Framework clearly sets out that opportunities to provide new allotments and community orchards should be considered at the earliest stages of a development proposal. Furthermore, our Community Right to Bid policy, gave communities the right to nominate a local allotment site to be listed as an asset of community value.