Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether any missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are in some form of modern slavery.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office has no power to hold children or adults in contingency hotels if they wish to leave. To minimise the risk of a child going missing, records of minors leaving and returning to the hotel are kept and monitored. Support workers accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.
All asylum seekers, including under 18s, have an interview on arrival in the UK which includes a series of questions specifically designed to understand whether there are any potential indicators of trafficking. A referral is made to the National Referral Mechanism if indicators are noted. In the case of children, a safety plan is put in place by social services, whilst adults identified as potential victims of modern slavery are entitled to care and support provided by the Salvation Army. The Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of the police, NHS and social services, to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions. All contingency sites have security staff and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers in our care is of paramount importance to the Home Office. We expect high standards from all of our providers, and we have a robust governance framework in place to manage service delivery of the Asylum Accommodation Support Contracts (AASC). Details of the AASC can be found at: New asylum accommodation contracts awarded - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in so called 'honour-based' abuse crimes identified in the Home Office's Statistics on so called ‘honour-based’ abuse offences, England and Wales, 2021 to 2022, published on 20 October 2022; and what steps they are taking to reduce such crimes.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
So-called 'Honour’-based abuse (HBA) is a terrible form of abuse, and we are clear that we will not allow political or cultural sensitivities to get in the way of tackling it. The Home Office has, since April 2019, required police forces to collect data relating to HBA offences which they have recorded, and has published three annual data sets for these data.
Data for the year ending March 2022 showed that the police recorded 2,887 HBA-flagged offences, a 6% increase on the previous year. As with all police recorded crime figures, these data cover only offences that were reported to and recorded by the police. HBA is a hidden crime and victims can be reluctant to report to the police or other authorities. These data, therefore, are likely to represent only a small proportion of the actual HBA offences committed in the year ending March 2022.
The increase seen in recorded offences of HBA in the last year may be due to more victims coming forward to report these crimes, improvements in crime recording, including a better understanding of what constitutes HBA, and a genuine increase in these crimes.
To tackle HBA crimes, amongst other things the Government:
is providing up to £165,000 to Karma Nirvana in 2021/22 for its national HBA helpline, which enabled Karma Nirvana to provide support for 1,833 victims between April and December 2022.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers are currently housed in public accommodation; and what was the cost of providing that accommodation for each month in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, the duration of their receipt of support or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK–Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership on (1) the reduction in the number of individuals illegally trafficked to the UK, and (2) the reduction in the number of criminal gangs involved in human trafficking; and whether they have annual targets for each of these.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office is committed to ending people smuggling. The Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) between the UK and Rwanda is part of a suite of measures aimed at dismantling the business model of organised crime gangs.
The Secretary of State has received advice on all aspects of the policy and its impact. This will include evidence of reduced people smuggling and attempted re-entry.
To date, legal proceedings have prevented relocations to Rwanda taking place. Until relocations are operational, we would not expect to achieve any sustained deterrent impact from the policy.
Once operational, we will carefully monitor the impacts of the MEDP.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether under their current immigration policy (1) Afghan nationals, and (2) Syrian nationals, could be removed from the UK to Rwanda for Rwanda to assess those individuals' asylum applications.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
With the exception of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, any individual who has arrived in the UK through dangerous, illegal and unnecessary methods since 1 January 2022 may be considered for relocation to Rwanda. Decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis, and nobody will be relocated if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them. Everyone considered for relocation will be screened and have access to legal advice.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether under their current immigration policy Ukrainian nationals could be removed from the UK to Rwanda for Rwanda to assess asylum applications.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
With the exception of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, any individual who has arrived in the UK through dangerous, illegal and unnecessary methods since 1 January 2022 may be considered for relocation to Rwanda. Decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis, and nobody will be relocated if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them. Everyone considered for relocation will be screened and have access to legal advice.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 19 December 2022 (HL4032) stating "there have been fatalities, including the Purfleet incident in 2019 when 39 Vietnamese nationals sadly lost their lives", how many such fatalities took place in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Official records of deaths are not held on any data base within Border Force.
These dangerous concealments are facilitated by people smugglers, putting profits above the lives of vulnerable people. The Government is determined to prevent further loss of life and break the business model of dangerous criminal people smugglers.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the expected number of individuals crossing the English Channel by small boat to the UK each month in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office has modelled various scenarios which inform planning on how to handle small boats and ensure the system is resilient. However, these are planning scenarios, not forecasts or predictions, and there are no plans to publish them. In 2022, over 45,000 people arrived in the UK as a result of these crossings.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the number of potential migrants who will be prevented from reaching the UK as a result of the terms and provisions of the UK–France Joint Statement of 14 November 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The department does not publish modelling of small boats controls.
The Joint Statement deepens the UK's partnership with France and is an important step to deter dangerous journeys across the Channel and break the business model of people smugglers. In 2022, our joint activity with the French saw nearly 33,000 of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings prevented.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual surplus received from immigration application fees in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, and (3) 2021, after deducting administration costs.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not publish the information sought to the level of granularity required. Information on revenue or costs relating to citizenship applications is not published, nor is any surplus derived from citizenship applications routinely calculated or published.
The Home Office does report information on overall visa and immigration income in the Annual Report and Accounts.