Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the arrangement with Albania to fast-track the removal of Albanian nationals who have travelled to the UK via small boats, announced on 25 August, will cost; and how many Albanians seeking asylum in the UK they expect to be removed under this arrangement.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following the new approach agreed with the Albanian government last week, we are in close discussions with them on the operational details. Further information including final actual spend will be provided within Home Office financial statements in the usual way.
We continue to work extremely closely with our Albanian partners on a range of issues and are committed to building on our cooperation to date, including on tackling illegal migration. That includes the excellent operational collaboration with Albanian law enforcement, and our readmissions agreement signed last year, which has already seen over 1,000 Albanian foreign national offenders and immigration offenders removed from the UK, including some who crossed the channel illegally to come to the UK.
The UK and Albania pledged to fast track the removal of Albanians with no right to be in the UK wherever possible, and to send senior Albanian law enforcement to the UK to speed up processing and share information with our authorities. In co-operation with the Government of Albania, we are taking every opportunity to intercept the activities of organised criminal gangs and people smugglers, and speed up the removal of Albanians and other nationals with no right to be in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much will be paid each month by the UK, and to whom, as part of the UK–France Joint Statement of 14 November.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The funding arrangement agreed on 14 November was considered in terms of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity when considering it's value.
We work closely with France to tackle illegal migration and jointly monitor the impact of funding arrangements, including the financial package agreed on 14 November, through daily operational contact and regular strategic reviews with agreed metrics.
Our joint work has seen the prevention of over 31,000 crossings so far this year. It would be inappropriate to publish the detail of these reviews as they contain sensitive operational details and relate to ongoing operational bilateral discussions.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment of value for money was undertaken in relation to the UK–France Joint Statement of 14 November; and when that assessment will be published.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The funding arrangement agreed on 14 November was considered in terms of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity when considering it’s value.
We work closely with France to tackle illegal migration and jointly monitor the impact of funding arrangements, including the financial package agreed on 14 November, through daily operational contact and regular strategic reviews with agreed metrics.
Our joint work has seen the prevention of over 31,000 crossings so far this year. It would be inappropriate to publish the detail of these reviews as they contain sensitive operational details and relate to ongoing operational bilateral discussions.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent each month since January 2019 on supporting asylum seekers in the UK who are waiting for their asylum applications to be processed.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The United Kingdom has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and other support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. The cost of supporting an asylum seeker is dependent on the level of support they receive.
Total expenditure on asylum including asylum support is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at Gov.UK.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the administrative cost of processing each visa compared to its application fee.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The current fee-setting criteria are set out in Section 68(9) of the Immigration Act 2014.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how areas are chosen to provide accommodation to asylum seekers; and what consideration is given to fair distribution across the country when making these decisions.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The United Kingdom has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and other support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. Private accommodation is sourced through our Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC) providers. The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support. Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 24 November 2022.
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts
From 13 April 2022, all Local Authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales were obliged to participate in a new system of full dispersal accommodation. This will help the Home Office to move from using hotels to less expensive and more suitable dispersed accommodation. The Full Dispersal model allows the Home Office to procure dispersal properties within the private rental sector in all Local Authority areas across England, Scotland and Wales, rather than the minority of Local Authorities which currently participate. This approach will reduce pressures on those Local Authorities that already participate.
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 private accommodation; and, for each month in 2021 and 2022, what was the cost of providing this accommodation.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The United Kingdom has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and other support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. Private accommodation is sourced through our Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC) providers. The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support. Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 24 November 2022.
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts
From 13 April 2022, all Local Authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales were obliged to participate in a new system of full dispersal accommodation. This will help the Home Office to move from using hotels to less expensive and more suitable dispersed accommodation. The Full Dispersal model allows the Home Office to procure dispersal properties within the private rental sector in all Local Authority areas across England, Scotland and Wales, rather than the minority of Local Authorities which currently participate. This approach will reduce pressures on those Local Authorities that already participate.
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 8 November (HL3121), when they expect data to be available on (1) the number of staff supporting the Voluntary Returns Service, (2) the cost of the service, and (3) the number of complaints received by the service.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not publish the information sought at the level of granularity required.
The Home Office does routinely publish information on the total cost and breakdown of Asylum costs and productivity, and this can be found at table Asy_04 of the Immigration and Protection data.
These include the costs of managing asylum operations claims including costs associated with deciding a case, managing any related appeal, asylum operations support, potential detention and enforcement including escorting and voluntary returns. Also included are the costs of department staff and buildings and the proportionate costs of the Home Office building and managerial costs.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many refugees have been admitted under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme; and what assessment they have made of the year long delay in admitting refugees to the UK under Pathway 2 of that scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The recent update to the published 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data', shows that, at 4th November 2022:
We are pleased to have welcomed the first families under ACRS Pathway 2. On 24th November the latest Immigration Statistics publication included data on Pathway 2 arrivals and this can be found at: Immigration statistics data tables, year ending September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We are working at pace with Local Authorities and other partners to make sure those we resettle are fully supported in accessing the accommodation, health, education, and employment needed to fully integrate into life in the UK.
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 number of individuals who have died crossing the English Channel to get to the UK in the back of lorries and other vehicles in each month since January 2010.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
These dangerous concealments are facilitated by vile people smugglers, who place profits above the lives of vulnerable people. The Government is determined to prevent further loss of life by breaking the business model.
The Home Office has invested significant amounts since 2014 to secure feeder ports, including increasing the use of body detection dogs and strengthening the vehicle screening regimes with the latest technology. The department is currently in the process of significantly strengthening the clandestine entrant civil penalty regime in order further drive improvements in vehicle security.
Unfortunately, there have been fatalities, including the Purfleet incident in 2019 when 39 Vietnamese nationals sadly lost their lives, and all such incidents are a reminder that attempts to clandestinely cross the border are inherently dangerous.