Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have requested information from the government of Bahrain about individuals applying for UK citizenship; if so, how many individual cases they requested information for; and what categories of information were requested in the past five years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not held, and obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 August (HL9915), which Government department has lead responsibility for the authorisation, oversight and governance of training provided by Durham Constabulary to Bahraini law-enforcement bodies.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is not directly involved in the delivery of training between Durham Constabulary and Bahrain.
Non-operational police assistance is authorised by Section 26 of the Police Act 1996, and administered by the International Police Assistance Service (IPAS). This is a joint National Police Chiefs’ Council and Home Office unit.
Section 26 is only required when England and Wales Police Officers or staff provide international assistance, not for visiting delegations. For any engagement not covered by the statutory requirements of Section 26, an Engagement Notification may voluntarily be completed by a hosting Force.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 August (HL9915), whether training provided by Durham Constabulary to Bahraini law-enforcement bodies is funded in whole or in part by the government of Bahrain or Bahraini public bodies; and which UK Government department authorises such arrangements.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not provide funding or direct governance of training provided to Bahrain.
Non-operational police assistance overseas (provided by England and Wales Police Forces) is authorised through S26 of the Police Act 1996 and the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance process.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 August (HL9915), whether any Government department provides funding for training delivered by Durham Constabulary to Bahraini law-enforcement bodies; and if so, from which departments and funding streams.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not provide any funding for training delivered by Durham Constabulary to Bahraini law enforcement bodies, and is not aware of funding being provided to Durham Constabulary from any other UK Government Departments.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the funding streams that fund training provided by Durham Constabulary to Bahrain; what that training entails, including the names of the specific projects; the duration of the contract; and whether they will publish a breakdown of the project's finances over the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is not directly involved with any police training provided by Durham Constabulary to Bahrain.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which of the 33 recommendations in the Brook House Inquiry report they accept, and when each of these will be implemented.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The abuse that took place at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in 2017 was unacceptable.
The previous government published its response to the public inquiry into Brook House IRC on 19 March 2024, summarising the progress made since 2017 and addressing each of the ten key areas of concern raised in the report.
Positive progress continues to be made in addressing the Inquiry findings. A cross departmental working group has been meeting since September 2023. The working group continues to meet monthly to consider and monitor delivery of the Inquiry’s recommendations, providing oversight and overarching governance to monitor Inquiry recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their forecast of the number of people currently seeking asylum that will still need to have their case decided by the end of (1) 2024, and (2) 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office routinely publishes information on a quarterly basis, including the number of cases outstanding. Data on the total number of outstanding cases in the asylum system (‘asylum work in progress’), asylum decision makers, processing times and productivity is published in the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We are unable to forecast the number of people with outstanding case decisions as each case is decided on its own individual merits and there are many factors that can delay and contribute to the length of time to process asylum claims.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many full-time equivalent established posts there were in the Civil Service dealing with immigration issues related to the Rwanda scheme at (1) 30 September 2023, (2) 31 December 2023, and (3) 31 March 2024; and how many of these posts were filled on these dates.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office publishes its accounts each year which sets out the FTE working in each of its systems, including on matters relating to Migration and Borders.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what planning estimate they have made for the number of people who have arrived by irregular routes and need to be accommodated in the UK because they have not been sent to a safe third country or returned home, for the end of each month from April to December 2024.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office routinely publishes information on a quarterly basis, including on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, all irregular modes of entry into the UK, and the level of returns.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have examined, and from which organisations, to determine that (1) Georgia, and (2) India, are safe countries.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
As with all our country assessments to inform asylum and immigration decision making, we have drawn on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.