Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the question from the hon. Member for Glasgow North of 27 November 2022, Official Report, what the evidential basis is for stating that allowing asylum seekers the right to work would increase the number travelling to the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
A wide body of evidence points towards key pull factors to the UK including language, diaspora, presence of friends and family, economic opportunity, and availability of education. Any effects exerted by asylum policies and welfare systems on individual decision making around ultimate country of destination are much less well understood and difficult to isolate. That is why we have no plans to work provisions and are trebling the fines for illegal working.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of establishing the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120m into its economic development and growth as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF). Investment has been focused in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, and job creation. A separate advance payment of £20m was also paid last year to support initial set up costs for the relocation of individuals.
Funding will also be provided to support the delivery of asylum operations, accommodation, and integration in Rwanda. Costs and payments will depend on the number of individuals relocated, the timing of when this happens, and the outcomes of individual cases. Actual spend will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way. We will not enter into speculation as to what the final costs of the partnership may be nor provide a running commentary.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of civil servants in his Department who are on (a) pay band Senior Civil Servant 2 and (b) full-time equivalent contracts are women.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The proportion of senior civil servants at pay band 2 is 0.14% of the total Home Office workforce; of this group, 34.92% are female. Of the overall workforce, 51.96% are female.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of civil servants in his Department who are on temporary contracts are women.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The proportion of female Civil Servants in the Home Office who are on temporary contracts is 50%.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether all Afghan people who have been accepted for transfer to the UK will fly in on flights arranged by the Government.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Resettlement of eligible Afghans remains a top priority for this government. As of June 2023, around 24,600 vulnerable people affected by the events in Afghanistan have been brought to safety.
The UK government and our partners will arrange and fund travel for those accepted under our Afghan schemes as part of the resettlement and relocation process. Depending on the individual circumstances, this may be via charter or commercial flights.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children that have gone missing from hotels are unaccounted for as of 7 November 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UASC hotels are temporary accommodation that provide safeguarding for a child until they are ready to be transferred through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) from an entry local authority to another local authority in the UK for ongoing care and support.
The Home Office has put in place further funding throughout 2023-24 of £6,000 for every unaccompanied child moved from a UASC hotel to a local authority within five working days to encourage quicker transfers into local authority care.
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.
The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2023 to Question 200463 on Refugees: Afghanistan, if she will take steps to establish the number of Afghan people based in Pakistan awaiting applications to be processed by the Visa Application Centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of Afghans awaiting applications to be processed at Visa Application Centre is internal management information and is not for public release at this time.
Cross government work continues at pace to provide resettlement to those located in third countries.
Data on Afghanistan resettlement is released quarterly and the latest release is available to view at: Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to respond to the final report of the Brook House Inquiry.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government will carefully consider the findings of the Brook House Inquiry in its detailed report, including the recommendations in relation to the management of the immigration detention estate and the welfare of detained individuals.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has not been reappointed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) is a statutory public appointment. These appointments are made by Ministers in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, which states “there is no automatic presumption of reappointment; each case should be considered on its own merits”.