Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, for how many days lift number 77 in the Palace of Westminster has been out of order this year; for what reason it remains out of order; and when it is expected to be operating again.
Answered by Nick Smith
Lift number 77 (HOP77) has been out of order for a total of 51 days in 2025 over four occasions, the most recent of which was 47 days.
HOP 77 was returned to service on 7 November 2025 following the replacement of a printed circuit board which controlled the door opening mechanism.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many courts hear First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) appeals; and how many are fully funded to operate throughout the year.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FtTIAC) has 83 tribunal hearing rooms across the United Kingdom and has access to shared court rooms in other jurisdictions. Utilisation of this space is dependent on a number of factors including the volume of ‘in person’ versus ‘remote’ hearings scheduled, budgetary allocations, the requirement for judges to sit at satellite venues and available staffing and judicial resource.
The FtTIAC is currently funded to sit to maximum levels based on available judicial capacity.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many beds at University Hospitals Dorset were occupied on (a) 1 April and (b) 1 October 2025 by patients with no criteria to reside.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve decision-making by her Department in the context of the number of successful appeals under the Human Rights Act 1998 upheld by the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber).
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on initial decisions and outcomes on asylum claims, is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claim and initial decisions detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025.
Data for as at 30 September 2025 will be published on 27 November 2025.
Data on asylum appeals is published in table Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2023.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
Appeals data from April 2023 onwards is currently unavailable for publication due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new caseworking system. Work is ongoing to make this information available, and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.
Please note that figures for immigration and asylum appeals at First-Tier Tribunal and subsequent stages are published by the Ministry of Justice as part of their Tribunal Statistics release. The latest data relates to January to March 2025.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer on 27 October 2025 to Question 84141 on All-party Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies, how many invitations he received for speaking events in (a) August, (b) September and (c) October 2025; and how many of those invitations were (i) answered within (A) one month and (B) two months and (ii) not answered.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As I notified the hon. Member in my Answer on 27 October 2025 to Question 84141, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero receives a high volume of invitations to events and is not able to accommodate all requests.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) how many and (b) what value of facilitation payments were made to people subject to (i) deportation and (ii) removal in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested regarding the specific value of payments made under the Voluntary Returns Service (VRS) and Facilitated Return Scheme (FRS) are not separately available from published statistics.
The Home Office publishes all available information on returns expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab).
The number of foreign national offenders returned under FRS is published as part of the Immigration Enforcement quarterly release, with the latest publication being in 2022. The latest published data on FRS returns can be viewed at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q2 2024 - GOV.UK.
Whereas the number of foreign nationals returned under the VRS is published as part of the Immigration system statistics return summary tables, with the latest publication being for Q2 2025. The latest published data on VRS returns can be viewed at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
FRS and VRS are not an alternative to removal or deportation but facilitate the early removal of FNOs and those without leave to remain in the UK, helping them to re-settle in their country of origin. Voluntary removals benefit the UK taxpayer as costs of detention, appeals, and other legal challenges are significantly reduced.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many decisions of the Home Office with a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have been made in each of the last 12 months; and how many of these have been or are now the subject of such an appeal.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on initial decisions and outcomes on asylum claims, is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claim and initial decisions detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025.
Data for as at 30 September 2025 will be published on 27 November 2025.
Data on asylum appeals is published in table Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2023.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
Appeals data from April 2023 onwards is currently unavailable for publication due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new caseworking system. Work is ongoing to make this information available, and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.
Please note that figures for immigration and asylum appeals at First-Tier Tribunal and subsequent stages are published by the Ministry of Justice as part of their Tribunal Statistics release. The latest data relates to January to March 2025.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) were outstanding on 30 September (a) 2025, (b) 2024 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of open cases in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) is published in table FIA4 of the Tribunals Statistics quarterly tables and more recently monthly data in table 3 of the HMCTS management information.
Figures covering up to September 2025 are scheduled for publication on 11 December 2025.