Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cessation of international protection decisions were made by the UK in 2022 by nationality of applicant and by applicant's protection status.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information regarding the number of cessations or withdrawals of international protection decisions made by the UK in 2022, and the nationality, and protection status of each applicant subject to those decisions, is not held centrally and to obtain it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average duration of the asylum procedure at first instance is in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of decisions made within 6 months of application in table ASY_01 of the Migration Transparency data. The average duration of the asylum procedure at first instance is not published.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many withdrawal of international protection decisions were made by the UK in 2022 broken down by nationality of applicant and by applicant's protection status.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information regarding the number of cessations or withdrawals of international protection decisions made by the UK in 2022, and the nationality, and protection status of each applicant subject to those decisions, is not held centrally and to obtain it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on how many LGBT+ Afghans have been admitted to the UK since the end of Operation Pitting.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
People who apply for Entry Clearance to come to the UK are normally required to attend a Visa Application Centre (VAC) to enrol their biometric information. We published guidance on Gov.UK in November 2022 which explains who can be excused or deferred from having to enrol their biometric information.
Non urgent requests for applications to be predetermined, or for individuals to be excused the requirement to attend a VAC to enrol their biometric information are being placed on hold. This is pending the publication of new guidance about how the department handles claims from individuals that it is unsafe for them to travel to a VAC.
We do not currently collate or publish information on how many applications are predetermined or the number of people who are excused from having to attend a VAC to enrol their biometrics.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers deported from the UK can be accommodated in Rwanda.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of individuals who can be relocated to Rwanda under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership is uncapped. Rwanda has made initial provision to receive 200 people and has plans to scale up capacity once flights begin.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the cost of the flight to Rwanda that is scheduled to depart on 14 June 2022 would need to paid for in full in the event that no asylum seekers are on the flight.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our priority will always be to keep our communities safe, and we make no apology for seeking to remove those with no right to remain in the UK.
Charter flight operations are an important means to remove individuals with no right to remain in the UK where there are limited scheduled routes. We manage the charter programme flexibly, balancing it with use of scheduled flights to best respond to operational needs. Costs for individual flights will vary based on a number of different factors and are regularly reviewed to ensure that best value for money is balanced against the need to remove those individuals with no right to remain in the UK.
The endless merry go round of late legal claims – which are often unfounded or without merit – can result in people being removed from flights at the last minute. However, our New Plan for Immigration will stop the abuse of the system and expedite the removal of those who have no right to be here.