Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) enforce and (b) monitor the application of legislation on the rights of migrants to (i) rent and (ii) otherwise reside in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Right to Rent Scheme (the Scheme) requires landlords and letting agents to check that prospective adult tenants have the relevant permission to access the private rental sector. The Scheme is in force in England only and has not been rolled out to the devolved nations and therefore does not apply to Northern Ireland. The Home Office continues to keep the Scheme’s operation under review.
Immigration Enforcement teams are active in Northern Ireland as they are in the rest of the UK. As part of our Plan for Change, this government is cracking down on criminal industry at every level, including stepping up our visits to businesses where illegal working is taking place, and increasing our enforcement action both against illegal workers and the people who employ them in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list by (a) age, (b) gender and (c) country the number of asylum claims granted protection to (i) asylum seekers who crossed the English Channel by sea and (ii) all asylum seekers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum, including by nationality, age and sex, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on initial decisions of asylum claims, by the date of the decision, is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions detailed datasets’. Data on initial decisions of asylum claims from small boat arrivals, by the date of arrival, is published in table Irr_D03 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed tables’ and by the date of decision in asylum summary tables Asy_02c and Asy_02d.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2025.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers processed had an application for asylum granted in another country in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers subsequently submitted an application for family reunion by (a) age, (b) gender and (c) country of origin in each of the last five years; and how many family members were included in each application.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics relating to family visas in the Immigration system statistics publication. Data on family visas can be found in the Entry clearance visa data tables. Table Vis_D01 relates to applications of entry clearance visas granted for family reasons, by nationality. Data on family reunion grants by age and sex can be found in the family reunion detailed dataset.
The Home Office does not publish statistics regarding sponsorship detail.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the merits of the further submissions criteria in the asylum system.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
All Further submissions must be considered in line with the UK’s obligations to assess whether the additional evidence means that an individual requires protection.
We aim to deal with further submission claims quickly so that there is no incentive to lodge spurious claims to frustrate removal.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many outstanding calculations remain for retired police officer pensions arising from the McCloud Judgement within each police force in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Calculations for the police pension scheme, including those related to the McCloud remedy, are produced for each scheme member by the relevant scheme administrator.
While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the police pension regulations in England & Wales, the police pension scheme is locally administered by individual police forces. The devolved governments have overarching policy and legislative responsibility in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
It is for each Chief Constable, in their role as scheme manager for their force, to determine their administrative timetable.
The Home Office is actively collaborating with policing to support the effective implementation of the McCloud remedy for all affected individuals.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to provide British citizenship to the children of British National (Overseas) passport holders from Hong Kong that are in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
British National (Overseas) status holders who are on the BN(O) route in the
UK may apply for British citizenship after 5 years’ qualifying residence, and being free from immigration time restrictions for a further year.
Their children who have come to the UK as their dependants can apply when they meet the requirements.
Children born to BN(O)s in the UK will be able to apply for registration as a British citizen once their parent becomes settled.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people who are granted Leave To Enter under a British National Overseas Visa are entitled to get married in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Holders of a Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visa who are already in the UK can get married in the UK. Information about marriages and immigration status in England and Wales is available here: Marriages and civil partnerships in England and Wales: If you or your partner are from outside the UK or Ireland - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Marriages in Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have had their accommodation costs paid for through the foreign aid budget for longer than 12 months as of 24 November 2022; and what the total cost of that accommodation was.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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. Our accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information.
Provisional and final UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend data for 2022 will be published as normal in the Spring and Autumn of 2023 respectively. The latest data available is the final data for 2021 UK ODA spend, which was published November 23rd. The stats for international development are published here: Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has not used any ODA funds to pay for the accommodation costs of any asylum seekers for longer than 12 months. This is as no costs from after 12 months of an asylum seeker arriving in the UK are deemed ODA eligible.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated from the Foreign Aid Budget for the accommodation of asylum seekers and refugees in each of the last 24 months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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. Our accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information.
Provisional and final UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend data for 2022 will be published as normal in the Spring and Autumn of 2023 respectively. The latest data available is the final data for 2021 UK ODA spend, which was published November 23rd. The stats for international development are published here: Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has not used any ODA funds to pay for the accommodation costs of any asylum seekers for longer than 12 months. This is as no costs from after 12 months of an asylum seeker arriving in the UK are deemed ODA eligible.