Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Home Office of 29 June 2017, HL 783, column 551, whether local authorities with capacity to care for a greater number of unaccompanied children than that set out under the provisions of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 and the Written Ministerial Statement made on 26 April 2017, HCWS 619, will be able to apply to do so.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government welcomes all offers from local authorities with capacity to look after unaccompanied asylum seeking children. We will continue to utilise these offers to fulfil all of our existing commitments, including ensuring a more equal allocation of unaccompanied children across the country through the National Transfer Scheme.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many citizens from other EU countries with the right to reside in the UK before 29 March 2017 do not have private medical insurance.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
EU nationals have a right to reside in the UK for more than three months if they are workers, self-employed, jobseekers, self-sufficient persons or students, are a family member of an EU national or have acquired a right of permanent residence in EU law. Under EU law, self-sufficient persons and students are required to hold comprehensive sickness insurance. The Home Office does not hold any information on the number of citizens from other EU Member states who do not have comprehensive sickness insurance.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what each response was from those local authorities which replied to her letter of September 2016 requesting confirmation of how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children they could accommodate.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I wrote to local authorities on 8 September last year asking them to confirm via their Strategic Migration Partnership the number of unaccompanied children who could be placed in their local authority area. We received a range of responses from Strategic Migration Partnerships but also from local authorities directly. Based on those responses and our extensive consultation over the summer we calculated they had capacity for an additional 400 unaccompanied asylum seeking children until the end of the 2016/17 financial year. This is in addition to the many unaccompanied children already in local authority care. We estimate that at least 50 of the family reunion cases will require a local authority placement in circumstances where the reunion does not work out.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will confirm when the first transfers of unaccompanied refugee children from Greece and Italy will arrive in the UK under the Dubs amendment; how many children the Government plans to transfer to the UK under that amendment; and when she plans for the programme of transfers to the UK under that amendment to end.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
We have seconded an expert to Greece to support efforts to transfer children from Greece under the Dublin Regulation and section 67 of the Immigration Act. Our secondee has been working closely with UNHCR, IOM and the Greek authorities to identify potentially eligible children and put in place a process to transfer children to the UK where it is in their best interests. We have a long standing secondee in Italy who is based in the Italian Dublin Unit and supports the effective functioning of the Dublin Regulation between the UK and Italy.
More eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months. The Government will specify the number to be transferred, the process, and the criteria for further transfers under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
The Government will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. We are not required to publish eligibility criteria for transfers under the Dublin Regulation, as these are set out within the Regulation.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on determining the eligibility criteria for children in Greece and Italy to be considered for transfer to the UK under the Dublin Regulations and section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
We have seconded an expert to Greece to support efforts to transfer children from Greece under the Dublin Regulation and section 67 of the Immigration Act. Our secondee has been working closely with UNHCR, IOM and the Greek authorities to identify potentially eligible children and put in place a process to transfer children to the UK where it is in their best interests. We have a long standing secondee in Italy who is based in the Italian Dublin Unit and supports the effective functioning of the Dublin Regulation between the UK and Italy.
More eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months. The Government will specify the number to be transferred, the process, and the criteria for further transfers under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
The Government will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. We are not required to publish eligibility criteria for transfers under the Dublin Regulation, as these are set out within the Regulation.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many women recorded as pregnant have been held in immigration detention; and how many of those women left detention to be removed from the UK since the Immigration Act 2016 came into force.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Through section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016, which came into force on 12 July 2016, we have placed a 72 hour limit on the detention of pregnant women for the purposes of removal, extendable to up to a week in total with Ministerial authorisation.
It may not always be appropriate for healthcare professionals to disclose confidential medical information that the patient has asked not to be disclosed. Subject to these limitations, Home Office management information indicates that 12 pregnant women were detained in the immigration detention estate between 12 July 2016 and 30 September 2016. Of these women, 1 was removed from the UK.
The section 60 limitations, along with a new policy on adults at risk in detention, and other improvements to caseworking processes, represent a comprehensive package of safeguards for pregnant women in the immigration system.