Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan (a) principals and (b) dependents are being housed in hotel accommodation under the (i) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (ii) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to resettle Afghans fleeing persecution and those who served the UK.
The latest published Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) show that (up to the end of December 2023) we have brought around 27,900 people to safety from Afghanistan and the region.
These statistics also show that:
Afghan operational data is viewable at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan people are awaiting an initial decision on their asylum application as of 18 April 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by nationality are published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications awaiting an initial decision detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 31 December 2023. Data as at 31 March 2024 will be published on 23 May 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's press release entitled 100th asylum hotel set to close next week, published on 20 March 2024, how many of the 100 hotels closed by the end of March 2024 were used to accommodate personnel relocating through the (a) Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and their families.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
None of the 100 hotels were used to accommodate people relocating through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by region or constituency.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's press release entitled 100th asylum hotel set to close next week, published on 20 March 2024, how many of the 100 hotels closed by the end of March 2024 were located in each (a) region and (b) constituency.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
None of the 100 hotels were used to accommodate people relocating through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by region or constituency.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14458 on Asylum: hotels, how many asylum seekers are being housed in UK hotel accommodation by his Department as of 17 April 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has been clear that the use of hotels is a temporary and necessary measure to ensure we meet our statutory obligation to accommodate destitute asylum seekers. We have already made significant progress by no longer using 100 hotels for asylum seekers on 31 March 2024. A total of 150 hotels will no longer be used for accommodating asylum seekers by the beginning of May, reducing the strain on local communities.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) changes to minimum income thresholds and (b) other changes to legal migration rules for (i) family and (ii) work visas apply to members of the armed forces.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We will set out full details of changes to the Immigration Rules for members of the Armed Forces when we intend to lay the Immigration Rules on 14 March.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many ARAP applicants awaiting a decision are residing in UK hotels as of 30 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Relocation to the UK is only facilitated once ARAP eligibility status has been decided and entry clearance has been issued, therefore there are no ARAP applicants awaiting an immigration decision residing in UK hotels.
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to resettle.
Afghans fleeing persecution and those who served the UK. The latest published Immigration system statistics - (www.gov.uk) show that (up to the end of September 2023) we have brought around 24,600 people to safety from Afghanistan and the region.
These statistics also show that:
ARAP arrivals correct as of around December 2023, and accommodation data, will be reflected in the next release of the Immigration Statistics, which is due around 22 February 2024.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total sum paid by the dependents of non-UK citizens was who served in the armed forces for (a) four and (b) five years and were granted indefinite leave to remain in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not publish this data in the format required.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-UK citizens who served in the Armed Forces for (a) four and (b) five years applied for indefinite leave to remain and had to pay visa fees in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not publish this data in the format required.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people approved for relocation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are residing in hotels in the UK as of 30 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to resettle.
Afghans fleeing persecution and those who served the UK. The latest published Immigration system statistics - (www.gov.uk) show that (up to the end of September 2023) we have brought around 24,600 people to safety from Afghanistan and the region.
These statistics also show that:
ACRS and ARAP arrivals correct as of around December 2023, and accommodation data will be reflected in the next release of the Immigration Statistics, which is due around 22 February 2024.