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Written Question
Detention Centres: Manston
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she personally requested to be transported to the Manston asylum processing site from Dover via Chinook helicopter on 3 November 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The overflight of the operational area was a critical part of an itinerary put together and approved by Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney to enable the Home Secretary to get an overview of operations in the Channel.


Written Question
Home Office: Helicopters
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on the use of helicopters for domestic journeys.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Departmental Travel Manual does not contain instructions on the use of helicopters.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 9th November 2022

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 asylum seekers are in (a) initial and (b) temporary hotel accommodation.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority, although not broken down into hotels or other accommodation, can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The latest publication (March 2022) can be found here Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition).

The data published at the end of June have been recently removed and are being investigated. An update will be provided in the next Immigration Statistics release.


Written Question
Detention Centres: Manston
Wednesday 9th November 2022

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date was the change of use planning permission for the Manston site approved as a processing centre for asylum claimants.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The current operation of the Manston site is commensurate with the existing planning use.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 26th October 2022

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 asylum seekers there were in (a) initial accommodation and (b) temporary hotel accommodation in each of the last five years.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Occupancy levels are recorded at a specific point in time and vary daily. The number of people flowing through (a) initial accommodation and (b) contingency hotel accommodation in any one year is not recorded.

Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers temporarily residing in contingency accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. The latest publication (March 2022) can be found here Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition). The data published at the end of June have been recently removed and are being investigated. An update will be provided in the next Immigration Statistics release.

The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 26th October 2022

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 asylum seekers are in (a) initial accommodation and (b) temporary hotel accommodation in each region as of 18 October 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Occupancy levels are recorded at a specific point in time and vary daily. The number of people flowing through (a) initial accommodation and (b) contingency hotel accommodation in any one year is not recorded.

Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers temporarily residing in contingency accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. The latest publication (March 2022) can be found here Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition). The data published at the end of June have been recently removed and are being investigated. An update will be provided in the next Immigration Statistics release.

The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Asylum: Temporary Accommodation
Wednesday 26th October 2022

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 asylum seekers are in (a) initial accommodation and (b) temporary hotel accommodation.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Occupancy levels are recorded at a specific point in time and vary daily. The number of people flowing through (a) initial accommodation and (b) contingency hotel accommodation in any one year is not recorded.

Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers temporarily residing in contingency accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. The latest publication (March 2022) can be found here Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition). The data published at the end of June have been recently removed and are being investigated. An update will be provided in the next Immigration Statistics release.

The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
Wednesday 26th October 2022

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 arrived in the UK by small boats across the Channel in each month since January 2019; and how many and what proportion of those people subsequently applied for asylum.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on small boat arrivals and subsequent asylum claims in the Irregular Migration to the UK quarterly report. Data on small boat arrivals by month are published in table Irr_02a of the Irregular migration to the UK data tables. Data on asylum claims from arrivals are published in section 4 of the most recent Irregular migration to the UK release. The latest data go up to the end of June 2022.

Statistics on small boats include individuals who were detected on arrival to the UK, detected in the Channel and subsequently brought to the UK, and those encountered in the UK who were suspected of having arrived on a small boat. They do not include any persons who arrived on larger vessels (such as on a ferry), those prevented from departing France or intercepted by French authorities and returned to France, or those who arrived in the UK undetected.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Friday 23rd September 2022

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 and what proportion of Afghan citizens who relocated to the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme are in bridging accommodation as of 8 September 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Through Operation Warm Welcome, Afghans resettling in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will be supported in accessing accommodation alongside the vital health, education, and support into employment they need, to fully integrate into our society.

As stated in the recently published, 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data' factsheet, at 12 August 2022, the UK:

  • Has welcomed 21,450 people to the UK from Afghanistan - or a neighbouring country - since June 2021.
  • Is providing temporary accommodation for 9,667 people in hotels.

Officials are working at pace to assure information relating to the individuals resettling in the UK under our bespoke schemes for Afghans on case working systems. Once this work concludes, the Home Office will include Afghan resettlement statistics in its quarterly Immigration Statistics publications.

Until then the factsheet will be updated every quarter – with the next iteration scheduled for publication on 24 November 2022.


Written Question
Visas: Russia
Thursday 22nd September 2022

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 UK Standard Visitor Visas have been granted to Russian citizens in every month during 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of granted applications of Visitor visas to Russian nationals are published in table Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes dataset. ‘Standard Visitor’ is one of the four types of ‘Visitor’ visas which are aggregated within this dataset, which also include visiting for a Permitted Paid Engagement, the Marriage Visitor visa and visiting the UK in a Chinese Tour Group.

Please note that the published data relate to Russian nationals, regardless of their residency. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2022.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.