Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made in agreeing bilateral agreements with individual EU member states which would replace measures that existed under the Dublin III Regulation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK is in discussions regarding the returns of asylum seekers to European Member States; it would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on these negotiations.
We can confirm that work is underway to secure appropriate returns agreements with safe countries. Returns may also be agreed with partner countries on a case-by-case basis without formal agreements. This happened historically, outside of the former Dublin arrangements, and will continue to be part of the approach we apply.
Our inadmissibility provisions in the Immigration Rules give us the legal basis to declare an asylum claim as inadmissible where a person has a connection to or has passed through, a safe country. The first returns on inadmissible grounds have been successfully carried out.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral response of 10 March 2022 to the Urgent Question on refugees from Ukraine, whether Ukrainian nationals applying to the family visa scheme will be required to have more than six months' validity remaining on their passports.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ukrainian nationals applying under the Ukraine Family Scheme are not required to have more than six months left on their passport.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allow people seeking asylum the right to work in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office already allows asylum seekers the right to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own.
Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what urgent steps she is taking to tackle the backlog in processing asylum claims from children.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is unable to state what the average number of days taken to process claims unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK and how many days it took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in 2021, 2020 and 2019 as this information is not held in a reportable format and therefore cannot be published.
The Home Office have established two dedicated case working Hubs for deciding children’s asylum claims which are now fully operational. The hubs have established improved focus on and greater control of children’s cases to build expertise, identify efficiencies and provide a consistency of decision making (and quicker outcomes) for our customers.
We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities nationally on the remote interview process for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people utilising digital interviewing video capabilities to complement in person interviews.
Since May 2021 we have increased Local Authority opt in for digital interviewing to 108 Local Authorities. This has helped to speed up processes, reduce delays, and by doing so the numbers of children and young people who have an outstanding claim.
We are continuing to recruit additional decision-makers who will be trained to process children’s asylum claims.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many days on average it took to process claims from unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021; and how many days it is taking currently; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is unable to state what the average number of days taken to process claims unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK and how many days it took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in 2021, 2020 and 2019 as this information is not held in a reportable format and therefore cannot be published.
The Home Office have established two dedicated case working Hubs for deciding children’s asylum claims which are now fully operational. The hubs have established improved focus on and greater control of children’s cases to build expertise, identify efficiencies and provide a consistency of decision making (and quicker outcomes) for our customers.
We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities nationally on the remote interview process for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people utilising digital interviewing video capabilities to complement in person interviews.
Since May 2021 we have increased Local Authority opt in for digital interviewing to 108 Local Authorities. This has helped to speed up processes, reduce delays, and by doing so the numbers of children and young people who have an outstanding claim.
We are continuing to recruit additional decision-makers who will be trained to process children’s asylum claims.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from Greater Manchester child and migrant rights organisations on children seeking asylum in the UK who are at a higher risk of criminal exploitation, self-harm and dying by suicide.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office regularly receive representations from Greater Manchester child and migrants’ rights organisations on children seeking asylum in the UK who are at a higher risk of criminal exploitation, self-harm and dying by suicide.
The department most recently received a courtesy copy of an open letter dated 16 December 2021, from the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) in which 25 child and migrant rights organisations wrote to us and we replied to this on the 20 January 2022.
The department maintains a working relationship with GMIAU and other regional organisations through our strategic partnerships; including the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF), who continue to work collaboratively to ensure asylum claims from children and young people remains one of our top priorities.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department (a) will take to support Afghan nationals after their six months leave to remain in the UK ends and (b) is taking to provide information, advice and support to those people in the meantime.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Home Office has written to Afghan families advising them of the next steps to progress permanent residence in the UK.
The Home Office has established a dedicated caseworking team, which is working jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Defence. This team will contact those here in the UK under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy and those moving onto the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, to assist them to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain status.
While families are being accommodated in Bridging Hotel accommodation, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is working with departments including Home Office to support people relocated to the UK through ARAP and ACRS to integrate into UK society. The Home Office are leading on supporting people in bridging accommodation, including getting people into schools, or registering with a GP for example. For the most recent update on what the Government is doing to support Afghans, please see my Dear Colleague of 23/12/21,
We also have Home Office Liaison Officers (HOLO’s) allocated to Bridging Hotel Accommodation.
The role of the HOLO is to provide both face to face support and remote support when not physically present. They are reactive to the needs of those accommodated in hotels and can provide signposting to other government departments and Local Authorities and ensure safeguarding concerns are appropriately acted upon.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many places remain to be allocated under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme; and how many of those given protection under the scheme to date are British nationals or people living in the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) commenced on 6th January. The ACRS will provide up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.
We are unable to give statistics of those in the scheme due to the continuing flow of people being welcomed. We will include this data within published resettlement statistics later in 2022.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by her Department are apprentices.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The number of staff currently employed by the Home Office who have started an apprenticeship is 735, which is 2.29% of the department headcount calculated on 31/12/20 (this does not include individuals in the pipeline preparing to start and/or undergoing security checks).
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance has been issued to police forces on the carrying and use of tasers in schools by schools-based police officers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government does not issue specific guidance on the use of police equipment in schools. This is an operational matter for Chief officers to determine. Officers must pass a comprehensive training programme before they can carry Tasers.