Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of expanding safe and legal routes available to asylum seekers on the numbers of small boats crossing the Channel.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our existing global resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Safe and legal routes will continue to play a vital role in our overall migration system. However, given the scale of today’s global displacement challenges, it is not possible to offer a pathway into the UK to every person who needs or wants one. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of families that have no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The availability of data in respect of the number of families that have No Recourse to Public Funds condition is currently limited, while the Home Office transitions its casework operations to a new management information system until the transition process is complete.
Once fully migrated to the new system, it will be possible to explore what further information on NRPF can be produced.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants for compensation under the Windrush Compensation Scheme have died while waiting for a decision on their application.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
As at the end of June 2024, in line with the latest published Transparency data, out of the 8,607 claims received by the Windrush Compensation Scheme, we are aware of 56 claimants* who have unfortunately passed away after having submitted a claim.
The Windrush Compensation Scheme staff are working hard to ensure claims are prioritised for claimants with critical or life-limiting illnesses and would encourage any claimants in this situation who have not been in recent contact with our casework teams to do so. We recognise the significant impact difficult circumstances such as these can have on individuals, and their families, and we remain committed to continually improving our support and services.
In the difficult circumstances where a claimant has passed away after submitting a compensation claim, before the claim is fully resolved, the team is committed to working closely with the representative of the estate, usually a member of the family, to ensure the compensation payment is made as quickly as possible to the representative.
Our priority is to ensure people receive the maximum compensation as quickly as possible. We have reduced the time to allocate a claim for a substantive casework consideration, from 18 months to under 4 months, with the aim to allocate quicker where possible. This period includes all essential eligibility checks, together with a Preliminary Assessment to make an initial payment of £10k wherever possible.
*Please note that this data is manually recorded and is reliant on the person receiving the information on a claimant’s death, notifying the Windrush Compensation Scheme to record this information.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of trends in the number of technical issues in relation to home office applications since January 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to resolve technical issues in relation to processing home office applications in each month in 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has raised concerns with third-party providers on technical issues impacting claims since January 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle technical issues in relation to home office applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the cause of recent technical issues delaying home office applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are awaiting decisions on applications to the Home Office as a result of technical issues in each month since January 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The exact number of people awaiting decisions on applications to the Home Office as a result of technical issues in each month since January 2023 is not information currently held in a reportable format.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in each quarter since the Windrush Compensation scheme was launched, how many people who received an award applied (a) fewer than three months, (b) three to six months, (c) six to 12 months and (d) more than a year before the award.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Windrush Compensation Scheme’s priority is to ensure people receive the maximum compensation as quickly as possible.
The time taken to allocate a claim for a substantive casework consideration has been reduced from 18 months to under 4 months. The 4-month period includes all essential eligibility checks, together with a Preliminary Assessment to make an initial payment of £10,000 wherever possible.
Information on the time taken from a claim being received to a compensation payment is not published.