Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Report on an unannounced inspection of Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 8–25 August 2022, published on 6 December 2022, when she expects a plan to resolve the concerns identified in the report to be published.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has fully considered the recommendations made by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons following his inspection report of Derwentside immigration removal centre. The Government’s response to the recommendations made, including the actions being taken forward, will be published on the Inspectorate’s website in due course.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many women in Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre have been signed up via the legal help scheme following a Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgery (a) between 28 December 2021 and 30 June 2022 and (b) since 1 July 2022; and what proportion of those women had further in-person attendances with a firm on the DDAS rota following an advice surgery.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
From Monday 3 April 2023 all DDAS appointments will be facilitated in-person.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Data on the number of women who have signed up via the legal help scheme following a DDAS surgery, and the proportion of those women who had further in-person appointments with a firm on the DDAS rota following an advice surgery, is not held centrally and therefore cannot be provided.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many women in Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre have been provided advice via a Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgery between (a) 28 December 2021 and 30 June 2022 and (b) since 1 July 2022; and what proportion of those women have been provided with advice via an in-person surgery.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
From Monday 3 April 2023 all DDAS appointments will be facilitated in-person.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Data on the number of women who have signed up via the legal help scheme following a DDAS surgery, and the proportion of those women who had further in-person appointments with a firm on the DDAS rota following an advice surgery, is not held centrally and therefore cannot be provided.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries took place (a) in total and (b) in person at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre from (i) 28 December 2021 and 30 June 2022 and (ii) 1 July 2022 to date.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
From Monday 3 April 2023 all DDAS appointments will be facilitated in-person.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Data on the number of women who have signed up via the legal help scheme following a DDAS surgery, and the proportion of those women who had further in-person appointments with a firm on the DDAS rota following an advice surgery, is not held centrally and therefore cannot be provided.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answers of 14 July 2022, 26 September 2022 and 9 February 2023 to Questions 32512, 53359 and 138399 on Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC): Legal Profession, what assessment she has made of the reason for the increase in the number of in-person legal visits at Derwentside IRC between 22 and 30 September 2022 compared with the number between 1 July and 21 September 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Access to DDAS legal advice across the immigration removal estate is currently facilitated through both remote means (by telephone and video conferencing) and in-person visits on request. The volume of requests for in-person appointments may vary, with more requests at Derwentside IRC having been made at certain times than at others, and it is currently a matter for the detained individual to decide the means by which their appointment is facilitated.
Previously released data was provisional management information, which is not assured to the standard of Official Statistics and is subject to change. We are working with the LAA to better understand the data.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-Detained Duty Advice Scheme legal visits took place at Derwentside immigration removal centre between (a) 1 July 2022 and 30 September 2022, (b) 1 October 2022 and 31 December 2022 and (c) 1 January 2023 and 31 January 2023; and how many of those visits took place (i) in person, (ii) by Skype and (iii) by telephone for each of these periods.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Access to legal advice across the immigration removal estate is facilitated through remote means (by telephone and video conferencing) as well as in-person visits on request. All people in IRCs are provided with a mobile phone and have access to landline telephones on request, fax machines, email and video calling facilities which can be used to contact legal representatives, family, or friends.
The total number of DDAS and non-DDAS legal visits held at Derwentside IRC, including the means by which they were facilitated, from 1 July 2022 to 31 January 2023 is set out in the table below.
|
| Date | ||
|
| 1 July 2022 – 30 September 2022 | 1 October 2022 – 31 December 2022 | 1 January 2023 – 31 January 2023 |
DDAS Appointments | Total | 93 | 65 | 31 |
In-person | 71 | 57 | 31 | |
Skype | 20 | 7 | 0 | |
Telephone | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
Non-DDAS Appointments | Total | 36 | 56 | 0 |
In-person | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Skype | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Telephone | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
The Home Office publishes data on people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’, as well as data on people entering detention during each quarter. The latest data relate to the end of September 2022.
Data on people in detention are published in table Det_D02 of the ‘Detention detailed tables’ and data on people entering detention are published in table Det_D01. The data can be broken down by current place/first place of detention of detention (including Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre), and sex.
Figures relating to people in detention at the end of December 2022 will be published on 23 February 2023.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many women were detained at Derwentside immigration removal centre between (a) 1 July 2022 and 30 September 2022, (b) 1 October 2022 and 31 December 2022 and (c) 1 January 2023 and 31 January 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Access to legal advice across the immigration removal estate is facilitated through remote means (by telephone and video conferencing) as well as in-person visits on request. All people in IRCs are provided with a mobile phone and have access to landline telephones on request, fax machines, email and video calling facilities which can be used to contact legal representatives, family, or friends.
The total number of DDAS and non-DDAS legal visits held at Derwentside IRC, including the means by which they were facilitated, from 1 July 2022 to 31 January 2023 is set out in the table below.
|
| Date | ||
|
| 1 July 2022 – 30 September 2022 | 1 October 2022 – 31 December 2022 | 1 January 2023 – 31 January 2023 |
DDAS Appointments | Total | 93 | 65 | 31 |
In-person | 71 | 57 | 31 | |
Skype | 20 | 7 | 0 | |
Telephone | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
Non-DDAS Appointments | Total | 36 | 56 | 0 |
In-person | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Skype | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Telephone | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
The Home Office publishes data on people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’, as well as data on people entering detention during each quarter. The latest data relate to the end of September 2022.
Data on people in detention are published in table Det_D02 of the ‘Detention detailed tables’ and data on people entering detention are published in table Det_D01. The data can be broken down by current place/first place of detention of detention (including Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre), and sex.
Figures relating to people in detention at the end of December 2022 will be published on 23 February 2023.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many legal visits took place under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme at Derwentside immigration removal centre between (a) 1 July 2022 and 30 September 2022, (b) 1 October 2022 and 31 December 2022 and (c) 1 January 2023 and 31 January 2023; and how many of those visits took place (i) in person, (ii) by Skype and (iii) by telephone for each of those periods.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.
Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.
Access to legal advice across the immigration removal estate is facilitated through remote means (by telephone and video conferencing) as well as in-person visits on request. All people in IRCs are provided with a mobile phone and have access to landline telephones on request, fax machines, email and video calling facilities which can be used to contact legal representatives, family, or friends.
The total number of DDAS and non-DDAS legal visits held at Derwentside IRC, including the means by which they were facilitated, from 1 July 2022 to 31 January 2023 is set out in the table below.
|
| Date | ||
|
| 1 July 2022 – 30 September 2022 | 1 October 2022 – 31 December 2022 | 1 January 2023 – 31 January 2023 |
DDAS Appointments | Total | 93 | 65 | 31 |
In-person | 71 | 57 | 31 | |
Skype | 20 | 7 | 0 | |
Telephone | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
Non-DDAS Appointments | Total | 36 | 56 | 0 |
In-person | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Skype | 18 | 28 | 0 | |
Telephone | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
The Home Office publishes data on people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’, as well as data on people entering detention during each quarter. The latest data relate to the end of September 2022.
Data on people in detention are published in table Det_D02 of the ‘Detention detailed tables’ and data on people entering detention are published in table Det_D01. The data can be broken down by current place/first place of detention of detention (including Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre), and sex.
Figures relating to people in detention at the end of December 2022 will be published on 23 February 2023.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have waited (a) over three months, (b) over six months, (c) over one year and (d) over two years for an interview after submitting an application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office are unable to state how many seekers have waited over three months, over six months, over one year and over two years for an interview after submitting an application or the overage time taken to process an application as this information is not published or held in a reportable format.
The Home Office does publish data on the number asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics up to: List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK asylum applications are currently outstanding; and what is the average time taken to process an application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on asylum and resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision or further review (outstanding applications) are published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to December 2021. Data for the period relating to January – March 2022 is set to be published on the 26 May 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.