Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who went missing from hotels in England have subsequently been found in Wales since 1 January 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since 1 Janaury 2022, 283 young persons missing from UASC Hotels have been located.
Two young people have been found in Wales after 1 January 2022 and that proportion would be 0.71%.
These hotels exist to provide temporary accommodation whilst placement within local authority is sought. Young people are supported by team leaders, support workers and security who are all on site 24/7. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
Any missing child case or British child in care and are treated the same way including missing UASC.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been transferred to each local authority in Wales in each month since the National Transfer Scheme became mandatory.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Ministers made the decision to mandate participation in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) and directed local authorities in Wales to participate on 14 December 2021.
Mandatory NTS transfers began 14 December 2021, with any transfers since 23 November 2021 counting towards local authorities' allocations under the mandated scheme.
NTS data is published at RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q1 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The National Transfer Scheme has seen 4,388 children transferred to local authorities between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2023. Of the 4,388 children transferred in this period, 223 were transferred to local authorities in Wales. It is not possible to split the data into different local authority areas within Wales.
As the data is published quarterly, it is also not possible to split out the number of transfers from a specific date mid quarter. Therefore, some of the 223 children quoted may have been transferred under the voluntary scheme in the weeks prior to when the NTS was mandated (between 1 October 2021 and 23 November 2021).
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 the level of the fee to apply for indefinite leave to remain on the retention of healthcare workers on Health and Care Worker visas.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has seen no indication that the level of the fee to apply for indefinite leave to remain is deterring the retention of healthcare workers on Health and Care Worker visas and no separate assessment has been undertaken.
The Home Office introduced the Health and Care visa on 4 August 2020. This delivers and builds upon the Government’s commitment to introduce a route which makes it quicker, easier and significantly cheaper for eligible people working in health and social care to come to the UK with their families and those who are extending their visa. This offer has been well received by the sector, with the latest immigration figures show there is a sizeable uptake of this visa offer by the sector: Why do people come to the UK? To work - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment has she made of the trends of the number of spiking-related incidents in Wales in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The term spiking relates to crimes committed whereby the victim unknowingly ingests some type of drug or alcohol, generally through an injection or through having their drink or food tampered with.
There are a number of crimes which police can create in these circumstances depending on the severity of the attack and the suspected intention of the perpetrator.
Using these police recorded crime data from the four Welsh forces, the incidence of spiking related crimes has fallen during 2022 when compared to 2021. This is in line with a general fall in spiking related crimes across both England and Wales Police forces.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people (a) arrived in the UK, (b) were granted indefinite leave to remain, (c) were housed in temporary accommodation and (d) were moved into settled accommodation from each referral pathway of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme in each month since the opening of those referral pathways.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
At 4 November 2022, 22,833 people have arrived in the UK from Afghanistan, and we have granted Indefinite Leave to Remain to 12,296 individuals across the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
Information can be accessed by following this link: Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Work is underway to assure information on caseworking systems relating to all the individuals resettled under the ACRS and relocated under ARAP. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much additional funding the Government has provided to (a) local authorities and (b) support services for the operation of contingency asylum accommodation in Wales.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to the continuing unprecedented high volume of small boats arrivals and the historical pressure from COVID-19 measures on the asylum system it has been necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers to meet our immediate statutory need.
Hotel occupancy levels vary daily. The total number of people housed in temporary asylum accommodation in any one month is not recorded and to provide this information could only be done at disproportionate cost. Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers residing in temporary asylum accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. These statistics can be found at asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) adults and (b) children have been housed in temporary asylum accommodation in Wales in each month in 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to the continuing unprecedented high volume of small boats arrivals and the historical pressure from COVID-19 measures on the asylum system it has been necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers to meet our immediate statutory need.
Hotel occupancy levels vary daily. The total number of people housed in temporary asylum accommodation in any one month is not recorded and to provide this information could only be done at disproportionate cost. Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers residing in temporary asylum accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. These statistics can be found at asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.