Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safe and legal routes are available for Sudanese refugees to come to the UK to escape ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has a proud history of supporting refugees. Since 2015, we have offered a place through our safe and legal routes to over half a million people seeking safety in the UK, as well as family members of refugees. Where somebody has a link to the UK, they may be eligible for our family routes.
The UK continues to welcome refugees through our existing global resettlement schemes, which includes the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. We are proud to have welcomed over 300 Sudanese nationals through the UKRS and Community Sponsorship since 2021.
Our global resettlement schemes are not application based; instead, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refers individuals for resettlement in accordance with their standard resettlement submission criteria. These are based on an assessment of protection needs or vulnerabilities. The UK does not seek to intervene in or influence UNHCR’s established selection processes.
There are additional routes for people to come to the UK to work or study provided they meet the requirements of the relevant immigration rules under which they are applying. However, the UK has finite resources and is so not able to provide tailored humanitarian routes in every circumstance.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the impact of the Government's policy on no recourse to public funds on single mothers.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government published an overarching Equality Impact Assessment on the Compliant Environment measures, of which NRPF is part, earlier this year: Compliant environment: overarching equality impact assessment (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pregnant women arrived in the UK by small boat in 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee recently asked a similar question and the response to that is currently under consideration by Ministers. That response will be given to Parliament shortly.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of how many families with children will be (a) detained and (b) removed from the UK under the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill in 2024.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As set out in clause 1(1), the purpose of the Bill is to prevent and deter unlawful migration, and in particular migration by unsafe and illegal routes, by requiring the Home Secretary to return illegal migrants to their home country or remove them to a safe third country. An economic impact assessment will be published for the Bill in due course.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people predicted to be detained under clause 12 of the Illegal Migration Bill in (a) 2024, (b) 2025 and (c) 2026.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As set out in clause 1(1), the purpose of the Bill is to prevent and deter unlawful migration, and in particular migration by unsafe and illegal routes, by requiring the Home Secretary to return illegal migrants to their home country or remove them to a safe third country. An economic impact assessment will be published for the Bill in due course.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for her Department to make a decision on a refugee family reunion application in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information regarding processing times for family reunion applications is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role the detention gatekeeper will have in decisions to detain people under clause 12 of the Illegal Migration Bill.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The detention gatekeeper will continue to have a role in assessing an individual’s suitability for detention, in line with published policy.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to publish statistics on the number of people who were detained at the Manston short term holding facility in same format as it used for data on other short-term holding facilities.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to open a new (a) short-term holding facility and (b) holding room for processing people who arrive in the UK on small boats.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office keeps the future of the Manston site under review to ensure that we can detain people safely and legally.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people held at the Manston short-term holding facility were moved to (a) private accommodation, (b) another short-term holding facility and (c) an immigration detention centre in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office do not hold this data in a reportable format.