Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the size of the immigration detention estate.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Detaining and removing people with no right to be in the country, with dignity and respect, is an essential part of effective immigration controls.
The future requirements of the detention estate, including its capacity and location, is kept under constant review.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that people held in immigration removal centres have access to the websites of organisations that provide advice and support services for those people.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The provision of internet access in immigration removal centres helps detainees to remain in contact with family, friends and legal representatives and to prepare for removal. It is a contractual requirement that all immigration removal centres provide detainees with reasonable and regulated access to the
internet and IT facilities. It is important that detainees can access legitimate websites including news, education, employment and legal sites, and we are taking steps to standardise internet access across the detention estate. This includes consultation with the voluntary sector on website access and the development of a new Detention Services Order to set out requirements for access and monitoring.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme were principal applicants.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As of 31 December 2014, 143 people were relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme, 34 of whom were principal applicants (i.e. head of family) and 109 their dependents.
This is the latest publicly available figure, as numbers are released as part of the Home Office official statistics each quarter. The number of arrivals under the scheme up to the end of March 2015 will be published on 21 May.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the rate of acceptances of visa applications for Syrians visiting the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Application volumes, issue and refusal rates of visa applications from all nationalities are monitored on an ongoing basis.
All visa applications made by Syrian nationals are considered on a case by case basis, on their individual merits, and in accordance with the Immigration Rules.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules tabled on 16 March 2015, HC1116, on the number of applications made by Syrian nationals for asylum in the UK.
Answered by James Brokenshire
An analysis of asylum claims made by Syrian nationals, in the eighteen month period ending November 2014, showed some Syrian asylum claimants were found to have abused the UK’s transit without visa provisions using a US issued visa. Applicants used their US visas to arrive in the UK to claim asylum rather than to transit to an onward destination as the provisions intend. The change made by HC1116 will stop this abuse.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support provided under sections 4 and 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Asylum seekers are supported under section 95 if they would otherwise be destitute. Failed asylum seekers are supported under section 4 if they would otherwise be destitute and there is a temporary barrier that prevents their departure from the UK.
The assistance available to both groups consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and a weekly allowance to buy food and other essential items. They are also able to access healthcare and education.
The Home Office keeps these arrangements under regular review and is satisfied they are an effective way of ensuring people are not left destitute.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review the use of detention for immigration purposes.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Detention plays a key role in maintaining an effective immigration control and protecting our borders. We keep periods of detention to a minimum, consistent
with the need to detain in order to remove from the UK those with no right to be here and who do not leave voluntarily.
There are no plans to review the use of detention overall but on 9 February the Home Secretary announced that Stephen Shaw, the former Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, is to lead an independent review of the policies and procedures relating to the welfare of immigration detainees.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been referred to her Department by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement in the UK through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme to date.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As of 31 December 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 260 people for consideration under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons
Relocation (VPR) scheme. This data has not previously been published, is based on management information only, and has not therefore been subject to the detailed checks that apply to National Statistics publications.
In the same period to 31 December, as already published through the quarterly release of Home Office statistics, 143 people had arrived in the UK under the VPR scheme.