Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support is available for EU citizens with (a) dementia and (b) other similar health conditions when applying for settled status given the possibility that they may have lost the necessary paperwork.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The EU Settlement Scheme is designed to make it simple and straightforward for EU citizens and their family members to apply to stay in the UK after we leave the EU. We are looking for reasons to grant status, not reasons to refuse, and the scheme is performing well.
The Home Office has put in place a comprehensive vulnerability strategy to ensure that the EU Settlement Scheme is accessible for all, including those requiring someone to make an application on their behalf. We are also engaging with relevant stakeholders, such as the Department for Health and Social Care, the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Devolved Administrations, to assess the needs of vulnerable groups and ensure they are met.
The Home Office has introduced a range of support for applicants, including assisted digital support at around 300 locations across the UK and the EU Settlement Scheme Resolution Centre, open seven days a week, to provide help and information by telephone and e-mail. We have also provided up to £9 million of grant funding to 57 voluntary and community organisations across the UK to enable them to mobilise services targeted at vulnerable EU citizens.
Regarding specific support for (a) those with dementia and (b) other similar health conditions, such as those without mental capacity, the Home Office has designed a scheme that allows applicants to consent to an appropriate third party to apply on their behalf. This means that care givers, family members and friends can provide the necessary assistance to those who need it.
The Home Office is aware that a range of vulnerable applicants may face challenges in securing evidence to support their application. For this reason, we will in such circumstances accept a range of evidence of identity and residence on behalf of an applicant, working with the person making the application to establish the applicant’s eligibility based on all the evidence available. Caseworkers are trained to exercise discretion in the applicant’s favour where appropriate.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has paid in compensation for unlawful immigration detention since figures on such compensation payments were published in 2014-15.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I refer the honourable member to my response to PQ 47658, submitted to Parliament on 19 October 2016.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether procedures have changed as a result of recent successful prosecutions for unlawful immigration detention.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The cross-system Detention Gatekeeper has now been introduced to scrutinise all proposed detentions independently of an arresting team. Individuals can now only enter immigration detention with the authority of the Detention Gatekeeper, who will ensure that there is no evidence of vulnerability which would be exacerbated by detention, that return will occur within a reasonable timeframe and check that any proposed detention is lawful.
Separately, Case Progression Panels have been introduced to review all cases within immigration detention by a peer-led panel. These panels focus on ensuring that there is progression toward return for all individuals detained, and that detention remains lawful.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans for the Immigration Enforcement Business Plan for 2016-17 to be published.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department’s plans for immigration enforcement will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government's new Drug Strategy will be published.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We are currently developing the new Drug Strategy, working across government and with key partners. The new strategy will be published in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the Government's response to the Hutton review of forensic pathology in England and Wales.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The key strategic recommendations of the Hutton review of forensic pathology have been discussed both with Home Office ministers and at a bi-lateral meeting between Home Office and Ministry of Justice ministers.
Whilst it was recognised the longer-term resilience of both services would be best addressed through a ‘combined autopsy service’, it was decided that more urgent issues in coronial pathology should be addressed first. Therefore the Home Office will retain responsibility for the running of forensic pathology, whilst the Ministry of Justice will work with other relevant government departments to take forward the coronial pathology issues raised by Professor Hutton in his report.
In addition there have been a number of important changes recommendations that have been implemented, including guidance for first attenders in respect of dealing with sudden and unexpected deaths, the establishment of a national list of paediatric and organ specific pathologists willing to engage in police cases and the commencement of a number of reviews in response to detailed recommendations on training, the Code of Practice/Performance Standards implemented by the Home Office.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to accelerate the process of family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.
We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.
We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe.
We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether, when considering whether to acquire a bulk personal dataset from another government department under the Investigatory Powers Bill, she plans to consult the Secretary of State for that department.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Investigatory Powers Bill provides for robust and transparent safeguards relating to the security and intelligence agencies’ use of bulk personal datasets (BPDs). This includes a new requirement for warrants to authorise the retention and examination of BPDs. The Bill provides for both class BPD warrants, covering datasets of a particular class, and specific BPD warrants, covering an individual dataset. The draft statutory Code of Practice provides further guidance on the factors that the security and intelligence agencies should consider in determining which type of warrant to apply for. These include whether the nature or the provenance of the dataset raises particularly novel or contentious issues; whether it contains a significant component of intrusive data; and whether it contains a significant component of confidential information relating to members of sensitive professions. All warrants will be subject to the ‘double-lock’ safeguard meaning that they will be subject to approval by both a Secretary of State and a Judicial Commissioner.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how long people under the age of 18 who were transferred to a place of safety under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 were detained on average in (a) a police cell and (b) a police vehicle in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information requested is not held centrally.
However, the use of police cells as a place of safety for all persons detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 has more than halved since 2011/12 (when figures were first collated) as shown in the following table. A joint inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC); Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP); the Care Quality Commission (CQC); and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) (published in 2013) found that the average time that each such person spent in police custody was 10 hours 32 minutes.
The Government intends to make provision in the Policing and Crime Bill, to be introduced in Parliament soon, to prohibit the use of police cells as places of safety for people under the age of 18, and to further limit their use in the case of adults. The maximum period for which a person may be detained pending a mental health assessment will also be reduced.
Table 1: number of times a police station was used as a place of safety for people detained under Section 136 Mental Health Act 1983 (England only)
Year | Section 136 detentions in police stations | Percentage reduction year on year (to nearest whole number) |
2011-12 | 8,667 | N/A[1] |
2012-13 | 7,881 | -9% |
2013-14 | 6,028 | -24% |
2014-15 | 3,996 | -34% |
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre
[1] No data on use of police stations is available for 2010-11.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to commission an independent review of support rates paid to asylum applicants under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 before making changes to that level of support.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Asylum seekers who are destitute are provided with accommodation and a cash allowance to cover their essential living needs. The level of the allowance is kept under regular review. If they are recognised as refugees they are able to claim mainstream benefits in the normal way.
The Government currently has no plans to establish an independent review of these arrangements.