Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 174313, on Asylum: Interviews, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of collecting information on the number of people who have been waiting for an asylum substantive interview for the times specified.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are taking immediate actions to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system. This includes simplifying guidance, reducing interview length and streamlining process. Streamlined Asylum Process plays an important role in achieving this.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 174312 on Asylum: Interviews, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of the Streamlined Asylum Process.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are taking immediate actions to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system. This includes simplifying guidance, reducing interview length and streamlining process. Streamlined Asylum Process plays an important role in achieving this.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether unaccompanied asylum-seeking children will be housed in homes of multiple occupancy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office will not accommodate Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) in an Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) properties.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the ability of asylum seekers to be provided with alternative dispersal accommodation if they are evicted from a house of multiple occupancy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
In the circumstances where a property was no longer available or a landlord no longer wished to contract with our accommodation providers then if the person was still entitled to asylum support they would be moved to appropriate accommodation elsewhere, dependent upon their specific need.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the readiness of UK companies which were subject to fraud to report the incident to the police.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office is responsible for fraud against individuals and businesses and fraud against the public purse is the responsibility of the Public Sector Fraud Authority.
The Fraud Strategy sets out a comprehensive whole system approach to make sure fraudsters cannot target the British public and our businesses. We will increase law enforcement investigative capacity to tackle all fraud, including procurement and payroll fraud.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the Fraud strategy did not include proposals to combat procurement or payroll fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office is responsible for fraud against individuals and businesses and fraud against the public purse is the responsibility of the Public Sector Fraud Authority.
The Fraud Strategy sets out a comprehensive whole system approach to make sure fraudsters cannot target the British public and our businesses. We will increase law enforcement investigative capacity to tackle all fraud, including procurement and payroll fraud.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has undertaken any investigations into instances of drug dealing within asylum dispersal accommodation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our accommodation providers work closely with the Police and other statutory partners. Any matters relating to suspected criminal activity in asylum dispersal accommodation are reported to the Police.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the ability of asylum seekers housed on (a) military bases, (b) accommodation barges, (c) cruise ships and (d) other non-urban locations to access English for speakers of other languages classes.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office ensures that all accommodation is safe, habitable, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements. These sites will accommodate asylum seekers in an orderly manner and in line with other asylum accommodations.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the ability of asylum seekers housed on (a) military bases, (b) accommodation barges, (c) cruise ships and (d) other non-urban locations to access medical care.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office will ensure that all accommodation is safe, habitable, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's definition is of essential living needs in the context of accommodation for asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Support provided under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is usually provided in the form of accommodation (with no utility bills or Council Tax to pay) and a weekly cash allowance to cover the asylum seeker’s other essential living needs. Free access to healthcare and schooling is also provided.
The weekly cash allowance for those in dispersed accommodation is intended to meet the seven essential living needs which are: food and non-alcoholic drinks, clothing, communications, travel, non-prescription medicine, toiletries and laundry.
Our reports on this can be found here: Report on review of cash allowance paid to asylum seekers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)