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 30 month reviews of refugee status on asylum seekers with protected characteristics; and what mechanisms she will put in place to assess threats to those asylum seekers with protected characteristics when making decisions on whether it is safe for those individuals to be sent back to their own country.

Equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, Home Office officials consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, and the impact that asylum reforms will have on those with protected characteristics, is no exception. Equality impacts will be considered for individual policies as they continue to be developed. These will be kept under review to ensure that there are no unintended impacts on people with protected characteristics.

Every asylum claim will be considered on its own merits, taking into account evidence that a person provided as part of their claim, and the latest objective country information. Where it is concluded that the person is no longer at risk on return, their protection status may be revoked and they may be removed.

We recognise that there are particular sensitivities when it comes to vulnerable individuals, including those with protected characteristics, and we will always take our responsibilitiesto these individuals extremely seriously. No one who is at risk of persecution or serious harm in their country will be expected to return there.