Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124424, on Refugees, whether her Department plans to publish the findings of its pilot by UK Visas and Immigration in the North East and Yorkshire and Humberside; and what criteria her Department used to determine that that pilot was tested successfully.

The Post Grant Appointment Service was put in place to ensure that refugees who wish to apply for benefits are assisted with their application and receive a prompt first payment of any benefit for which they qualify.

The scheme was tested successfully in the North East and Yorkshire and Humberside region by mid 2017, and national roll-out to all areas of the country where asylum seekers are accommodated by the Home Office was completed in early October 2017. The Home Office, working in partnership with the Department for Work & Pensions, is continuing its evaluation on the implementation of the service, alongside it’s impact and will report in due course.