Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of claimed conversions to Christianity by people resident on the barge in Portland Port on their asylum applications.

All asylum and human rights claims, including those based on religion or belief, and regardless of where or how a person might be accommodated while in the UK, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.

Detailed Home Office policy guidance provides a framework for considering asylum claims, including those based on religious conversion, and all caseworkers receive extensive training before making such decisions.

Those found not to need protection are refused, and the decision can be subject to legal challenge, where appropriate, either via appeal to the independent courts, or through a judicial review, depending on the decision in question. Once appeal rights are exhausted, they are liable for removal and enforcement action is pursued where necessary.