Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to proposals in the Nationality and Borders Bill on Differential treatment for refugees, if she will make it her policy to require decision makers to make proactive enquiries into the availability, accessibility and adequacy of status determination procedures in the relevant country or countries through which the applicant has passed when deciding whether a person is a group one or group two refugee.

The detail of the Government’s differentiation policy will be set out in guidance in due course. The Home Office has solicited views on the guidance from a wide range of external stakeholders, which are currently under careful consideration.

Decision makers will always be expected to consider the individual circumstances and vulnerabilities of an asylum seeker as a part of a grouping decision.