Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claims his Department has received from LGBT+ people fleeing persecution in Chechnya in each year since 2015.

On 29 November 2018, the Home Office published statistics on asylum claims lodged on the basis or part basis of sexual orientation covering the period 2015 – 2017.

The statistics reflect the claims made by asylum applicants and do not reflect a confirmed sexual orientation basis for a claim. Some individuals applying for asylum may have less reason to mention sexual orientation when making a claim because it may not be a significant factor in their seeking asylum. Such nationalities would be undercounted in these statistics

The statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018/experimental-statistics-asylum-claims-on-the-basis-of-sexual-orientation.

Chechnyan nationals cannot be identified separately in the data but would be included in the figure for Russia. For Russia, which may also include non Chechnyan nationals, six claims based on LGBT+ issues were received in 2016 and twelve in 2017.

As a signatory to the Refugee Convention, the UK fully considers all asylum claims lodged in the UK. We remain committed to improving the asylum pro-cess for those claiming asylum on the basis of their sexual or gender identity. In the case of considering sexual identity claims, we are confident that our re-vised guidance and dedicated training is thorough and ensures every sexual identity claim decision is scrutinised in depth, either by a senior case worker or Technical Specialist. We do not consider asylum claims lodged outside UK ter-ritory.

We recognise the continuing concerns of key partners domestically and inter-nationally, and we remain committed to continuing engagement with them on this issue