Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has held recent discussions with their counterparts in Bangladesh on the asylum claims made in the UK by people from that country.

The first UK-Bangladesh Joint Working Group (JWG) on Home Affairs was held on 16 May and will be held on an annual basis. During the dialogue, and in compliance with Home Office disclosure and confidentiality guidance and the Immigration Rules, asylum and migration issues were discussed. To date, the Standard Operating Procedure for returns, signed at the JWG, has yet to be fully implemented by the Government of Bangladesh, though returns to Bangladesh continue in the meantime.

The Home Office and FCDO are in regular communication regarding human rights issues in Bangladesh. FCDO travel advice is aimed at British nationals and is not the relevant test for deciding protection claims. The Home Office remains satisfied that Bangladesh is currently safe for returns of those with no legal basis to stay in the UK.