Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 20 March (HL Deb, col 1426), which Government departments are responsible for sharing with the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee and non-governmental organisations the results of the evaluation to which she referred; and what is the reason for the delay in the publication of those results given her Written Answer on 25 July 2016 (HL1295) in which she stated that it was intended to publish later that year the evaluation of work with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that newly recognised refugees receive their first benefit payment before their Home Office support ended.

The Home Office and Department of Work and Pensions have worked together to establish and evaluate the success of the “Post Grant Appointment Service”, which aims to ensure that newly recognised refugees are able to access mainstream benefits before any support they have been receiving from the Home Office ends 28 days after the grant of their status.

The evaluation has undergone careful data checking and is expected to be shared shortly. DWP Ministers plan to write to the Work and Pensions Select Committee and the Home Office will write to non-governmental organisations.