Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the commencement of detention operations undertaken by his Department following the passage of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 on levels of contact with people whose asylum claims have been deemed inadmissible.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office routinely monitors levels of compliance for individuals who are required to report as a condition of their bail. We have a range of interventions available to us to maintain contact, including face to face reporting, contact by telephone, digital reporting and notifications from the accommodation providers where they reside.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were subject to electronic tagging as part of his Department's pilot programme between 15 June 2022 and 31 December 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The information requested is not available from published statistics.
However, as set out in the Pilot Equality Impact Assessment (available at Equality impact assessment: GPS electronic monitoring expansion pilot - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)), 600 individuals were to be subject to Electronic Monitoring as part of immigration bail conditions.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claimants, excluding foreign national offenders, have been subject to electronic monitoring as a condition of immigration bail since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The information requested is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does not electronically monitor asylum claimants as a matter of course. However, Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016 provides a discretion for the SSHD or the First Tier Tribunal to impose such a condition which may mean that a small number of individuals who have claimed asylum may be subject to electronic monitoring as a condition of bail. In such instances, an individualised assessment of the claimant’s suitability for electronic monitoring would be undertaken either by the Home Office, the relevant Immigration Judge, or both.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why no reason is given to inward travellers for being held for 6 hours; why they are offered no food or drink during such detention; and why no apology is offered when nothing untoward has been found in their travel to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
A passenger remains liable to examination on arrival in the United Kingdom until all necessary enquiries have been concluded and a decision is made on their application for permission to enter or admission.
Anyone detained beyond two hours is detained in compliance with the relevant guidance and legislation (notably The Short Term Holding Facility Rules 2018). The detained person is informed of their bail rights and reasons for their detention, and this is explained in a language that they understand.
Temperature controlled food was temporarily withdrawn from BF managed facilities during 2023 whilst we implemented a new training and governance procedure to ensure we were complaint with current food standards. Throughout this period, we followed Government guidance, continuing to serve water, hot drinks and snacks.
We always look to minimise detention as far as possible; however, the power to detain must be retained in the interests of maintaining effective immigration control.
It would not be appropriate for Border Force to apologise for conducting legitimate border security checks.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of sections 22-29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 on victims of modern slavery receiving support via the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office published the Illegal Migration Bill (IMB) Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) on 10 May 2023. We are committed to taking the steps to ensure any potential impacts identified are appropriately mitigated when implementing the policy.
Where an individual has not made a protection claim and is granted immigration bail, support may be available under Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016.
The Government is consulting with operational partners to implement sections 22 – 29 of the IMA. Guidance is under development which will support the operation of provisions in the IMA, once commenced.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish assessments of facilities that will accommodate potential victims of modern slavery ineligible for support under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office published the Illegal Migration Bill (IMB) Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) on 10 May 2023. We are committed to taking the steps to ensure any potential impacts identified are appropriately mitigated when implementing the policy.
Where an individual has not made a protection claim and is granted immigration bail, support may be available under Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016.
The Government is consulting with operational partners to implement sections 22 – 29 of the IMA. Guidance is under development which will support the operation of provisions in the IMA, once commenced.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is for the implementation of sections 22-29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office published the Illegal Migration Bill (IMB) Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) on 10 May 2023. We are committed to taking the steps to ensure any potential impacts identified are appropriately mitigated when implementing the policy.
Where an individual has not made a protection claim and is granted immigration bail, support may be available under Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016.
The Government is consulting with operational partners to implement sections 22 – 29 of the IMA. Guidance is under development which will support the operation of provisions in the IMA, once commenced.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will consult with service providers for the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract to ensure that implementation of sections 22-29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 will be trauma informed.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office published the Illegal Migration Bill (IMB) Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) on 10 May 2023. We are committed to taking the steps to ensure any potential impacts identified are appropriately mitigated when implementing the policy.
Where an individual has not made a protection claim and is granted immigration bail, support may be available under Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016.
The Government is consulting with operational partners to implement sections 22 – 29 of the IMA. Guidance is under development which will support the operation of provisions in the IMA, once commenced.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders there are in the youth secure estate; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by offence type.
Answered by Edward Argar
As of 30 November 2023, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 71 foreign nationals in the youth secure estate. A breakdown by offence type is given in the table below.
Table 1: Number of foreign national children and young people by offence group, 30 November 2023
Offence Group 1 | Number 2 |
Breach of statutory order | * |
Domestic burglary | * |
Drugs | * |
Other 3 | 10 |
Robbery | * |
Sexual Offences | * |
Violence Against the Person | 44 |
Total | 71 |
Notes:
Data Source: Further breakdown of youth custody data for November 2023.
Since 2010, we have removed over 55,000 foreign national offenders from our prisons, immigration removal centres and the community. Between January 2019 and September 2023, we returned 16,676 FNOs.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans his Department has to consider mitigating factors such as imprisonment under the National Security Law for Hong Kong citizens applying for British National (Overseas) visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Applicants to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route must have no serious criminal convictions, have not otherwise engaged in behaviour which the UK Government deems not conducive to the public good, or be subject to other general grounds for refusal set out in the Immigration Rules. However, we recognise that every case has its individual circumstances therefore caseworkers have flexibility to ensure that those who have custodial sentences for crimes which are not recognised as such in the UK are not automatically refused on the BN(O) route.
In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route. Recent changes ensure that a person who has been placed on immigration bail due to a pending asylum claim will not have their application to the BN(O) route refused solely for that reason. To make a successful application, applicants will need to meet all the other requirements of the route.