Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2023 to Question 184276 on Refugees: Afghanistan, what categories of data her Department holds on its role in the Afghan Relations and Assistance Policy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help relocate some of the most at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,500 vulnerable people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the ARAP and ACRS on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes, including the number of people resettled under each, will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
Statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022 release.
For a summary of the data, see the resettlement section of the ‘How many people do we grant protection to?’ chapter; for detailed data, see table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.
The resettlement data here includes those who have been resettled under ‘Pathway 1’ and ‘Pathway 2’ of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme or relocated under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer 17 May 2023 to Question 184350 on Refugees: Afghanistan, how many of those eligible in the first stage of ACRS Pathway 3 have been resettled in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since 31 December 2022, the UK has granted settled status to over 7,600 individuals under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) as a whole. We have welcomed the first arrivals to the UK under the first stage of Pathway 3 and look forward to welcome all remaining individuals under this stage as soon as practicable.
Further information on the number of individuals resettled under this pathway will be detailed in the next edition of the quarterly Immigration Statistics. The latest release is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claimants from (a) Afghanistan, (b) Eritrea, (c) Syria, (d) Yemen and (e) Libya were asked to fill in a questionnaire to fast track their application; and how many have had their claims (i) processed and (ii) granted since the questionnaire was introduced.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of claimants who have been asked to fill in a questionnaire to fast track their application and how many have had their claims processed are granted since the questionnaire was introduced is not information currently held in a reportable format.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the suitability of preliminary information questionnaires for potentially vulnerable asylum seekers with limited access to legal advice.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In order to reduce the legacy asylum decision backlog, questionnaires have been sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen as part of the Streamlined Asylum Process.
Questionnaires will also be sent to legacy claimants from Iran and Iraq who make up the highest volume of claimants within the legacy backlog allowing them to provide further information about their asylum claims after their initial screening interview upon arrival.
If a claimant has returned a questionnaire, it will be used to aid the decision maker to conduct a targeted or shorter interview, in turn reducing the duration of interviews, resulting in more efficient decision-making. We will closely review the use of questionnaires.
We understand that people may want to seek legal advice in order to complete the questionnaire and all asylum seekers have access to support through Legal Aid. We consider that the questionnaire can be completed without legal advice because we will contact the claimant or invite them to a personal interview should we require further information. We will not withdraw someone’s asylum claim for failure to return the questionnaire alone.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of preliminary information questionnaires on the asylum decision backlog.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In order to reduce the legacy asylum decision backlog, questionnaires have been sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen as part of the Streamlined Asylum Process.
Questionnaires will also be sent to legacy claimants from Iran and Iraq who make up the highest volume of claimants within the legacy backlog allowing them to provide further information about their asylum claims after their initial screening interview upon arrival.
If a claimant has returned a questionnaire, it will be used to aid the decision maker to conduct a targeted or shorter interview, in turn reducing the duration of interviews, resulting in more efficient decision-making. We will closely review the use of questionnaires.
We understand that people may want to seek legal advice in order to complete the questionnaire and all asylum seekers have access to support through Legal Aid. We consider that the questionnaire can be completed without legal advice because we will contact the claimant or invite them to a personal interview should we require further information. We will not withdraw someone’s asylum claim for failure to return the questionnaire alone.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason asylum seekers from Afghanistan are required to find their own accommodation in the UK; and if she will make it her police to set up an equivalent scheme for Afghans to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help relocate some of the most at-risk people in Afghanistan. So far, we have brought approximately 24,500 vulnerable people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
We do not want to see Afghan families already in the UK in bridging accommodation for any longer than is necessary. That is why we have been working across government to support families into settled accommodation so that they can fully integrate into their local communities, feel safe and independent, and rebuild their lives in the UK.
The government has established the “Find Your Own” accommodation pathway which empowers Afghan families to source their own accommodation. Council support staff in hotels will work closely with households to help them navigate the pathway.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will include Kurds from Iraq and Iran in the streamlined asylum process.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
From 23 February, legacy claims from nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will be considered through the Streamlined Asylum Process.
This is on the basis of their current high-grant rate of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All these nationalities have a grant rate of over 95% and over 100 grants of protection status in the year-ending September 2022. Please see Migration statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.
Upon arrival, all asylum seekers undergo a screening interview, as well as robust security checks in which they will provide biometric information.
Separate work is ongoing to more efficiently process all other asylum claims admitted to the UK asylum system awaiting consideration. To further accelerate decision making we will further drive productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes measures like shortening interviews, removing unnecessary interviews, making guidance simpler and more accessible, dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded (e.g. Albania) and recruiting extra decision makers.
Asked by: Lord McInnes of Kilwinning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when Pathway 3 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme will be re-opened for at-risk Afghans.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
As of 31 December 2022, the UK had granted settled status to over 7,600 individuals under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). Since then, we have welcomed the first individuals under Pathway 3. Further information on the number of individuals relocated and resettled under each Pathway of the ACRS is detailed in the quarterly Immigration Statistics. The latest release is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Under stage one of Pathway 3, places are being offered to eligible at-risk British Council contractors, GardaWorld contractors and Chevening alumni in Afghanistan or the region, and their eligible family members.
FCDO have informed over 250 individuals from these cohorts that they are eligible in principle for resettlement under Pathway 3, subject to passing security checks. Including their family members, this accounts for over 1,200 of the 1,500 available places under this stage of Pathway 3. FCDO have communicated an outcome on over 11,200 (98%) of the over 11,400 EOIs received. We look forward to welcoming all remaining individuals as soon as practicable.
We recognise there are many vulnerable individuals who remain in Afghanistan and the region. Unfortunately, the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and difficult decisions have to be made on who will be prioritised for resettlement.
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 data her Department holds on the number of (as) refugees and (b) asylum seekers in Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency; and if she will provide a breakdown of those who are from (i) Yemen, (ii) Eritrea, (iii) Afghanistan, (iv) Syria and (v) Libya.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at : https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#local-authority-data (table Asy_D11).
We do publish details of the nationality of asylum seekers at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets (table Asy_D01 for all asylum seekers,:Asy_D09 for asylum seekers on support), but not by location. These figures are not available in a reportable format and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Data are published on a quarterly basis, with the next quarterly figures due to be released in late May 2023.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Afghan asylum seekers housed in UK hotels will be offered permanent accommodation (a) in the same area as those hotels and (b) which is suitably sized for the size of their party.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government is working with 350 local authorities across the UK to meet the demand for housing and will continue to do so. Over 9,000 people have been supported into settled accommodation (This breaks down as c.8,500 moved into homes with an additional c.500 matched but not yet moved).
Further statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes have now also become available in the Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022 release.
Consideration of family size is an important factor when assisting guests with their housing needs. All guests are encouraged to work with our Home Office Liaison Officers (HOLOs) and council support staff at their hotel when searching for a property, who will support them to identify suitable, affordable homes.
We have always been clear with guests that there is no guarantee that any hotel moves or settled accommodation allocation will be in the same area as where they are now.