Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 24 March (HL6373), why, over the past 13 years, they have allowed the UK to have a "broken asylum system".
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The significant increase in dangerous journeys across the Channel is placing unprecedented strain on our asylum system. Those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach rather than risking their lives or paying people smugglers to make the dangerous journey across the Channel.
The UK has a proud history of supporting refugees and since 2015, we have offered a place to just under half a million men, women and children seeking safety – including those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, as well as family members of refugees
Our focus will remain on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability, as the best way to help the most vulnerable who are at risk of war and persecution is through safe and legal routes.
This bypasses the evil criminal gangs and protects vulnerable people, including children.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to offer safe and legal routes for asylum seekers coming from countries without an active resettlement scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Between 2015 and December 2022, just under half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK– including those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine as well as family members of refugees.
This includes the granting of approximate 45,000 family reunion visas to the family members of refugees.
This also includes over 28,200 refugees resettled through the government’s refugee resettlement schemes. The UK is one of the largest recipients of UNHCR referred refugees globally, second only to Sweden in Europe since 2015.
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through existing resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Further information on existing safe and legal routes is available below:
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the legal methods for refugees who are citizens of Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar or the Democratic Republic of the Congo to apply for asylum in the UK when they are (1) living in the country of their citizenship, (2) living in a safe third country, or (3) living in an unsafe third country.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Asylum is for people in danger in their home country. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
Between 2015 and December 2022, just under half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK– including those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine as well as family members of refugees.
This includes over 28,200 refugees resettled through the government’s refugee resettlement schemes. Our family reunion policy has also reunited many refugees with their family members; we have issued over 44,659 visas under our refugee family reunion Rules since 2015. The UK is one of the largest recipients of UNHCR referred refugees globally, second only to Sweden in Europe since 2015.
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through existing resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Further information on existing safe and legal routes is available below:
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) quickest and (b) slowest time was for communicating an asylum decision for an application made in the United Arab Emirates for an Afghan national who is a spouse of another Afghan national already granted asylum in the UK in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to claim asylum or temporary refuge or make a claim for asylum or protection from abroad. Therefore, the information requested does not exist.
The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help relocate at-risk people in Afghanistan. To date, nearly 24,500 people have been brought to safety. This includes British Nationals and their families, Afghans who loyally served the UK and others identified as particularly at-risk, such as campaigners for women’s rights, human rights defenders, Chevening scholars, journalists, judges and members of the LGBT+ community. The UK continues to welcome eligible Afghans through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum from people who applied before July 2022 from (a) Afghanistan, (b) Eritrea, (c) Libya, (d) Syria and (e) Yemen her Department plans to consider without a face-to-face interview.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum decisions relating to claims made before 28 June 2022 (“legacy claims”) by the end of 2023. From 23 February, legacy claims from nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will normally be considered through the Streamlined Asylum Process.
Questionnaires have been issued to claimants in scope who have not yet been substantively interviewed. Where further information is required after the questionnaire is returned we will conduct an additional interview to obtain the necessary information as is current practice.
All claimants have a face-to-face interview when they register their asylum claim. At this stage they also provide their biometric information to enable the Home Office to conduct identity and security checks.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which countries the 887 refugees who were granted resettlement through the UK Resettlement Scheme in 2022 come from.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on resettlement in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.uk. Data on refugees resettled under the UK Resettlement Scheme by nationality and host country can be found in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’ on GOV.uk. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending December 2022.
The top 5 nationalities resettled under the UK Resettlement Scheme in 2022 were Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The top 5 host countries where refugees were identified as requiring resettlement by the UNHCR in 2022 were Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the value of legal aid expenditure available to support asylum applications from individuals from (1) Hong Kong, (2) Ukraine, and (3) Afghanistan, over the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Funding for legal aid is on a demand led basis, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not have a specific budget allocation for delivery of legal aid services in relation to specific categories of law.
Statistical data is not centrally held regarding legal expenditure provided to individuals from the specified countries.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers from Hong Kong have been waiting for their case to be processed for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) 18 months.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
As of 10/03/2023, there are 52 Asylum Seekers in the Asylum Support Scheme with a Hong Kong nationality out of a total 108,700 Asylum Seekers. 22 of these 52 are currently in temporary accommodation.
All service users are entitled to access Wi-Fi wherever it is available with no restrictions placed on them accessing these services by the Home Office.
In 2022, 17 initial decisions were made on applications from Hong Kong nationals, 4 initial decisions were made on applications from Ukrainian nationals and 1,842 initial decisions were made on applications from Afghanistan nationals.
As at 31 Dec 2022, 115 Hong Kong nationals had been awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months while 11 had been waiting 6 months or less (main applicants only). Please note that any further breakdowns in wait time are not published.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum applications were processed from individuals from (1) Hong Kong, (2) Ukraine, and (3) Afghanistan, in the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
As of 10/03/2023, there are 52 Asylum Seekers in the Asylum Support Scheme with a Hong Kong nationality out of a total 108,700 Asylum Seekers. 22 of these 52 are currently in temporary accommodation.
All service users are entitled to access Wi-Fi wherever it is available with no restrictions placed on them accessing these services by the Home Office.
In 2022, 17 initial decisions were made on applications from Hong Kong nationals, 4 initial decisions were made on applications from Ukrainian nationals and 1,842 initial decisions were made on applications from Afghanistan nationals.
As at 31 Dec 2022, 115 Hong Kong nationals had been awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months while 11 had been waiting 6 months or less (main applicants only). Please note that any further breakdowns in wait time are not published.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the legal routes to the UK for citizens of Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar or the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are applying for asylum.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The UK does not accept asylum claims from abroad. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach which is the fastest route to safety, in line with the 1951 UN Convention.
Our resettlement schemes have provided safe and legal routes for tens of thousands of people including global schemes to start new lives in the UK. The UK welcomes people from all over the world through the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Mandate Resettlement Scheme, Community Sponsorship as well as country specific routes such as Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme as well as Ukraine and BNO schemes. This commitment, alongside a fair and firm asylum system, will ensure we continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for those in need of protection.
There are additional global safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work or study. They would need to meet the requirements of the relevant Immigration Rule under which they were applying to qualify for a visa. Details about the criteria and how to apply are available on GOV.UK at: http://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa.