Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy were rejected and subsequently appealed that decision as of 20 May 2024; and whether the Government has made an assessment of the adequacy of those figures in comparison with asylum applications through other routes.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As of 20 May 2024, 6,324 applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme have used the right to seek a review of the eligibility decision that is set out in published policy. This represents approximately 7% of those found initially ineligible.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is only responsible for administering the ARAP scheme and is therefore unable to provide a comparison with appeals lodged in relation to asylum applications in the UK.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training he plans to provide to staff responsible for assisting with the work of the upper tribunal in relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda; who will provide that training; what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of that training; and whether he plans to issue a contract for the recruitment of those staff.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service is responsible for the administration of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber) and has been working with the Ministry of Justice to increase capacity in the justice system in preparation for the commencement of the Illegal Migration Act.
An additional 25 hearing rooms have been prepared with remote hearing technology to allow for either in-person or remote hearings to maximise flexibility.
Approximately 100 additional staff have been recruited to support the Upper Tribunal’s work and are currently undertaking training ready for the commencement of the Illegal Migration Act. These staff have been recruited on Fixed Term Contracts following external campaigns on the basis of fair and open competition. This training is being delivered internally within HMCTS as part of existing programmes of operational training.
This training is in relation to HMCTS processing of applications and appeals pertaining to individuals under the IMA scheme and is separate to any training given to Home Office staff in support of the decision making or removals of illegal migrants.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the speech entitled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement on the plan to stop the boats, published by the Prime Minister’s office on 22 April 2024, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the judiciary have identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days to deal with challenges to the removal of asylum seekers from the UK under the provisions of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA) provides for First-tier Tribunal judges to be deployed to sit in the Upper Tribunal to hear IMA appeals. As the Lord Chancellor set out in his Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January 2024: “The judiciary have identified relevant judges, which could provide over 5,000 additional sitting days. The decision on whether to deploy additional judges temporarily to the Upper Tribunal, including when they sit and the courtrooms they use, is for the independent judiciary and will be taken by the relevant leadership judges at the time and in the interests of justice”.
It is standard practice not to comment on discussions between Ministers and the judiciary. However, the Ministry of Justice is working closely with the judiciary in preparation for implementation of the Illegal Migration Act and I refer you to the Lord Chancellor’s Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January 2024, which addressed the topic (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-01-16/hcws188).
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Lady Chief Justice and (b) Senior President of Tribunals on the deployment of judges to deal with cases specifically related to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA) provides for First-tier Tribunal judges to be deployed to sit in the Upper Tribunal to hear IMA appeals. As the Lord Chancellor set out in his Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January 2024: “The judiciary have identified relevant judges, which could provide over 5,000 additional sitting days. The decision on whether to deploy additional judges temporarily to the Upper Tribunal, including when they sit and the courtrooms they use, is for the independent judiciary and will be taken by the relevant leadership judges at the time and in the interests of justice”.
It is standard practice not to comment on discussions between Ministers and the judiciary. However, the Ministry of Justice is working closely with the judiciary in preparation for implementation of the Illegal Migration Act and I refer you to the Lord Chancellor’s Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January 2024, which addressed the topic (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-01-16/hcws188).
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2024 to Question 19426 on Immigration: Appeals, how many appeals were made before the (a) First and (b) Upper Tribunal between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2023; how many and what proportion of these appeals were successful; and what the total cost to the public purse was for these appeals.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information about appeal receipts in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) is routinely published within Tribunals Statistics Quarterly in the main tables. The total number of receipts to the First-tier Tribunal is available in table FIA_1 and for the Upper Tribunal in UIA_1.
The proportion of appeals for the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal which were successful is also available as published data and can be found in tables FIA_3 and UIA_3 respectively.
The latest quarterly data includes figures to December 2023 and is available here: Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data for the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) receipts, disposals and outcome figures is available up to Q1, April to June 2021. Data from Q2 2021/22 onwards have not been included in this publication as data was migrated to a new IT system and the data is not yet available.
Financial information is published for the IAC on an annual basis in the HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Annual Report, within the fees and charges section. Published information relates to the expenditure and fee income of HMCTS and will not cover financial impacts on other public bodies. Fees and costs cannot be reliably attributed to a particular cohort of appeals. The most recent available data is for Financial Year 2022/23 and is published here HMCTS annual reports and plans - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to (1) cap, or (2) curtail, multiple appeals from the same asylum seeker.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There are no plans to change the rules regulating multiple appeals. An asylum seeker who has already appealed cannot appeal again unless they make further submissions which amount to a fresh claim. There will only be a fresh claim if the further submissions have not previously been considered and, taken together with the previously considered material, created a realistic prospect of success at appeal, even though the asylum claim is being refused. Where this test is not met, the further submissions are rejected and cannot be appealed.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help increase access to legal aid for immigration cases in Coventry.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much of their legal aid budget is spent on asylum seekers’ appeals, in (1) percentage, and (2) gross, terms.
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. The table below sets out the total expenditure, on a closed case basis, in relation to asylum seekers’ appeals in gross terms and as a percentage of overall legal aid expenditure for the last 10 years.
Financial Year | Asylum Appeal Expenditure (£M) | Total Legal Aid Expenditure (£M) | Percentage of Legal Aid Expenditure spent on Asylum Appeals |
2013-14 | 13 | 2,017 | 0.6% |
2014-15 | 10 | 1,821 | 0.6% |
2015-16 | 12 | 1,650 | 0.7% |
2016-17 | 17 | 1,615 | 1.1% |
2017-18 | 17 | 1,652 | 1.0% |
2018-19 | 16 | 1,665 | 1.0% |
2019-20 | 18 | 1,679 | 1.1% |
2020-21 | 12 | 1,345 | 0.9% |
2021-22 | 12 | 1,656 | 0.7% |
2022-23 | 13 | 1,835 | 0.7% |
Legal aid is generally available for asylum cases, including appeals, under paragraph 30 of Schedule 1, Part 1 Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). However, not all cases will qualify for legal aid as eligibility is subject to an assessment of legal merits of the case and of the applicant’s financial resources.