Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of illegal migrants living in council housing.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Illegal migrants are not eligible for an allocation of social housing and cannot be granted a social housing tenancy, therefore the department does not collect such data.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of people fined under section (a) 23(2) and (b) 25(4) of the Immigration Act 2014 for each year since the Act came into force.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The link to the transparency data can be found here, and covers the period 2016 to September 2023: Immigration Enforcement data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Right to Work statistics can be found on tab CP02 and Right to Rent statistics can be found on tab CP03.
The data for 2023 only includes the published data covering the period January to September.
The information within the transparency data refers to the total numbers of entities who have received a civil penalty, rather than “the number of people fined”. For employment, this could mean a limited company, a sole trader, or a franchise. For renting, an entity could include a landlord or a letting agency.
It is possible that some entities have been fined on more than one occasion.
Data prior to 2016 does not exist in the same reportable format.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many landlords were fined for allowing unauthorised migrants to rent their properties in 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested can be found in tab CP03 of Immigration Enforcement data: Q2 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note the figures shown in the data are for penalties levied at the initial decision stage, which may be cancelled at the objection or appeal stage.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she made of the (a) financial and (b) social challenges of redistributing potentially thousands of illegal immigrants in different regions of the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not accommodate illegal migrants, but does have a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost to the public purse was of providing accommodation for migrants who illegal crossed the English Channel to the UK since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not accommodate illegal migrants, but does have a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 24 February 2022. The next quarterly figures are due to be released in May 2022. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts
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 27 January 2022 to Question 107455 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, what the maximum capacity is for housing migrants at the barracks at (a) Napier, (b) Penally and (c) Manston.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Napier capacity is kept under review; currently the capacity is set at 308.
Penally is closed but could accommodate a Covid safe capacity of 234 when operational.
Manston consists of a variety of different accommodation facilities. These will be managed dynamically depending on numbers of arrivals, the makeup of those arrivals and the availability of onward accommodation.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the 2020-21 budget is for housing illegal migrants.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Accommodation costs are commercially confidential; therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on providing hotel accommodation or more permanent homes for migrants arriving without permits.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Migrants who enter the UK unlawfully are not eligible to mainstream housing assistance. When someone applies for asylum, if they are destitute, they are provided with support and accommodation for the period that their claim is under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take in response to the High Court judgment that the Right to Rent scheme is discriminatory and incompatible with the right to freedom from discrimination enshrined in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government disagrees with the High Court’s findings and has been granted permission to appeal the judgment on all grounds.
In the meantime, the provisions passed by this House in 2014 remain in force. There are no immediate changes to the operation of the policy. Landlords and letting agents are still obliged to conduct Right to Rent checks as required in legislation.
The law is absolutely clear that landlords should not discriminate when carrying out right to rent checks in compliance with the 2014 Act.
We are looking at options for a further evaluation of the operation of the scheme. As part of this, we will look to develop further mechanisms to monitor the operation of the Scheme to provide ongoing assurance about its impact.
The Home Secretary has written to the independent adviser on lessons learned from Windrush, Wendy Williams, to draw her attention to the High Court’s findings.
The Right to Rent Consultative Panel will meet again next month to look at the operation of the Scheme and the guidance provided to landlords and lettings agents.
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prosecutions have taken place for offences under the Immigration Act 2014 since the inception of Right to Rent measures in February 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There have been no prosecutions.