Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers in Northern Ireland are awaiting a decision, broken down by length of wait.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested about the number of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland awaiting appeal, further submissions, or decision broken down by length of wait is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes the total number of cases awaiting an initial asylum decision in the ASY_02 table of Immigration and Protection Data: October to December 2025 available here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Information on the number of asylum and further submissions appeals is published by HMCTS and is available here: Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers in Northern Ireland are awaiting appeal or further submissions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested about the number of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland awaiting appeal, further submissions, or decision broken down by length of wait is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes the total number of cases awaiting an initial asylum decision in the ASY_02 table of Immigration and Protection Data: October to December 2025 available here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
Information on the number of asylum and further submissions appeals is published by HMCTS and is available here: Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to support the Police, Crime and Fire Commissioner in Staffordshire.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office works with all Police and Crime Commissioners and Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners, both directly and through the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, to support them in their work and to further police reform.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what minimum English language proficiency requirements apply to (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers in England and Wales; and whether her Department, or any relevant inspectorate, has undertaken audits or assessments in the last five years of the ability of non-native English-speaking officers to communicate effectively in English with members of the public.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to ensuring consistent, high standards for entry into the police.
In respect of police officers, regulations currently require chief officers to satisfy themselves that all new recruits are competent in written and spoken English.
In respect of Police Community Support Officers, PCSO’s will typically have at least a Level 2 qualification or equivalent (e.g. GCSE grade A-C) in English prior to joining.
We continue to work closely with the College of Policing to ensure standards are regularly reviewed to ensure they meet operational requirements. The College is currently consulting on a new national standard for English and Maths to ensure a consistent approach across all forces.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if they will list the excess profits recorded under each of the seven regional Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC) for each year from 2019 to 2024; and how much has been returned to the Department by the respective contract providers for each of those years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has undertaken a period of engagement with its contracted Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract Providers regarding the performance management arrangements under these contracts. Discussions and a review of the performance management regime have now concluded. The Home Office and the providers were unable to reach agreement on proposed changes to the regime. As the Home Office cannot unilaterally amend the contractual terms without the agreement of the relevant providers, the existing performance management regime remains in full force and effect.
Excess profits of £45.9m have been returned to the Department since 2019 in relation to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract’s profit share provisions. A further breakdown of this figure cannot be provided at this time.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps they have taken to reform the performance management regime for the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC); and when they expect substantive changes to that regime to be implemented.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has undertaken a period of engagement with its contracted Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract Providers regarding the performance management arrangements under these contracts. Discussions and a review of the performance management regime have now concluded. The Home Office and the providers were unable to reach agreement on proposed changes to the regime. As the Home Office cannot unilaterally amend the contractual terms without the agreement of the relevant providers, the existing performance management regime remains in full force and effect.
Excess profits of £45.9m have been returned to the Department since 2019 in relation to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract’s profit share provisions. A further breakdown of this figure cannot be provided at this time.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled New UK-France agreement to reduce illegal crossings, published on 23 April 2026, whether the additional personnel will be (a) directly employed by the French government and (b) contracted through third parties.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The United Kingdom and France have signed an agreement to strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the United Kingdom with a significant increase in dedicated law enforcement, technological and intelligence resources. Under the previous funding arrangement, around 750 law enforcement personnel were deployed to French beaches. The actions of these personnel have contributed to 42,000 attempted crossings stopped since the election. French beaches will now see a 40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track down and stop illegal migrants boarding boats and bring people smugglers to justice.
The priority of these officers is to stop small boat crossings, and the nature of their deployment will be on the operational need and nature of the threat. It would be incorrect to strictly categorise the officers into coastal patrols, inland enforcement and intelligence-gathering activities.
This uplift in resource will be front-loaded. This includes five specialist police units who will be in place this summer, including a permanent riot squad to respond to escalating migrant violence. This deal will also provide enhanced surveillance, expanded French maritime tactics, and new detention capacity to increase removals from France. The new arrangement will increase the number of officers deployed daily up to nearly 1,100 by year 3 of the funding arrangement.
The additional personnel will be directly employed by the French government. The Home Office is not in possession of data on retention rates of personnel deployed under previous UK-funded border enforcement arrangements in France.
All of the additional units will be operational on a full-time basis. In addition, the Compagnie de Marche, a specialist unit with elite public order powers, will be surged during the summer months, historically the busiest time for small boat crossings.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been provided to the Executive Office, Department for Communities, Department of Health, Department of Education, councils, charities or contractors in Northern Ireland for asylum or refugee integration since 2019.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Responsibility for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers is a devolved matter. In Northern Ireland, policy and delivery in this area sit with the Northern Ireland Executive, led by the Executive Office and delivered across devolved departments, local councils and third‑sector partners.
The UK Government provides funding through multiple departments, but decisions on the allocation and use of that funding for integration purposes are matters for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels in Northern Ireland are currently being used for asylum accommodation, broken down by local government district.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Exiting the use of asylum hotels as quickly as possible remains one of the Government’s top priorities. We made a clear commitment to return these hotels to local communities, and we are delivering on that promise. As is widely recognised, this is a complex undertaking that must be carried out through a controlled, managed and orderly programme of work.
The number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers is significantly lower than at its peak under the previous government in summer 2023, when more than 400 hotels were in use at a cost of almost £9 million per day. As of 20 April, fewer than 190 hotels are in use.
It is longstanding policy that we do not publicly comment on individual hotels which may or may not be utilised. However, data on the number of asylum seekers receiving accommodation support, broken down by accommodation type including hotels, is published quarterly as part of the Immigration system statistics on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals in Northern Ireland receive asylum support under section 95, section 98 or section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on the number of asylum seekers receiving support is published quarterly in the Immigration System Statistics data tables available on GOV.UK.
The latest published figures show that, as at 31 December 2025, the following numbers of individuals were receiving asylum support in Northern Ireland:
The next Immigration System Statistics release is due on 21 May 2026.