Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of asylum applicant initial refusals were reversed in the period between July 2024 and July 2025.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum appeals and latest outcomes in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on asylum appeals is published in table Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2023.
Data on latest asylum outcomes is published in table Asy_D04 of the ‘Asylum claims and decisions detail datasets’. Table Asy_D04 shows, for main applicants only, the number of asylum claims made each year and the initial and latest outcomes for those claims. Initial outcomes of an asylum claim are subject to change following an appeal or a reconsideration. The latest published data relates to claims made up to the end of 2024, with outcomes as at the point of data extraction in October 2025.
Information on how to use these datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
Please note that figures for immigration and asylum appeals at First-Tier Tribunal and subsequent stages are published by the Ministry of Justice as part of their Tribunal Statistics release. The latest data relates to July to September 2025.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which country of origin had the highest percentage of asylum applicant initial decision success rate since July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on initial decisions on asylum claims by nationality is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2025.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2025. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse has been of the Voluntary Return scheme, including (a) financial assistance payments, (b) flights and travel costs, (c) casework and staffing costs and (d) reintegration costs; and what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the Voluntary Return scheme on wider costs to the public purse.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested regarding the number of individuals who departed under a voluntary return scheme and subsequently re-entered the UK is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office publishes all available information on returns expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who departed the UK under a voluntary return scheme subsequently (a) re-entered the UK unlawfully and (b) made a further asylum claim within five years of departure.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested regarding the number of individuals who departed under a voluntary return scheme and subsequently re-entered the UK is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office publishes all available information on returns expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase levels of deportation of foreign national offenders.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Between this Government coming to power and January 2026, over 8700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned either voluntarily or by enforced means. This is a 32% increase on the number of FNOs returned in the same period 19 months prior. Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.
To further support the returns of those with no right to remain in the UK the Government is committed to reforming the appeals process by creating a new appeals body with professionally trained adjudicators. We will also strengthen the certification regime to deny appeal rights for clearly unmeritorious claims. Furthermore, the number of countries that foreign national offenders can be deported to before they can lodge an appeal from abroad has also been increased.
We are also working to reform Human Rights claims. In these areas we will rebalance the public interest test for Article 8 claims and work with our international partners to reform the application of the ECHR’s prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding, 22 December 2025, whether the UK will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions on (a) Irregular migration and (b) increasing United Kingdom and European Union border security including through law enforcement cooperation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
No decisions have yet been taken as to whether the UK will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions set out in the Common Understanding of 19 May 2025 on (a) illegal migration and (b) increasing United Kingdom and European Union border security including through law enforcement cooperation.
Our position remains that we are prepared to make an appropriate financial contribution to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union's work in this policy area, for example to access EU agencies or databases. We will need to work through the details of this in further discussions with the EU.
Any decisions on such matters will be assessed in accordance with Government Accounting Officer rules, including value for money.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current Service User Demand Plan target is for dispersed asylum accommodation in Fylde Borough; and how that target was calculated.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Asylum Accommodation Plans offer an evidence-based approach to procurement and delivery of asylum accommodation nationally, in a manner that is fair and equitable. Development of the Plans was informed by feedback provided by local authorities, Strategic Migration Partners (SMPs) the Local Government Association as well as other Government Departments. Furthermore, the plans are underpinned by an indexing model which considers several social factors, including crime rates, levels of homelessness and availability of GPs and Dentists.
Details of the Asylum Accommodation Plans, including the Service User Demand Plans for specific Local Authorities, are not published. However, these details are shared with nominated local authority officials, including at Fylde Borough Council. Progress against the Asylum Accommodation Plans is routinely monitored within regular official forums jointly attended by Local Authority, Home Office, accommodation providers and SMPs colleagues.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on her Department’s plans to move asylum seekers into military barracks in Scotland; and what discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on that subject.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has engaged with Scottish Government, as well as other local stakeholders including Highland Council, the Police, NHS, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and others since plans were announced in October 2025. The department will continue to engage regularly with all statutory partners as plans are progressed. Key information about the plans discussed with local partners can be found on the factsheet Cameron Barracks, Inverness: factsheet - GOV.UK, which will be updated as further information becomes available.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which country of origin had the lowest asylum applicant initial decision success rate since July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on initial decisions on asylum claims by nationality is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2025.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2025. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
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, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of AI-driven technology on a) detecting and b) preventing livestreamed child sexual abuse before transmission occurs.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from online sexual abuse. Livestreamed abuse is a particularly abhorrent form of exploitation, and we are determined to ensure that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.
The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.
We committed in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy – Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls (accessible) - GOV.UK – ‘to make it impossible for children in the UK to take, share or view a nude image’ and that ‘we are working constructively with companies to make this a reality’. The use of AI-driven technology to detect and disrupt livestreamed child sexual abuse is vital to the delivery of this commitment – including through the deployment of such technology at device operating system level, which can help prevent abuse before it happens. Such tools can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.
The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.