Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether all unaccompanied children seeking asylum on arrival in the UK and accommodated in Home Office-funded hotels are now being referred to Kent County Council Children’s Services ”at the earliest possible point” in accordance with Home Office guidance; and how quickly such referrals are being made.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office recognise the longstanding role that Kent County Council has played in supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and are grateful for their contribution.
The Home Office notifies Kent County Council about all UASC arriving in their area. The notification is completed along with the National Transfer scheme referral, as quickly as possible - with the length of time taken to complete the referral process being dependant on arrival numbers.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government in respect of (1) family visa applications, (2) asylum applications, and (3) visit visa applications, for the purpose of visiting close family members, whether tools involving artificial intelligence or machine learning are used in the assessment of applications; and if so, what artificial intelligence or machine learning is used.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We recruit using standard Civil Service recruitment processes and all our decision makers must meet minimum Civil Service recruitment standards. Once appointed the Home Office offers a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework for decision makers. In relation to methods used, it should be noted that tools involving machine learning or artificial intelligence are not used in the assessment of family visa applications.
Records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications are not maintained as far back to 2010. During that time, the department has undergone various organisational changes, and has also employed temporary staff, so we are unable to provide accurate data on the number of caseworkers who have ceased employment. However the average number of decisions made each week in respect of family visa applications do not form part of any current transparency data applications and are not published. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In relation to the records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications, they are not maintained back to 2010. Resource is also often used flexibly, so if data was available, we would be unable to provide accurate figures in respect of the amount of caseworkers engaged in considering family visa applications for each year since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government in respect of (1) family visa applications, (2) asylum applications, and (3) visit visa applications, for the purpose of visiting close family members, how caseworkers are recruited; and what are the essential criteria that applicants are expected to meet.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We recruit using standard Civil Service recruitment processes and all our decision makers must meet minimum Civil Service recruitment standards. Once appointed the Home Office offers a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework for decision makers. In relation to methods used, it should be noted that tools involving machine learning or artificial intelligence are not used in the assessment of family visa applications.
Records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications are not maintained as far back to 2010. During that time, the department has undergone various organisational changes, and has also employed temporary staff, so we are unable to provide accurate data on the number of caseworkers who have ceased employment. However the average number of decisions made each week in respect of family visa applications do not form part of any current transparency data applications and are not published. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In relation to the records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications, they are not maintained back to 2010. Resource is also often used flexibly, so if data was available, we would be unable to provide accurate figures in respect of the amount of caseworkers engaged in considering family visa applications for each year since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in respect of (1) family visa applications, (2) asylum applications, and (3) visit visa applications, for the purpose of visiting close family members, how many decisions are reached each week as an average (a) annually from 2012 to 2020, and (b) monthly since 2020.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We recruit using standard Civil Service recruitment processes and all our decision makers must meet minimum Civil Service recruitment standards. Once appointed the Home Office offers a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework for decision makers. In relation to methods used, it should be noted that tools involving machine learning or artificial intelligence are not used in the assessment of family visa applications.
Records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications are not maintained as far back to 2010. During that time, the department has undergone various organisational changes, and has also employed temporary staff, so we are unable to provide accurate data on the number of caseworkers who have ceased employment. However the average number of decisions made each week in respect of family visa applications do not form part of any current transparency data applications and are not published. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In relation to the records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications, they are not maintained back to 2010. Resource is also often used flexibly, so if data was available, we would be unable to provide accurate figures in respect of the amount of caseworkers engaged in considering family visa applications for each year since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government in respect of (1) family visa applications, (2) asylum applications, and (3) visit visa applications, for the purpose of visiting close family members, (a) how many, and (b) the proportion of, caseworkers who have ceased employment in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We recruit using standard Civil Service recruitment processes and all our decision makers must meet minimum Civil Service recruitment standards. Once appointed the Home Office offers a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework for decision makers. In relation to methods used, it should be noted that tools involving machine learning or artificial intelligence are not used in the assessment of family visa applications.
Records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications are not maintained as far back to 2010. During that time, the department has undergone various organisational changes, and has also employed temporary staff, so we are unable to provide accurate data on the number of caseworkers who have ceased employment. However the average number of decisions made each week in respect of family visa applications do not form part of any current transparency data applications and are not published. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In relation to the records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications, they are not maintained back to 2010. Resource is also often used flexibly, so if data was available, we would be unable to provide accurate figures in respect of the amount of caseworkers engaged in considering family visa applications for each year since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in respect of (1) family visa applications, (2) asylum applications, and (3) visit visa applications, for the purpose of visiting close family members, how many caseworkers are engaged in considering applications for each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We recruit using standard Civil Service recruitment processes and all our decision makers must meet minimum Civil Service recruitment standards. Once appointed the Home Office offers a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework for decision makers. In relation to methods used, it should be noted that tools involving machine learning or artificial intelligence are not used in the assessment of family visa applications.
Records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications are not maintained as far back to 2010. During that time, the department has undergone various organisational changes, and has also employed temporary staff, so we are unable to provide accurate data on the number of caseworkers who have ceased employment. However the average number of decisions made each week in respect of family visa applications do not form part of any current transparency data applications and are not published. The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In relation to the records for the number of staff assessing family visa applications, they are not maintained back to 2010. Resource is also often used flexibly, so if data was available, we would be unable to provide accurate figures in respect of the amount of caseworkers engaged in considering family visa applications for each year since 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many serious incident notifications regarding unaccompanied children seeking asylum and placed in Home Office commissioned accommodation were made to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel in the period from April to October.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously. We have safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in emergency interim hotels are as safe and supported as possible whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
The Home Office has no power to hold asylum seekers, including children, in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.
All Home Office staff and contractors engaging with asylum seekers are trained to adopt a risk-based approach towards potential indications of vulnerability and to refer relevant cases onto the Safeguarding Hub, a dedicated resource assigned to identifying and safeguarding vulnerable asylum seekers.
Safeguarding Hub staff advocate for an individual’s needs with the statutory agencies to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many referrals to the National Referral Mechanism regarding unaccompanied children seeking asylum and placed in Home Office commissioned accommodation were made in each month from July to October.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously. We have safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in emergency interim hotels are as safe and supported as possible whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
The Home Office has no power to hold asylum seekers, including children, in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.
All Home Office staff and contractors engaging with asylum seekers are trained to adopt a risk-based approach towards potential indications of vulnerability and to refer relevant cases onto the Safeguarding Hub, a dedicated resource assigned to identifying and safeguarding vulnerable asylum seekers.
Safeguarding Hub staff advocate for an individual’s needs with the statutory agencies to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children went missing from Home Office commissioned hotel accommodation in each month in the period from April to October.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously. We have safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in emergency interim hotels are as safe and supported as possible whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
The Home Office has no power to hold asylum seekers, including children, in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.
All Home Office staff and contractors engaging with asylum seekers are trained to adopt a risk-based approach towards potential indications of vulnerability and to refer relevant cases onto the Safeguarding Hub, a dedicated resource assigned to identifying and safeguarding vulnerable asylum seekers.
Safeguarding Hub staff advocate for an individual’s needs with the statutory agencies to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
Asked by: Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 4 July (HL1093), which stated that the Home Office is liaising with the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency to finalise details of the provision of legal advice and representation for asylum seekers accommodated at Linton-on-Ouse, what consultation has taken or will take place with specialist immigration lawyers as to such provision.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The proposed site at Linton-on-Ouse is designed to facilitate and support interaction between Asylum Seekers and their chosen legal advisors, whereby those accommodated at Linton-on-Ouse will have the ability to access the support of legal representation, either face-to-face or remotely.
If a decision is made to use the site, there will be dedicated private rooms where remote asylum case interviews and conversations between asylum seekers and their legal reps along with access to printers and scanners. The Service Provider will be the point of contact for support on-site for asylum seekers, legal reps and Case Workers. Additionally, individuals will also have 24/7 access to the Migrant Help hotline via the provision of phones which will enable issue reporting and complaints, plus signposting to legal aid.
The Home Office continues to liaise with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency to finalise the details of this provision at Linton-on-Ouse.