Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recent statement of the UNHCR that, under a 2003 United Kingdom–Cyprus memorandum, the United Kingdom is responsible for resettling Syrian refugees who arrive at a United Kingdom military base in Cyprus.
Answered by Lord Bates
Those migrants who seek asylum will have their claims considered by the Cypriot authorities on behalf of the Sovereign Base Authorities (SBA). There is no obligation to allow those recognised as refugees to take up residence in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering allowing refugee children to join relatives, such as grandparents, in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
Our refugee family reunion policy allows immediate family members of a person in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection status - that is a spouse or partner and children under the age of 18, who formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin - to reunite with them in the UK. We have no plans to extend these provisions.
Where a family reunion application is rejected under the Immigration Rules, such as in the case of refugee child applying to join extended relatives, the Entry Clearance Officer must consider whether there are exceptional circumstances or compassionate reasons to justify granting a visa outside the Rules.
Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been their assessment of the UNHCR claim that the United Kingdom is legally obliged to resettle 114 Syrian refugees who have arrived by boat at the British military base in Cyprus.
Answered by Lord Bates
Those migrants who seek asylum will have their claims considered by the Cypriot authorities on behalf of the Sovereign Base Authorities (SBA). There is no obligation to allow those recognised as refugees to take up residence in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been their response to calls from UNICEF for the United Kingdom to allow refugees to apply for humanitarian visas in countries of origin and transit at United Kingdom embassies.
Answered by Lord Bates
There is no provision in our Immigration Rules for someone to be given permission to travel to the UK to seek asylum or humanitarian protection and Her Majesty’s Government has no plans to extend the Immigration Rules to allow refugees to apply for humanitarian visas at any UK embassies.
We are focusing our efforts on resettling vulnerable people in need of international protection from the region, including 20,000 Syrians by the end of the Parliament. This provides refugees with a direct and safe route to the UK and uses established UNHCR processes. This is of course in addition to the £1.12 billion in humanitarian aid provided by the UK for those most in need in the region – more than any other country in the world except the United States.
Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to ending detention of child immigrants and to replacing it with an alternative.
Answered by Lord Bates
We ended the routine detention of families with children in 2010 following the introduction of the Family Returns Process, key elements of which were enshrined in the Immigration Act 2014. As part of that process, families with children who have failed to take up the opportunities to leave the UK voluntarily may, as a last resort, be detained very briefly to support their ensured return in dedicated accommodation, supported by appropriate professionals. In addition, it remains necessary on occasion to detain families with children at the border for short periods of time while enquiries are made to decide whether they can be admitted to the country, or until the next available return flight if they are refused entry.
It is already the case that unaccompanied children may be detained only in a limited number of very exceptional circumstances. This includes at the border, where they may be detained very briefly for their care and safety pending alternative care arrangements being made for them, for example, collection by relatives or friends or local authority children’s services.
Asked by: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bates on 16 March (HL Deb, col 909), whether the statement that "For the calendar year of 2013, births in the UK to non-UK born mothers accounted for 25% of all live births. That is why we need to reduce immigration" was Government policy; if so, when it was announced; and by which Minister.
Answered by Lord Bates
Her Majesty's Government recognises that immigrants make a valuable contribution to the UK which is why we welcome the brightest and the best people from around the world to visit, study, or settle here. However it must be recognised that uncontrolled immigration increases the pressure on public services and can drive down wages for people on low incomes. That is why the Coalition Agreement states that ‘to ensure cohesion and protect our public services, we need to introduce a cap on immigration and reduce the number of non EU immigrants’.