Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have received from (1) local authorities, and (2) voluntary sector organisations, regarding the impact on refugees of the changes to the move-on period for people whose asylum claim has been granted.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
To reduce the number of people currently accommodated in hotels and other accommodation types, and therefore reduce costs and limit the burden on the taxpayer, we are reliant upon people who are no longer eligible for asylum support leaving the asylum accommodation estate as quickly as possible. This number is increasing due to significant efforts underway to clear the asylum backlog.
An individual remains eligible for asylum support for a prescribed period from the day they are notified of the decision on their asylum claim. Where someone is given notice that their asylum claim has been granted, their appeal has been allowed or their asylum claim has been refused but they have been given leave to enter or remain, the prescribed period in legislation is 28 days. There has been no change to the prescribed period.
Individuals should make plans to move on from asylum support as quickly as possible. We offer support through Migrant Help or their partner organisation in doing this. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing. Newly recognised refugees are entitled to housing assistance from their local authority and are treated as a priority need if they have children or are considered vulnerable. Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them.
We are engaging the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as well as our accommodation and support contractors including Migrant Help, on ensuring individuals can move on from asylum support as smoothly as possible.
We will consider evidence received from voluntary sector organisations and local authorities and will respond to them via the usual routes.
A notice to quit (NTQ) will only be issued once a person has been issued a biometric residence permit (BRP).
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many streamlined asylum processing questionnaires have been issued; how many claims have been withdrawn or refused following the non-return of a questionnaire; how many of the applications were successful on the basis of the questionnaire; and how many were referred for a further interview.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer of Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 June (HL8499), why long delays are occurring for the delivery of BOTC (F) and BOTC (M) registration certificates to the British High Commissions located in the Caribbean region.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We aim to decide all straight-forward applications within the six-month service standard. After a decision is made, the certificate is securely sent to the overseas post via the diplomatic bag through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Delivery times can vary depending on when the next bag is dispatched, which ranges from weekly to fortnightly depending on the destination. These bags can be tracked by the Home Office if details of dispatch date and destination are provided to FCDO.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why many applicants on the BIOT (Chagossian) citizenship registration route must wait longer than the six-month target to receive approval notifications, ceremonies and certificates at the High Commission in Port Louis; why the first people who have been approved under the Chagossian route since March 2023 are past the 12-week wait for an invitation to attend their British Overseas Territory Citizenship and British Citizenship ceremony, including where their certificates have already been sent by post; and why it is not possible to track applications.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We aim to decide all straight-forward applications within the six-month service standard. After a decision is made, the certificate is securely sent to the overseas post via the diplomatic bag through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Delivery times can vary depending on when the next bag is dispatched, which ranges from weekly to fortnightly depending on the destination. These bags can be tracked by the Home Office if details of dispatch date and destination are provided to FCDO.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 June (HL8499), whether the forthcoming amendment to the British Nationality (Overseas Territories) Regulations 2007 will delay active UK-based BIOT (Chagossian) approved applicants from proceeding with their ceremonies in the UK; and if so, whether the right to waive on a case-by-case basis will be extended to the local authority registrars administering that part of the oath.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We do not anticipate that the forthcoming amendment to the British Nationality (Overseas Territories) Regulations 2007 will delay Chagossians in the UK from proceeding to attend their citizenship ceremony in the UK. The power to waive elements of a citizenship ceremony in the UK is exercised by the Home Office, on behalf of the Secretary of State, on a case by case basis. There are no plans to amend the British Nationality Act 1981 to allow local authority registrars to waive citizenship ceremony requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will amend the residency requirement for the Skills Bootcamp programme so that newly arrived citizens from the British overseas territories under the BOTC (F), BOTC (M), and the BIOT (Chagossian) routes can take advantage of the programme to help them settle into employment in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Adults are eligible to apply for a Skills Bootcamp if they are aged 19 or over, have the right to work in the UK, live in England and meet residency requirements.
Skills Bootcamps follow the same residency eligibility criteria as other funding streams for further education for adults aged 19+, including the Adult Education Budget. The government has to prioritise which learners to support within the finite resources available.
Learners who have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least the previous three years on the first day of learning are eligible for funding, irrespective of citizenship or nationality. Eligibility also extends to those with a right of abode in the UK, who have been residing in British Overseas Territories for at least the previous three years on the first day of learning.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for delays in scheduling citizenship ceremonies and issuing certificates to British Overseas Territories citizens approved for British citizenship under the BOTC(F) process.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
For applicants in the UK, we are amending the British Nationality (Overseas Territories) Regulations 2007 so that registrars in the UK can administer the oath and pledge for British overseas territories citizenship. In the interim, Governors of overseas territories can waive the need for a citizenship ceremony on a case by case basis. We will shortly be holding citizenship ceremonies where applicants can receive both certificates.
For applications made outside the UK, Governors and FCDO staff are permitted to conduct ceremonies for both British overseas territories citizenship and British citizenship. Customers in these territories, which represent the majority of cases, are unaffected.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the current annual savings to the Exchequer provided by (1) the benefit cap, and (2) the two-child limit on social security payments.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The saving to the Exchequer provided by the benefit cap in 2021/22 – the latest year for which data are available - was £400m.
For the policy that provides support for a maximum of 2 children in Universal Credit (UC) and Child Tax Credits, it is not possible to provide a current annual savings measure and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
In our previously published analysis on the cost of ending the policy that provides support for a maximum of 2 children in Universal Credit (UC) and Child Tax Credits over the period 19/20-23/24 we estimated that the cost of ending this policy to be around £5bn up to 23/24.
The Government’s view is that providing support for a maximum of two children or qualifying young persons in Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit ensures fairness between claimants on the one hand and, on the other, those taxpayers who support themselves solely through work. Where they are able to, Individuals should consider whether they are financially prepared to support a new child without relying on benefits.
We recognise that some claimants are not able to make the same choices about the number of children in their family, which is why exceptions have been put in place to protect certain groups. On migration to Universal Credit families’ existing entitlement will be protected, so long as they remain responsible for the same children and entitled to benefit.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to review the eligibility for Carer’s Allowance for young adult carers in England who are studying for more than 21 hours each week, to support them to stay in full-time education while managing their caring responsibilities.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Carer's Allowance was introduced principally to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who forgo the opportunity of full-time work in order to care for a severely disabled person for at least 35 hours a week.
The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits.
There are currently no plans to change the full-time education rules for Carer’s Allowance, but carers are able to undertake part-time education and still receive Carer’s Allowance.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that living more than 20 miles from home has on (1) the mental health and wellbeing, and (2) educational outcomes, of children in the care system in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have a statutory duty set out in Section 22(3) of the Children’s Act 1989 to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care.
The department recognises that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care to live in. The way that local authorities currently plan for, commission and provide homes for children is at times not sufficient. This can result in some children living far from where they consider home and can have a negative impact on their wellbeing and outcomes. We want to reduce out of area placements, but sometimes circumstances mean it is the right decision for a child to be placed outside their home authority.
Information on placements, distance from the home placement and the location of the placement can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2022.
In response to the urgent calls from the Competition and Markets Authority and the Care Review to transform the way care is provided to children, the government is working to drive forward improvements at a national, regional and local level to increase sufficiency and improve standards of care and regulations.
By 2027, we will see an increase in the availability of high-quality, stable and loving homes for every child in care local to where they are from. To achieve this, the department is supporting local authorities to increase care placements and ensure they meet children’s needs, with £259 million of capital funding for secure and open children’s homes. We will also review legislation, regulations and standards of care to ensure the needs of all children in care are met.
We are also investing £10 million to develop Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs) to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements. Through operating on a larger scale and developing specialist capabilities, the RCCs will be able to develop a wide range of places to better meet children’s needs. This, in turn, should lead to improved placement stability and fewer out of area placements.