Found: Letter dated 19 March 2025 from Lord Hanson of Flint, Minister of State, Home Office to the Chair, Justice

Found: Lord Hanson of Flint Minister of State 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 21 October 2024 (HL1252), whether they have established a returns and enforcement unit, and how many of the additional 1,000 staff allocated to the unit have been recruited.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer I gave him on 21 October 2024 in response to Question HL1252.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 13 December 2024 (HL Deb cols 2010–12), whether the pilot will involve newly recognised refugees with lived experience of the moving on period; what the criteria will be to evaluate success; who is undertaking the pilot; and whether the interim findings will be published, and if so when.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office. This evaluation will cover the extension of the move on period to 56 days, the provision of liaison officers to support those granted asylum, and the provision of £2.8m recognition payment for select local authorities. It will assess the implementation, early outcomes and value for money of these initiatives. It will also assess the early impact of the rollout of eVisas and how this interacts with the above initiatives.

The following outcomes are of interest, and the evaluation will assess how/whether the changes to the move on period have:

• Reduced the length of stay in asylum accommodation from decision to exit.
• Reduced homelessness amongst newly granted refugees.
• Improved early engagement by local authorities and partners in the move on process.
• Improved signposting to support.
• Improved move on outcomes, e.g. smoother transitions into secured housing, with access to bank account, Universal Credit / work.

Evaluation methods include interviews with newly granted refugees to capture insights from those with lived experience of the move on process.

Interim evaluation findings are due to be delivered shortly, with final evaluation findings delivered this summer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 March (HL5728), whether they collect or collate information about the removal of foreign nationals following the revocation of their student visas in unpublished format.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 25 March (HL5728), why information about the removal of foreign nationals following the revocation of student visas is not collected and published.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 13 March (HL5375), whether the National County Lines Coordination Centre coordinates with the National Rural Crime Unit and dedicated rural crime taskforces.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) was created to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response to county lines.

The NCLCC, which is funded through our County Lines Programme has been vital in strengthening the law enforcement response and enabling police forces to work together to tackle this complex issue.

The NCLCC also has a role in sharing best practice and manage a dedicated fund which supports local police forces tackle the scourge of county lines. Whilst the NCLCC does not have a dedicated role in working with the National Rural Crime Unit and dedicated rural crime taskforces, NCLCC routinely works with a range of law enforcement and wider partners to tackle the county lines threat across England and Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 12 February (HL Deb col 1255), what estimate they have made of the number of refugees who have arrived by unauthorised routes who will (1) apply for citizenship, and (2) have their application for citizenship accepted on the basis that their circumstances are 'exceptional, compelling and mitigating'; and whether these data formed the basis of assumptions that informed the changes made to the Nationality: good character requirement guidance in February 2025.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

No such data is available, and no such estimates have been made.