Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how, and through what channels, they plan to ensure that asylum seekers from Sudan attend English language classes and counselling sessions, so that they can be fully prepared for their asylum application hearing.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All asylum seekers have access to publicly-funded legal advice and an interpreter to assist in presenting an accurate account of the reasons for their claim if English is not their first language.
Asylum seekers are provided with information on how to access legal advice and signposts specialist organisations where they can find additional help, support, counselling and language provision.
The Home Office funds Migrant Help to provide confidential and impartial advice and guidance to adult asylum seekers and their dependants in a language they understand. Their services include face-to-face advice for newly arrived asylum seekers in initial accommodation and a helpline and website providing information in 15 languages.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have offered places to unaccompanied refugee children from (1) Europe, and (2) Syria, and which councils other than Kent County Council have already filled their quota.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Prime Minister announced on 4 May and as set out in the new Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK. The very nature of this legislation means we must take the time to consult others before bringing final proposals on how to implement this scheme.
We will consult local authorities to establish how best to implement this commitment and the recently announced Children at Risk resettlement scheme, which is the only other resettlement to include unaccompanied children, as part of our wider discussion with them about the transfer of unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have arrived spontaneously, which is designed to relieve the pressure on authorities such as Kent. We are not proposing to ask local authorities to distinguish between which unaccompanied children they accept.
We are determined to ensure that no local authority is asked to take more than the local structures are able to cope with. That is why we are talking to local authorities and other partners including non-governmental organsations to ensure that capacity can be identified and the impact can be managed in a fair and controlled way.
Work has already begun and we are committed to act as quickly as we can but it is important we take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to resettle and support those who are resettled. We must also ensure that we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Sudanese asylum seekers were refused citizenship by the Home Office in each of the last five years, and in each year what percentage of total applicants that represented.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The available published information is on Sudanese nationals granted and refused British citizenship from 2010 to 2014. Information that breaks down the applicant’s previous immigration status is not currently available. Figures are provided in the table below.
Sudanese nationals granted and refused British citizenship, 2010 to 2014 | |||||
Year | Total decisions in applications for British citizenship | Granted British citizenship | Refused British citizenship | Refusals of British citizenship as a percentage of total decisions | |
2010 | 970 | 899 | 71 | 7% | |
2011 | 1,155 | 1,086 | 69 | 6% | |
2012 | 1,052 | 982 | 70 | 7% | |
2013 | 671 | 631 | 40 | 6% | |
2014 | 369 | 336 | 33 | 9% | |
Source:Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, Home Office, table cz_09. | |||||
Refusals excluding administrative rejections where documentation or the correct fee were not initially submitted. | |||||
Refusal includes withdrawn applications. | |||||
Excludes South Sudan. | |||||
Figures for 2015 will be published on 26th May 2016.
The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on British citizenship refusals are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, October-December 2015’, available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics.
Data tables relating to British citizenship can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501997/citizenship-q4-2015-tabs.ods
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which towns in the United Kingdom have been designated as potential destinations for Syrian refugees arriving under the Government’s Gateway Protection Programme; which town councils have so far indicated acceptance; and of what numbers.
Answered by Lord Bates
Syrian refugees are brought to the United Kingdom as part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme. This scheme has been expanded to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. This is in addition to those we resettle under the Gateway and Mandate schemes which are completely separate schemes.
Resettlement under the government schemes is voluntary on the part of local authorities. We are grateful to those who take on this role and will continue to work in partnership with them. We do not disclose the details of where refugees will be resettled upon their arrival in the UK under the Government resettlement schemes as this may undermine the privacy and recovery of this vulnerable group of people.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many traffickers across the Mediterranean have been (1) apprehended, and (2) prosecuted, in the United Kingdom, or any other European Union member state, during (1) the last year, and (2) since such trafficking began.
Answered by Lord Bates
The information requested is not held centrally. Her Majesty's Government has established a dedicated law enforcement team to tackle organised immigration crime in the Mediterranean region. 90 officers will be deployed in the UK, Mediterranean and Africa to pursue and disrupt these callous organised crime groups profiting from the people-smuggling trade.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many asylum seekers the United Kingdom has accepted so far under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Gateway Protection Programme; and what is the breakdown of those individuals by nationality.
Answered by Lord Bates
The numbers of refugees resettled under the Gateway Protection Programme are released as part of the Home Office statistics each quarter. Since Gateway began to 31 March 2015 (the date of the most recently published statistics), a total of 6,363 refugees have been resettled to the UK. Information on the nationality of resettled refugees has been included in the statistics since 2013.
The Gateway Protection Programme is a Home Office led scheme operated in partnership with UNHCR. Those resettled under the programme are not asylum seekers, but are recognised as refugees by UNHCR prior to their resettlement to the UK. The most recent statistics are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many asylum-seekers are currently in detention, and in which centres; of these, how many are women or part of families; and how many have been detained for (1) more than six months, and (2) more than one year.
Answered by Lord Bates
The table below is a subset of the latest published information for people detained in the detention estate who have claimed asylum at some point as at 30 September 2014.
| People in detention as at 30 September 2014, who had claimed asylum (1), by place of detention, by sex and by length of detention of over 6 months | |||||
| Total | Male | Female | 6 months to less than 12 months | 12 months or more | |
| Total | 1,688 | 1,527 | 161 | 152 | 53 |
| Brook House IRC | 149 | 149 | 0 | 17 | 5 |
| Campsfield House IRC | 110 | 110 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| Colnbrook IRC | 194 | 194 | 0 | 31 | 14 |
| Colnbrook STHF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Dover IRC | 139 | 139 | 0 | 17 | 8 |
| Dungavel IRC | 78 | 71 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Harmondsworth IRC | 495 | 495 | 0 | 32 | 9 |
| Haslar IRC | 51 | 51 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Larne House STHF | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Morton Hall IRC | 160 | 160 | 0 | 21 | 8 |
| Pennine House STHF | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The Verne IRC | 84 | 84 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tinsley House IRC | 42 | 42 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Yarl's Wood IRC | 172 | 20 | 152 | 10 | 0 |
| (1) Asylum detainees: People detained solely under Immigration Act powers who are recorded as having sought asylum at some stage and may under record due to instances of detainees claiming asylum after the data extract date. | |||||
There were no families with children under the age of 18 detained as at 30 September 2014.
The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within the Immigration Statistics release. The data relating to people in detention are available in tables dt_11_q and dt_12_q in Immigration Statistics: July – September 2014 on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.
Published figures on people detained in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers include those held in short term holding facilities, pre departure accommodation and immigration removal centres. Figures exclude those held in police cells, Prison Service establishments, short term holding rooms at ports and airports (for less than 24 hours), and those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers and their dependants.