Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they will take to bring forward legislation to implement the commitments set out in the G7 leaders' statement on transnational repression, published on 17 June.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The G7 leaders' statement on transnational repression marks an important milestone in collaboration with international partners. It demonstrates the G7's shared commitment to building our collective resilience.
Focus has now turned to working with partners to implement the deliverables in the statement, including a Resilience and Response Mechanism to share information on joint responses, and actively working to counter the threat through initiatives like the Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund
The National Security Act 2023 is the cornerstone of the UK's legislative framework for protecting the democratic integrity of the UK against foreign interference, including transnational repression.
As set out in the Act, the legislation will be kept under review to ensure we can respond effectively to the evolving threat. For example, Jonathan Hall KC's recent review of counter-terrorism powers that could be emulated to tackle state threats, makes a number of recommendations where we could further strengthen our legislation, and we have committed to taking these forward.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average time taken to process applications for asylum and refugee status; how many applications are outstanding; and what is the longest outstanding time of a current application.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum on gov.uk as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision is published in Asy_D03 of the asylum detailed tables. As at 31 March 2025, there were 78,745 cases awaiting an initial decision.
The average time taken to process claims is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost. However, the Home Office publishes on gov.uk the age of cases awaiting an initial decision in table Asy_02 of the Immigration and Protection transparency data. As at 31 March 2025, 58% of cases that were awaiting an initial decision had been waiting for more than 6 months, and 31% of the total cases had been awaiting an initial decision for more than 12 months.
The longest outstanding time for a claim awaiting an initial decision is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who have no right to work are currently identified and referred within the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery; and what is the average total annual cost of providing benefits for those who are in the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested data is not available form published statistics, and could only be collated for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office funds the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), which is contracted to spend £379 million over 5 years to provide specialist and statutorily mandated support to adult victims of exploitation and trafficking, in England and Wales. The MSVCC provides safe accommodation where necessary, financial support, and access to a support worker.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether changes to immigration rules, particularly the proposed extension from a five-year to a ten-year settlement route, will apply retrospectively to British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa holders; whether the new English language requirement for indefinite leave to remain will apply BNO visa holders already in the UK; and whether changes to immigration rules will be backdated to 2020.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in the future. We will consult new earned settlement and citizenship rules announced in the Immigration White Paper, including on the potential impacts on those on the BN(O) route.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received about the impact of the amendments to immigration rules, particularly those associated with the new contribution-based settlement model, to British National (Overseas) visa holders currently residing and working in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in the future. We will consult new earned settlement and citizenship rules announced in the Immigration White Paper, including on the potential impacts on those on the BN(O) route.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the finding in the report Safety and Survival by Women for Refugee Women that women banned from working are being forced into abusive and exploitative situations and relationships.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of policies banning women seeking asylum from working and their objective of preventing violence against women and girls.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the impact of the work ban for people seeking asylum upon levels of violence against women and girls is being monitored.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the finding in Women for Refugee Women's report that 71 per cent of women were under supervision by male staff despite the requirement under the Detention Services Order 06/2016 that detained women should wherever possible be supervised by female staff.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is detailed published guidance for all staff working in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). Detention Services Order (DSO) 06/2016 'Women in the immigration removal estate' sets out the processes that are undertaken in IRCs to ensure that the needs of women are identified and appropriately met and their rights to dignity and privacy are upheld. In addition, DSO 09/2012 ‘Searching Policy’ sets out the requirements for searching women in detention, providing clear guidance that women must only be searched by members of the same sex.
All staff working with women receive appropriate gender specific training (such as the protocol for entry to bedrooms), in addition to any generic training they receive when they undergo initial training or undertake appropriate refresher training. This includes equality and diversity, human trafficking and modern slavery.
The constant supervision of women who are subject to an Assessment Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) plan, should wherever possible, be undertaken by a female detainee custody officer (DCO). In the unlikely event that this is not operationally possible for reasons of safety and security, the details for this decision must be fully documented by the duty manager on the ACDT plan.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the finding by Women for Refugee Women that 48 per cent of the women they spoke to were searched by male staff despite the ban on this practice under Detention Services Order 06/2016.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is detailed published guidance for all staff working in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). Detention Services Order (DSO) 06/2016 'Women in the immigration removal estate' sets out the processes that are undertaken in IRCs to ensure that the needs of women are identified and appropriately met and their rights to dignity and privacy are upheld. In addition, DSO 09/2012 ‘Searching Policy’ sets out the requirements for searching women in detention, providing clear guidance that women must only be searched by members of the same sex.
All staff working with women receive appropriate gender specific training (such as the protocol for entry to bedrooms), in addition to any generic training they receive when they undergo initial training or undertake appropriate refresher training. This includes equality and diversity, human trafficking and modern slavery.
The constant supervision of women who are subject to an Assessment Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) plan, should wherever possible, be undertaken by a female detainee custody officer (DCO). In the unlikely event that this is not operationally possible for reasons of safety and security, the details for this decision must be fully documented by the duty manager on the ACDT plan.