Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the integration of immigrants in the UK, and what programmes they provide to encourage integration.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office’s Immigration White paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced proposed reforms in a wide range of areas – including integration, community cohesion, and language requirements – further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of applications for asylum made by those who have entered the UK illegally in small boats have been successful in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Of the 105,754 people who arrived on a small boat between April 2022 and March 2025 and claimed asylum, 32,506 have subsequently been granted asylum or some other protection status. This data is published in Irr_D03 in the 'Irregular migration detailed datasets' as part of the 'Immigration system statistics quarterly release' on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect St Lucia Barracks in Omagh against arson attacks.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministry of Defence owns a small area of the St Lucia site (known as the historic core), and the majority of the site is owned by the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure; it is for them to comment on any further steps they are taking to protect the site.
I would urge anyone with information about these attacks to contact the PSNI.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of France about the departure of 1,195 asylum seekers in small boats on 31 May.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in the Home Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons on 2 June, the French Minister of the Interior and the French Cabinet have now agreed that their maritime rules need to change to tackle the kind of tactics seen on 31 May. We will continue to cooperate closely with our French counterparts on the action necessary to disrupt and dismantle organised immigration crime gangs.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people deported from the United Kingdom have returned illegally in the past three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A deportation order requires an FNO to leave the UK and prohibits them from entering the UK while it remains in force. Anyone discovered at the border attempting to do so will be automatically denied entry or detained.
Entering in breach of a deportation order is a criminal offence under section 24(1)(a) of the 1971 Act, so if an individual who was previously deported is found again in the UK, other than at the border, they will again be liable to be detained and returned to prison.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they will provide to meet the cost of asylum applications for those entering the UK via small boats in the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not allocate funding based on the route by which asylum seekers have entered the UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what parts they own of the St Lucia Barracks in Omagh.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence owns what is known as the historic core at St Lucia Barracks and the St Lucia Cadet Centre.
The remainder of the site is owned by the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to use St Lucia Barracks in Omagh as a museum of the service of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are no plans to use any part of the site for a military museum.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to propose a review of the provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government has no current plans to propose a review of the provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The international frameworks governing refugee response have been discussed periodically in the United Nations - most recently between 2015 and 2018. Member States decided against reopening the legal regime at that time, focusing instead on improving implementation of existing frameworks.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Spain about allowing UK passport holders to use e-gates at Spanish airports.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have secured confirmation that there will be no legal barriers to eGates use for UK nationals travelling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit System.
But the Prime Minister has been clear that we believe European countries should go further and faster now.
We are therefore working with individual Member States at pace to make that transition happen as soon as possible. This includes discussions with Spain.