Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many refugee families which include teenage children of both sexes being forced to share a single hotel room.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the psychological impact on refugee families of (1) overcrowding, and (2) the placement of teenage children of both sexes in a single hotel room.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with at least one disabled child who have achieved refugee status have been made homeless on achieving that status in the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.
We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing. 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. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:
We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures. We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with children have been made homeless on achieving refugee status in the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.
We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation. This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing. 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. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:
We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures. We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have for describing socialism and communism as "united by a set of grievance narratives" in the latest version of the Home Office online Prevent duty training modules amended in July 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Prevent plays a vital role in tackling radicalisation, seeking to intervene early where somebody is at risk of becoming a terrorist or supporting terrorism.
The Prevent duty training service is continually reviewed to align with the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Prevent, new Prevent Duty Guidance and CONTEST 2023. The latest update includes removal of the reference describing socialism and communism as "united by a set of grievance narratives" from the training module.
We will continue to improve and update the training modules to ensure that we can keep the public safe.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that measures to reduce legal migration do not damage the reputation of the UK’s university sector or imperil their financial sustainability.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
An Impact Assessment was produced and considered in developing the student package of reforms. We regularly engage with a range of stakeholders when developing policy.
In March 2019, the Government published the International Education Strategy: global potential, global growth. It set out two key ambitions to achieve by 2030: to increase education exports to £35 billion and to increase the numbers of international higher education students studying in the UK to 600,000. This has been achieved earlier than planned over the last two years.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they propose to implement legislation on buffer zones around abortion clinics.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
I refer to the statement made by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Office in the House of Lords on 20th November.