Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to reintroduce legal aid for refugee family reunion; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We have committed to introduce legislation to bring non-asylum immigration matters into the scope of legal aid for separated migrant children.
Legal aid for family reunion may be available under the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme, where there is a breach or risk of breach of ECHR rights, and subject to means and merits tests. We recently committed to work with legal practitioners to review and simplify the ECF application forms and guidance and ensure that funding is provided in as timely a manner as possible.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recompense is made to individuals who at their own expense challenge appeals by the Home Office against immigration decisions made by Upper Tribunals.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Court of Appeal may order the losing party to pay the winning party’s costs. That is the case regardless of whether the winning party was legally represented or not, although the costs that can be recovered by litigants in person are subject to some limitations set out in Rule 46.5 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum who have applied for exceptional case funding for legal aid since 2012 have been successful.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
(HL10008) A total of 57 Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) Immigration cases have been granted to applicants under the age of 18 who were described as ‘unaccompanied or separated’ children.
(HL10101) This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied and separated children seeking asylum have accessed exceptional case funding for legal aid in each year since 2012.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
(HL10008) A total of 57 Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) Immigration cases have been granted to applicants under the age of 18 who were described as ‘unaccompanied or separated’ children.
(HL10101) This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for bringing back legal aid for family reunification cases.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Legal aid is not generally available for matters concerning family reunion.
Where a case is outside the scope of legal aid, exceptional funding may be available where required under ECHR or EU law.
The Lord Chancellor has confirmed that we shall conduct an evidence-based review of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), assessing the changes against their objectives. This review will include changes made to provision of legal aid for family reunion.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the occupancy rate for HM Prison Berwyn.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
On 31 January 2018 HMP Berwyn held 863 prisoners and an operational capacity of 930.
There is a phased programme in place which expects to see the prison reach a capacity of 1020 by the end of March 2018.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of the legal aid budget for legal representation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government is committed to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in cases where children lack adequate parental support.
Legal aid remains available for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children for both legal help with interviews and legal representation during the asylum appeals process, subject to a means and merits assessment. The majority of unaccompanied refugee children applying for permission to remain in the UK will be seeking asylum, and legal aid will therefore be available.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there is a sufficient number of qualified immigration lawyers to meet present demands.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Whilst the Government recognises that it is important that there are enough immigration lawyers to meet demand, the legal services sector is rightly independent of government and the training of new lawyers is a matter for the legal services regulators and profession itself. I can confirm the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority has indicated that there are currently 1,885 out of some 10,400 recognised law firms that have a proportion of their work in immigration.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what training is given to prison officers regarding mental illness amongst inmates.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government is committed to ensuring that Prison Officers receive the appropriate training to support prisoners with mental health needs. The Prison Officer Entry Level Training (POELT) course, delivered to new Prison Officers, includes modules on mental health and personality disorders.
The ‘Introduction to Mental Health’ module covers the most prevalent mental health issues in prison including anxiety states, depression, bi-polar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia, and personality disorders. The session also covers how an officer can support prisoners with different disorders.
The mental health awareness module forms part of the revised “Introduction to Suicide and Self-Harm (SaSH) Prevention” training package. This training is being delivered to all new and existing Prison Officers, as well as HMPPS and non-HMPPS staff who are in contact with prisoners. Between April 2017 and January 2018 more than 14,300 staff have been trained in at least one of the six SaSH modules, and over 6,800 staff have completed the training in full. With specific reference to the mental health training module, internal figures show that over 7,000 new and existing staff have completed the module.
Alongside this, a Suicide Prevention Learning Tool has been developed in partnership with Samaritans. This tool communicates important messages to identify and support prisoners at risk. Some prisons continue to deliver locally devised mental health training packages, often in conjunction with the local healthcare provider.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many initial immigration decisions were overturned on appeal in (1) 1990, (2) 1995, (3) 2000, (4) 2005, (5) 2010, and (6) 2015.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The number of immigration appeals allowed by first-tier tribunals were:
2005 – 13,221
2010 – 35,563
2015 – 17,582
The equivalent information for 1990, 1995 and 2000 is not held centrally by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
For information on immigration appeals allowed, the following Immigration and Asylum Tribunal categories have been combined: Managed Migration, Entry Clearance, Human Rights & EEA Free Movement.
Information on the number of Immigration and Asylum appeal decisions is published quarterly, from 2007/08 onwards:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2017.