Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 21 February (HL5629), whether they now plan to make an assessment of organised criminal gangs targeting unaccompanied children seeking asylum and being accommodated in hotels, given the statement by Greater Manchester Police that they have intelligence confirming the hotel networks used to house asylum seekers are targeted by organised criminal gangs, and that children are put to work selling drugs within weeks of arriving in the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in emergency interim hotels are safe and supported whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of specialist social workers and nurses
We have no power to detain UASC in hotels and we know some do go missing. Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located. Children’s movements in and out of hotels are monitored and recorded and they are accompanied by support workers when attending organised activities and social excursions off-site, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified
When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised involving the police and the local authority, who have a shared statutory responsibility to safeguard all children, including missing migrant children, in order to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 9 February (HL5157), whether they have evidence of organised criminal gangs targeting any unaccompanied child refugees staying in hotels, including those children that have reportedly gone missing from hotels housing asylum seekers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have no evidence of organised criminal gangs targeting unaccompanied child refugees staying in hotels.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum have been placed in hotels in the last 12 months; and of that number, how many have ever been identified as missing.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people. Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.
The safety and welfare of those in our care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), is our primary concern and the Home Office has robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure those in our accommodation are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. This includes support workers being onsite in the hotels 24 hours a day, alongside nurses and social workers. However, UASC are not detained and are free to leave the accommodation. All contingency sites have security staff and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
3658 UASC arrived and were temporarily accommodated in Home Office UASC Hotels in 2022 (Jan-Dec) whilst awaiting a transfer to a local authority. 404 young people have gone missing in this period, most of which have since been found. There are currently 199 young people missing from Home Office UASC hotels however, this is a live operational figure and subject to change.
When a young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers.
The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed for any looked after child who goes missing from a care setting, including the UASC hotels. When used correctly, similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.
For any young person that goes missing from a UASC hotel, the local authority will convene a multi-agency forum including local police forces and the Home Office to seek to locate the child and ensure their safety.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they carried out a risk assessment when deciding to place unaccompanied children seeking asylum in hotels; and if so, (1) whether any risks were identified as a matter of safeguarding, and (2) whether any safeguarding mitigations were put in place to deal with each of those risks.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The rise in the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) crossing the Channel in small boats has led to significant challenges for local authorities in identifying care placements for young people.
The wellbeing, welfare and security of children and minors in our care is an absolute priority. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with local authorities.
When considering whether to accommodate Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children in Home Office operated hotels, advice and guidance was sought from organisations with expertise and experience with young people. These included the Department for Education, the Home Office Safeguarding Advice and Children’s Champion and local authorities.
This information was used to develop the processes and procedures to ensure the safety of the young people accommodated in the hotels.
Safeguarding is a key consideration when identifying potential hotels for temporary use. The Home Office undertake hotel specific risk assessments before contracting any site.
We continue to consult multi-agency partners and subject matter experts to ensure our processes and procedures are robust and evolve as new trends or risks emerge.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence of organised criminal gangs targeting unaccompanied child refugees staying in hotels, including those children that have reportedly gone missing from hotels housing asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern.
We have no power to detain unaccompanied asylum seeking children in hotels and we know some do go missing.
Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located. Children’s movements in and out of hotels are monitored and recorded and they are accompanied by support workers when attending organised activities and social excursions off-site, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified. All sites have security staff to ensure the safety and welfare of UASC.
There are many reasons why children go missing from care. This is also true of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. It would be wrong to make generalisations regarding the reasons for this.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of people seeking asylum in the UK must be sent to Rwanda for them to consider the policy a successful deterrent against small boat crossings of the English Channel.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The number of people who can be relocated to Rwanda under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership is uncapped. This is part of a suite of measures aimed at breaking the business model of people smuggling gangs, and as with all policies its impact will be kept under review.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many visa applications from the (1) Ukraine Family Scheme, and (2) Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, are yet to have a decision issued.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Information on the number of visas received and granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme can be found in our published data on the GOV.UK webpage: Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Total Ukraine Scheme visa applications received: 168,600
Data is as of 28 June 2022 and comprised of:
Ukraine Family Scheme: 50,800
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme: 117,800
Total Ukraine Scheme visas issued to people: 142,500
Data is as of 28 June 2022 and comprised of: Ukraine Family Scheme visas: 44,100
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visas: 98,400
Total arrivals of Ukraine Scheme visa-holders in the UK: 86,600
Data is as of 27 June 2022 and comprised of:
arrivals via Ukraine Family Scheme: 27,800
arrivals via Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme: 58,800
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the eight Tier 1 (Investor) visas granted to Russian nationals subject to UK sanctions in connection to the invasion of Ukrainian will be cancelled; if so, when; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We do not routinely comment on the immigration status of individuals.
However, a person subject to a travel ban under sanctions made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 is an excluded persons for the purposes of Section 8B the Immigration Act 1971. Such a person’s leave to enter or remain would therefore be cancelled.