Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Rwandan nationals have been granted (1) refugee status, or (2) other leave to remain, in the UK since April 2022; and what are the principal reasons for granting.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on gov.uk. Data on initial decisions by nationality are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. From April 2022 until December 2023, 9 main applicant Rwandan nationals were granted refugee permission and 1 main applicant was granted other leave.
All asylum and human rights claims lodged from within the UK and admitted to the UK asylum system, including those seeking asylum from Rwanda, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, and against the background of relevant case law, policy guidance and the latest available country of origin information.
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 who were housed in Home Office hotels are still missing; and what is the breakdown of (1) ages, and (2) length of time missing, for those children.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We take any child going missing extremely seriously. When any child goes missing, a multi-agency missing persons protocol is mobilised. Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located.
As of 5 March, 118 children are still missing. The majority were aged 16 and 17 when they went missing. Only about 18 are still under the age of 18. It is important to note that this data is from a live operational database and has not been quality assured to the same standard as published data.
The most recent published data can be found at asylum and resettlement datasets on GOV.UK: (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many formal complaints from Post Office sub-postmasters about the Horizon software that was updated in 2017 (1) have been made, and (2) still need to be resolved, about discrepancies and cash shortfalls in individual post offices; and in what towns and cities these complaints were made.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This is an operational matter for Post Office Limited. Post Office however continues to make improvements to the system and will be moving away from Horizon to a new cloud-based IT system. Government recently announced that it is providing £103 million to help with the development of the replacement for the Horizon IT system and to ensure Horizon is maintained while that replacement is rolled out.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many councils have indicated that they are in financial distress and may have to issue a section 114 notice within the next two years.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Individual councils are responsible for managing their budgets, and any decision to issue a Section 114 report is made locally. We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances or faces pressures it has not planned for.
The Government monitors the financial health of local authorities on a regular basis using a wide range of data as well as through extensive direct engagement with councils.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24 – an above inflation increase. This Settlement includes additional measures worth £600 million announced on 24 January.
On the 29 February, the Government published details of financial flexibilities agreed with a small number of other councils that requested financial support on an exceptional basis, due to specific local issues that they are unable to manage themselves.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals have arrived into the UK via irregular routes since 7 March 2023; and of those individuals, how many have a case for refugee status started by the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics on irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk. Data on irregular arrivals from 2018 to 2023 is published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals and the initial decisions for these applications is published in tables Irr_D02 and Irr_D03 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, with the latest data up to the end of May 2023.
The Home Office does not publish data on asylum applications for other irregular arrivals.
As shown on table Irr_D03, there were no applications of asylum granted to small boat arrivals who arrived in April and May 2023.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Post Office Horizon software system that was updated in 2017 has any issues with discrepancies of cash shortfalls in individual Post Offices; and if so, in how many Post Offices such problems have occurred.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There have been several versions of Horizon since its introduction in 1999 and the current version of the system, introduced from 2017, was found in the Group Litigation to be robust, relative to comparable systems. Post Office continue to make improvements to the system and will be moving away from Horizon to a new IT system. The Government is providing funding to support this programme.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 12 December (HL680), on what specific grounds within the Rules on Acceptance of Foreign Awards was former ambassador to Bahrain Roderick Drummond denied permission to accept the award given to him by the government of that country.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a Note Verbale about the award for the previous British Ambassador on 5 June 2023. The Ministry was informed on 22 June that permission could not be granted, as per paragraph 18 of the UK Rules on Acceptance of Foreign Awards, which states permission, unrestricted or restricted, will not be granted, in particular, to Heads or other members of HM Diplomatic or Consular establishments abroad, for example when leaving their posts - whether on transfer or on final retirement.
The Government of Bahrain did not seek permission in advance of presenting awards to the two previous British Ambassadors to Bahrain. Where an award is conferred without permission, a Head of Mission, will not be given permission to formally accept, or wear, the award but is allowed to retain it. There is no requirement to return the award. Head of Missions are reminded of the UK Rules on the Acceptance of Foreign Awards on a regular basis.
Crown servants, including all civil servants, are subject to the Business Appointment Rules (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-appointment-rules) when accepting new appointments after Crown service. These form part of the Civil Service Management Code and apply to all civil servants intending to take up an external appointment or employment after leaving the Civil Service. For Senior Civil Servants such as the British Ambassador to Bahrain, these Rules apply for two years following their departure. Whilst in Civil Service employment, all staff must report any approach from an outside employer with an offer of an appointment or employment for which approval would be required under the Rules if they plan to follow up the offer.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the former ambassadors to Bahrain Ian Lindsay and Simon Martin received permission to accept foreign honours given to them by Bahrain, and if so, on what dates the Bahraini diplomatic mission in London was notified of this permission.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a Note Verbale about the award for the previous British Ambassador on 5 June 2023. The Ministry was informed on 22 June that permission could not be granted, as per paragraph 18 of the UK Rules on Acceptance of Foreign Awards, which states permission, unrestricted or restricted, will not be granted, in particular, to Heads or other members of HM Diplomatic or Consular establishments abroad, for example when leaving their posts - whether on transfer or on final retirement.
The Government of Bahrain did not seek permission in advance of presenting awards to the two previous British Ambassadors to Bahrain. Where an award is conferred without permission, a Head of Mission, will not be given permission to formally accept, or wear, the award but is allowed to retain it. There is no requirement to return the award. Head of Missions are reminded of the UK Rules on the Acceptance of Foreign Awards on a regular basis.
Crown servants, including all civil servants, are subject to the Business Appointment Rules (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-appointment-rules) when accepting new appointments after Crown service. These form part of the Civil Service Management Code and apply to all civil servants intending to take up an external appointment or employment after leaving the Civil Service. For Senior Civil Servants such as the British Ambassador to Bahrain, these Rules apply for two years following their departure. Whilst in Civil Service employment, all staff must report any approach from an outside employer with an offer of an appointment or employment for which approval would be required under the Rules if they plan to follow up the offer.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Bahraini diplomatic mission requested permission to give an award to former ambassador to Bahrain Roderick Drummond; and if so, on what date the permission was denied.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a Note Verbale about the award for the previous British Ambassador on 5 June 2023. The Ministry was informed on 22 June that permission could not be granted, as per paragraph 18 of the UK Rules on Acceptance of Foreign Awards, which states permission, unrestricted or restricted, will not be granted, in particular, to Heads or other members of HM Diplomatic or Consular establishments abroad, for example when leaving their posts - whether on transfer or on final retirement.
The Government of Bahrain did not seek permission in advance of presenting awards to the two previous British Ambassadors to Bahrain. Where an award is conferred without permission, a Head of Mission, will not be given permission to formally accept, or wear, the award but is allowed to retain it. There is no requirement to return the award. Head of Missions are reminded of the UK Rules on the Acceptance of Foreign Awards on a regular basis.
Crown servants, including all civil servants, are subject to the Business Appointment Rules (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-appointment-rules) when accepting new appointments after Crown service. These form part of the Civil Service Management Code and apply to all civil servants intending to take up an external appointment or employment after leaving the Civil Service. For Senior Civil Servants such as the British Ambassador to Bahrain, these Rules apply for two years following their departure. Whilst in Civil Service employment, all staff must report any approach from an outside employer with an offer of an appointment or employment for which approval would be required under the Rules if they plan to follow up the offer.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the joint letter sent to the King of Bahrain by 15 non-governmental organisations on 11 December concerning the declining health of imprisoned opposition leader Hassan Mushaima; and what representations they have made to the government of Bahrain to (1) secure his release (2) ensure he receives adequate medical care, and (3) secure him access to his medical records.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO continues to follow and discuss the case of Hasan Mushaima with the Government of Bahrain and oversight bodies, most recently on 20 December. Bahrain is clear that access to medical care for those in detention is guaranteed and is provided as needed. We also encourage those with specific concerns to raise them directly with the appropriate Bahraini oversight body.