Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that charities have entered asylum hotel accommodation to baptise asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards, including security arrangements. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.
The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect.
All asylum claims, including those based on religion conversion, are carefully assessed individually in accordance with our international obligations and in line with our published guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the data on how many asylum claims have been granted on the basis of fear of persecution in their country of origin because of sexual orientation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK.
Data on the number of grants where sexual orientation forms part of the claim is published in table SOC_00. The latest data relates to 2023. In 2023, 2,133 claims were granted where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the asylum claim. For further information on the data, see the notes pages of the tables.
Not all these individuals will necessarily have been granted protection on the basis of their sexual orientation. Similarly, other asylum seekers may be granted protection without referencing their sexual orientation in their claims and therefore would not be included in these figures.
Updated published data from 2023 onwards is currently unavailable due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new case working system and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics Release.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what data they hold on the number of asylum seekers who are baptised while in asylum accommodation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what security arrangements are in place in asylum hotels to prevent third parties such as churches and charities from entering accommodation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards, including security arrangements. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.
The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect.
All asylum claims, including those based on religion conversion, are carefully assessed individually in accordance with our international obligations and in line with our published guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision by the Metropolitan Police Force to stop recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), whether they plan to put an end to the existence of NCHIs altogether.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government has been clear that a consistent and common-sense approach must be taken with non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).
The Home Secretary has asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing to expedite its review of NCHIs which began earlier this year. The review is considering the recording of information that has not yet reached the criminal threshold, but which may still be useful for the purposes of monitoring community tensions and keeping the public safe. It is also considering the fundamental right of freedom of expression and recent court rulings in this area.
The Home Office is working closely with the NPCC and the College as they develop their findings.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum claims have been accepted based on religious conversion in each of the past five years in respect of conversions to (1) Christianity, (2) Islam, (3) Judaism, and (4) any other religion.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested information on asylum claims being accepted based on religious conversion is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes data on initial decisions on asylum claims in table Asy_D02 of the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release' on GOV.UK. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2025. Between July 2020 and June 2025, 165,551 people have been granted protection or other leave at initial decision. There is no breakdown by religion available.
All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules. This means that religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what reviews they have carried out into asylum claims based on religious conversions, and whether they intend to publish any findings.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, meaning religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Home Office policy guidance provides a framework for considering asylum claims and assessing credibility. When assessing claims based on religious persecution, caseworkers are expected to ask appropriate and sensitive questions to explore a claimant’s personal experiences and journey to their new faith and gather evidence of current religious practice.
Our processes are underpinned by a robust quality assurance review process. Decision makers and quality assessors must adhere to the interview and decision marking standards, which are shared with caseworkers to improve understanding when receiving feedback.
We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to help us to improve our policy guidance, training for asylum decision-makers, and to ensure we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they assess the credibility of religious conversion in asylum applications.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, meaning religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Home Office policy guidance provides a framework for considering asylum claims and assessing credibility. When assessing claims based on religious persecution, caseworkers are expected to ask appropriate and sensitive questions to explore a claimant’s personal experiences and journey to their new faith and gather evidence of current religious practice.
Our processes are underpinned by a robust quality assurance review process. Decision makers and quality assessors must adhere to the interview and decision marking standards, which are shared with caseworkers to improve understanding when receiving feedback.
We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to help us to improve our policy guidance, training for asylum decision-makers, and to ensure we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the grounds for appeal were of each of the asylum seekers due to be removed to Rwanda on 14 June 2022.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
We are unable to comment on the specifics of individual cases however, some of the individuals referred to did issue judicial review claims and the grounds of these claims can be found in the published court judgments.
The court judgments can be found at the following links:
Divisional Court (19 December 2022): AAA v SSHD Rwanda judgment.pdf (judiciary.uk)
Court of Appeal (29 June 2023): AAA-v-SSHD summary (judiciary.uk)
Supreme Court (15 November 2023): R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) (Respondents/Cross Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant/Cross Respondent); (supremecourt.uk)
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of non-crime hate incidents recorded under the Additional Threshold Test against biological women have been reported by biological males under the gender reassignment protected characteristic as of 9 January 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office’s Non-Crime Hate Incidents Code of Practice on the Recording and Retention of Personal Data came into effect in June 2023 and applies to police forces across England and Wales. The code includes safeguards better to protect the fundamental right to freedom of expression and stipulates that police should only record NCHIs when it is necessary and proportionate to do so, and not simply because someone is offended. Incidents that are irrational, malicious, or trivial should not be recorded as NCHIs.
To address concerns about the recording of personal data, the code introduced an additional threshold to ensure that personal data may only be included in an NCHI record if the event is motivated by intentional hostility or prejudice and where the police judge that there is a real risk of escalation causing significant harm or a criminal offence.
The College of Policing publishes operational guidance for the police, known as ‘Authorised Professional Practice’ (APP), on how to deal with different types of crimes and incidents, including NCHIs. The College updated its APP so that it aligns with the Government’s code. The College is responsible for determining police training requirements, and has developed an e-briefing pack on NCHIs which is available to forces.
The code specifically covers characteristics that are protected under hate crime legislation in England and Wales – race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. It defines transgender identity or perceived transgender identity by setting out that “references to being transgender include references to being transsexual, or undergoing, proposing to undergo or having undergone a process or part of a process of gender reassignment.” This aligns with the definition set out in section 66(6)(e) of the Sentencing Act 2020.
The Home Office does not collect data from forces on the number of NCHIs recorded by the police, nor do we collect data relating to the personal characteristics of those involved in incidents. We similarly do not collect information on police spending relating to the investigation of NCHIs. The data collected from the police balances policy needs and the burden on forces.