Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that asylum seekers convicted of sexual offences are not granted indefinite right to remain in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 strengthened existing legislation to provide that anyone convicted of a particularly serious crime resulting in a custodial sentence of 12 months or more and are considered a danger to the UK, will be denied asylum and can be considered for removal from the UK.
Settlement is a privilege, not an automatic right, and if a refugee has engaged in criminality, it is appropriate that they are denied the benefits of settlement.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who arrived on small boats were on bail on 1 February 2024.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The information requested is not available in a reportable format.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an overall cap on the number of migrants to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration. Our points-based immigration system allows us to control who comes to the UK to work, study and visit.
In May 2023, we took decisive action to tackle the substantial rise in the number of students bringing dependants to the UK. These reforms have now been implemented.
On 4 December 2023, we announced a major package of measures to curb immigration abuse and further reduce net migration.
This package of measures, taken together with the measures the Government announced in May 2023 to restrict the number of overseas students able to bring dependants, means that around 300,000 people who were eligible to come to the UK last year would not be able to do so in future.
We keep all our immigration policies under review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities, including filling skills gaps and growing the economy.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people arrived in the UK clandestinely (a) on larger vessels and (b) in a vehicle on a ferry in 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk.
Data on people who have arrived in the UK on larger vessels and in a vehicle on a ferry are included in the ‘Recorded detections at UK ports’ figures on table Irr_01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, with the latest data up to the end of September 2023.
The Home Office does not publish the requested data in any further breakdowns.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained after crossing the English Channel in boats involved in uncontrolled landings in 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
There were no uncontrolled landings in 2023.
All people making these illegal, dangerous and unnecessary crossings of the Channel by small boat in 2023 were detected before reaching the UK and were placed under immigration control immediately upon arrival.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of people who attempted to enter the UK on small boats who were (a) intercepted by French authorities and (b) returned to France in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The French authorities provide the Home Office with regular operational updates, including estimates of the number of people who have been prevented from crossing to the UK.
Home Office records show that in 2022, around 33,000 crossing attempts (defined as an individual person attempting to cross the Channel by small boat) were prevented and returned to France. This compares with around 26,000 in 2023.
The decline in numbers of crossings prevented in 2023 relative to 2022 reflects the 30% decline in overall attempts made in 2023 relative to 2022.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of exit checks conducted by Border Force which identified people seeking asylum in the UK attempting to return to their country of origin in 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Officers conduct exit checks as part of specialist operations. If an individual with an open asylum claim leaves the UK without authorisation at any time before the conclusion of their application for asylum, they are deemed to have implicitly withdrawn their claim. Each incident is considered on a case by case basis, and we do not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Border Force on allegations that people seeking asylum in the UK that have returned to their country of origin for a holiday.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Officers conduct exit checks as part of specialist operations. If an individual with an open asylum claim leaves the UK without authorisation at any time before the conclusion of their application for asylum, they are deemed to have implicitly withdrawn their claim. Each incident is considered on a case by case basis, and we do not routinely comment on individual cases.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers disappeared from asylum accommodation before having their claims processed in 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers leaving accommodation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers whose asylum application has remained unresolved for more than 12 months have been granted permission to work in each year since 2015.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office is unable to state how many asylum seekers were granted the right-to-work because their application remained unresolved for more than 12 months in each year since 2015, as the number of asylum seekers granted permission to work is not published.
Those who have claimed asylum in the UK and have had their asylum claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are able to apply for permission to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.