Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce crimes of (a) spiritual and (b) ritualistic abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Spiritual and ritualistic abuse abhorrent thought it is, is not ‘honour’-based abuse or VAWG. Therefore, we do not hold the information to respond to this PQ.
The Department for Education have previously worked on the child abuse linked to faith or belief action plan which was published on GOV.UK at Child abuse linked to faith or belief: national action plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing safeguarding for people at risk of (a) spiritual and (b) ritualistic abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Spiritual and ritualistic abuse abhorrent thought it is, is not ‘honour’-based abuse or VAWG. Therefore, we do not hold the information to respond to this PQ.
The Department for Education have previously worked on the child abuse linked to faith or belief action plan which was published on GOV.UK at Child abuse linked to faith or belief: national action plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking additional steps to reduce (a) spiritual and (b) ritualistic abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Spiritual and ritualistic abuse abhorrent thought it is, is not ‘honour’-based abuse or VAWG. Therefore, we do not hold the information to respond to this PQ.
The Department for Education have previously worked on the child abuse linked to faith or belief action plan which was published on GOV.UK at Child abuse linked to faith or belief: national action plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard people at risk of (a) spiritual and (b) ritualistic abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Spiritual and ritualistic abuse abhorrent thought it is, is not ‘honour’-based abuse or VAWG. Therefore, we do not hold the information to respond to this PQ.
The Department for Education have previously worked on the child abuse linked to faith or belief action plan which was published on GOV.UK at Child abuse linked to faith or belief: national action plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a specific timeframe for Section 95 applications to be completed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office endeavours to complete applications as fast as possible.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she had had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of extending the funding of the Suicide Prevention Grand Fund.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such discussions have taken place. The process for assessing all applications made to the Suicide Prevention Grant Fund is still ongoing.
The fund attracted a huge amount of interest from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, from small, community-led organisations at local level to large national level organisations. We received over 1800 applications overall, covering a range of activities aimed at preventing suicides. We are currently assessing bids and we aim to inform applicants on whether they have been successful by the end of the year.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2023 to Question 1700 on Asylum: Finance, what his Department considers to be a timely manner.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Decision times will vary by case, as each application is different; we aim to reach a decision as swiftly as possible.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has a target for the time taken to make decisions on section 95 asylum support applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Each case will be different so it is difficult to say how long the Home Office will need to decide an individual application for section 95 support, though we do endeavour to complete applications in a timely manner. Once we receive an asylum seeker’s fully completed application from Migrant Help, we prioritise those who are homeless and those who are in initial accommodation.
If an asylum seeker requires an update on their application’s progress, they are encouraged to contact Migrant Help who can request an update from the Home Office. This can be done via their webchat, the ‘raise an issue’ link on their website or by calling their freephone helpline on 0808 8010 503.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of hotels previously used to house asylum seekers have stopped being used for this purpose in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the next quarterly figures due to be released at the end of November 2023.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels his Department is using to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the next quarterly figures due to be released at the end of November 2023.