Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 6 December 2023 on Signing of the Rwanda Treaty [HCWS101], what his timescale is for beginning relocation of asylum seekers to Rwanda; and what plans he has for accommodating asylum seekers who are not relocated to Rwanda in the next five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The process of relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda will begin after the Treaty and the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill comes into force after having progressed through Parliament. The Treaty has been laid before Parliament under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the procedures under that Act must be complied with before the Treaty can be ratified and come into force.
Individuals whose asylum claims are declared inadmissible may be able to obtain support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 if they would otherwise be destitute. Certain individuals may also be able to obtain support under sections 98 and 95 of this Act. Such support may include accommodation.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a humanitarian travel visa on the level of small boat crossings.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from individuals overseas who might like to come here.
Those in need of immediate protection should take the fastest route to safety and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. Individuals should not put their lives at risk by leaving manifestly safe countries with well-functioning asylum systems and make unnecessary and dangerous onward journeys to the UK.
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for those who need it. Our focus is on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability, and we believe that our resettlement programmes are the best way to provide much needed support. Between 2015 and September 2023, over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will list (a) the visa categories for which the average processing time was longer than the agreed customer service standard and (b) the number of people waiting for their visa application to be processed in each of those categories on 13 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Detailed information on UK Visas and Immigration's performance against all of its customer service standards across different immigration routes is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/visa-processing-times.
UKVI are currently within their service standards on the overwhelming majority of visa applications.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many student visa applications have been withdrawn in each of the past five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our published data, which includes data on withdrawn applications, can be found in the available Migration Statistics on GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/why-do-people-come-to-the-uk-to-study
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many biometric residence cards were reprinted due to errors on those cards in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 2159 on Asylum: Rwanda, where on the Gov.uk website information on legal fees for R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The answer to Question 2159 was corrected on 21 November to give a link to the published data, which was provided to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allowed (a) entry clearance and (b) in-country appeal decisions are awaiting implementation as of 29 November 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The requested information cannot be accurately extracted from our internal systems. To provide this information would require a manual trawl of successful appeals and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the question from the hon. Member for Glasgow North of 27 November 2022, Official Report, what the evidential basis is for stating that allowing asylum seekers the right to work would increase the number travelling to the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
A wide body of evidence points towards key pull factors to the UK including language, diaspora, presence of friends and family, economic opportunity, and availability of education. Any effects exerted by asylum policies and welfare systems on individual decision making around ultimate country of destination are much less well understood and difficult to isolate. That is why we have no plans to work provisions and are trebling the fines for illegal working.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of establishing the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120m into its economic development and growth as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF). Investment has been focused in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, and job creation. A separate advance payment of £20m was also paid last year to support initial set up costs for the relocation of individuals.
Funding will also be provided to support the delivery of asylum operations, accommodation, and integration in Rwanda. Costs and payments will depend on the number of individuals relocated, the timing of when this happens, and the outcomes of individual cases. Actual spend will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way. We will not enter into speculation as to what the final costs of the partnership may be nor provide a running commentary.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/