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 unaccompanied asylum seeking children that have gone missing from hotels are unaccounted for as of 7 November 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UASC hotels are temporary accommodation that provide safeguarding for a child until they are ready to be transferred through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) from an entry local authority to another local authority in the UK for ongoing care and support.
The Home Office has put in place further funding throughout 2023-24 of £6,000 for every unaccompanied child moved from a UASC hotel to a local authority within five working days to encourage quicker transfers into local authority care.
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.
The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.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, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2023 to Question 200463 on Refugees: Afghanistan, if she will take steps to establish the number of Afghan people based in Pakistan awaiting applications to be processed by the Visa Application Centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The number of Afghans awaiting applications to be processed at Visa Application Centre is internal management information and is not for public release at this time.
Cross government work continues at pace to provide resettlement to those located in third countries.
Data on Afghanistan resettlement is released quarterly and the latest release is available to view at: Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.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, what steps she plans to take to respond to the final report of the Brook House Inquiry.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government will carefully consider the findings of the Brook House Inquiry in its detailed report, including the recommendations in relation to the management of the immigration detention estate and the welfare of detained individuals.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has not been reappointed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) is a statutory public appointment. These appointments are made by Ministers in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, which states “there is no automatic presumption of reappointment; each case should be considered on its own merits”.
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 estimate she has made of the number of Afghans people based in Pakistan awaiting applications to be processed by the Visa Application Centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Ministry of Defence first consider all applications under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). Afghan citizens and their family members assessed as eligible for relocation will then be referred to the Home Office for permission to enter the UK.
As of June 2023, we have relocated over c.12,200 people under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy Scheme (ARAP) initiative, while over 11,500 people have been granted settled status, since the scheme launched in April 2021.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she (a) last met and (b) plans to meet the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The last meeting between the Home Secretary and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) was on 13 June 2023.
The Home Secretary will seek to schedule a further meeting with the ICIBI in due course.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when will appoint the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The role of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) as set out in the 2015 Modern Slavery Act is to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims.
The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the IASC and had launched a new open competition to recruit for this role on the 23 February 2023, the process for which is now at an advanced stage.
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 Paragraph E-ECP.3.3 of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, if she will bring forward proposals to ensure that people receiving Adult Disability Payments benefit from the same provisions as those receiving Personal Independence Payments.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are aware that the Scottish Government have made changes to the benefits system in Scotland and certain benefits previously paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been amended and are now paid by Social Security Scotland, including Adult Disability payments. We keep the Immigration Rules under constant review and these changes will form part of that ongoing review process.
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 oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Scotland at Scotland Questions, Official Report on 13 September 2023, whether it is her policy not to intervene should a pilot supervised drug consumption facility go ahead in Scotland.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon Lady to my comments earlier today in the Chamber.
We look forward to seeing details including proposals for the individual consideration of cases and links to treatment which may be relevant.
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 unexplained wealth orders have been used since the scheme was revised.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Since the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act came into effect on 15 March 2022 the two applications for UWOs have been applied for in the High Court.