Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long the UK Visas and Immigration system has experienced IT issues affecting the reimbursement of visa costs.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are not aware of IT issues that are affecting our processes for reimbursement or refunds. Where customers are experiencing an issue, they should contact us so we can investigate and take any necessary steps to rectify and identify if there is a root cause.
Customers can either contact us at Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) or request a refund via our online application system.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether learning from National Age Assessment Board pilots will be shared with key stakeholders.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As a precursor to the NAAB the Home Office has been offering an age assessment facility to local authorities to boost capacity, build experience and establish working relationships and processes in time for NAAB launch. Local authorities and other key stakeholders are engaged in this process and key findings will be built into the development of the formal NAAB processes.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) number and (b) quality of age assessments carried out by social workers following visual assessments by her Department's officials for the purposes of immigration and asylum; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an independent oversight body to conduct or commission analysis on age assessments.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
If an assessment is conducted by a local authority the Home Office considers the assessment alongside other relevant evidence before a final decision is made for immigration purposes – this includes checking whether the assessment was conducted in compliance with caselaw. Decisions on age for immigration purposes fall within the remit of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration which monitors and reports on the effectiveness of the Home Office’s immigration and asylum functions.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of age disputes and outcomes in table Asy_D05 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data covers up to November 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’. The statistics do not currently distinguish between those who have been assessed to be significantly over 18 and others who have been age disputed but referred directly to a local authority for further assessment.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on establishing a reunification process for people brought to the UK under the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In line with our existing policy on resettlement, those resettled under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) may be able to be accompanied by their immediate family members (their spouse or partner, and children under 18).
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under the ACRS without their immediate family members, further information will be made available in due course about options for reuniting with them.
Those referred by UNHCR under the ACRS will have refugee status and will therefore be able to access the refugee family reunion route. Those without refugee status wishing to bring family members would need to apply through the regular family visa route under Appendix FM of the Immigration rules.
The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. However, the situation is very complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under the ACRS.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to publish statistics on age-disputed young people who are initially treated as adult and later found to be children for the purposes of immigration and asylum.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum and resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum age disputes are published in table Asy_D05 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q3 2022. Published data on age disputes only relate to age disputes of individuals with an asylum claim and do not include any other forms of age disputes.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made in establishing a National Age Assessment Board (NAAB); and when the NAAB will be fully operational.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) is in the process of recruiting and training suitably experienced social workers who can carry out age assessments on behalf of the Home Office. A launch date will be communicated as soon as possible.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that children placed in any form of asylum accommodation are protected and safeguarded; and who is responsible for their protection and safeguarding.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are clear safeguarding issues which arise if a child is inadvertently treated as an adult, and equally if an adult is wrongly accepted as a child and placed in accommodation with younger children to whom they could present a risk. It is therefore of upmost importance that, where a young asylum seeker’s age is in doubt, the process of age assessment is resolved quickly and conclusively to ensure the right care is provided for that individual.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
All staff, including contractors, receive a number of briefings and guidance on how to safeguard children.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is a key local authority duty and requires effective joint working between agencies and professionals.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure age disputed children are safeguarded within the asylum system.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are clear safeguarding issues which arise if a child is inadvertently treated as an adult, and equally if an adult is wrongly accepted as a child and placed in accommodation with younger children to whom they could present a risk. It is therefore of upmost importance that, where a young asylum seeker’s age is in doubt, the process of age assessment is resolved quickly and conclusively to ensure the right care is provided for that individual.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
All staff, including contractors, receive a number of briefings and guidance on how to safeguard children.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is a key local authority duty and requires effective joint working between agencies and professionals.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who qualified for visa fee waivers were minors in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We do not hold data on what proportion of people who qualified for visa fee waivers were minors in any of the requested years.
Data has been published on the GOV.UK website that lists the number of fee waiver applications that have been processed, resolved or remain pending a decision. This data covers the period from 2018 Q4 to 2022 Q3 inclusive. The data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q3-2022. The relevant data is listed on tab FW_01.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing visa fees for minors.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office keeps the fees for immigration and nationality applications under regular review. However, no specific assessment on the potential merits of abolishing the visa fees for minors has been undertaken.
The Home Office provides exceptions to the need to pay application fees in a number of specific circumstances. These exceptions ensure the Home Office’s immigration and nationality fee structure complies with international obligations and wider government policy.