Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers living in hotels or hostels were (a) single men, (b) single women, (c) accompanied children with parent or guardian and (d) unaccompanied minors on 1 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 22 August 2021. The next quarterly figures are due to be released later this month.
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation, as these figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were living in (a) hotels, (b) hostels, (c) military barracks and (d) other types of temporary or contingency accommodation as at 1 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 22 August 2021. The next quarterly figures are due to be released later this month.
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation, as these figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were living in contingency accommodation across the UK as at 1 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 22 August 2021. The next quarterly figures are due to be released later this month.
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific accommodation, as these figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum-seeking unaccompanied or accompanied children were living in hotels or hostels had been in contingency accommodation for (a) 35 days or less, (b) more than 35 days, (c) more than three months, (d) more than six months, (e) more than one year or (f) more than two years, as at 1 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The transfer of minors from hotel accommodation or contingency accommodation into Local Authority care is fluid and evolving and data is not held in a reportable way, to provide them could only be done at a disproportionate cost. We publish statistics on how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors are transferred into Local Authority care at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2021
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reason was for (a) her visit to the construction site of the Multi Purpose Reception and Identification Centre (MPRIC) on the island of Samos, Greece in August 2021 and (b) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State's visit to the MPRIC construction site in May 2021; and whether her Department plans to construct a similar facility in the UK.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We regularly engage with Greek ministers and senior officials on the challenges presented by the migration situation in Greece. This includes fact finding visits, to better understand and assess the approach being taken by the Greek Government in its response to the challenge from illegal migration.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has undertaken of the equalities impact of the (a) New Plan for Immigration and the (b) Nationality and Borders Bill, in accordance with her duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010; and if she will publish those assessments.
Answered by Kevin Foster
An Equality Impact Assessment has been completed for the policies being delivered through the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is the cornerstone of the New Plan for Immigration. The Equality Impact Assessment will be published in due course.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of VFS Global, the operator of her Department's online visa application system, charging for emails received from service users.
Answered by Kevin Foster
VFS Global (VFS) and TLS contact run the network of overseas Visa Application Centres (VACs) on behalf of UKVI.
VFS provide services at the VACs to enable individuals to upload supporting evidence and biometric information, such as a photo, for visa applications and also coordinate the return of travel documents to customers.
VFS do not charge for emails received from customers.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that naturalised EU citizens are not incorrectly advised to apply inappropriately to the EU Settlement Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government is using every possible channel to encourage everyone who is eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to apply.
The Home Office is working with HMRC and DWP to send letters to EU, EEA and Swiss citizens in receipt of benefits, but it appears have yet to apply to the EUSS. The letters encouraged recipients to apply to the EUSS to protect their existing rights in the UK before the deadline of 30 June 2021.
In trying to reach as many people as possible, there were a small number of instances where these letters were sent to recipients who were naturalised, or dual British and EU citizens, or had other forms of immigration status. This may have included people who naturalised many years ago.
The letters made clear anyone who is a British citizen did not need to take any action. Further reassurance, providing the same messaging, was posted on the Home Office’s, DWP’s and HMRC’s Twitter channels.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to offer a route to settlement for Hong Kong people, who, primarily through having been born after the 1997 handover, are not British National (Overseas) (BNO) status holders and are ineligible for the BNO visa.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Hong Kong BN(O) route is for those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members including adult children who were born after 1 July 1997 and who live with their parents. We do not currently have any plans to change these requirements.
Those not eligible for the BN(O) route can consider other UK immigration routes. For instance, individuals from Hong Kong can apply under the terms of the UK’s new Points Based System, which will enable them to come to the UK in a wider range of professions than in the past.
There is also the existing youth mobility scheme which is open to those aged between 18 and 30 and offers a two-year grant of leave in the UK. There are 1,000 places currently available each year for people from Hong Kong.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to provide local authorities with reliable demographic data to support their efforts in relation to the EU Settlement Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in the
‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’.
Data on the number of applications and concluded applications by UK local authority are published in Tables EUSS_LA_01, EUSS_LA_02 and EUSS_LA_03 of the quarterly EUSS statistics local authority tables (EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
This data is broken down by the applicants nationality, age and type of decision for each UK local authority.
Additionally, the Home Office has conducted surveys of Local Authorities in England, Wales and Scotland and of Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland to provide a more accurate estimate of the number of looked after children and care leavers eligible to apply to the EUSS.
The results from the latest survey with figures up to 23 April 2021 can be found at: