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 claims were received in (a) 2014, (b) 2018, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to date.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum applications lodged in the UK are published in table Asy_D01 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets, and includes a breakdown for year of application. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to March 2021.
Additionally, the Home Office publishes further data on asylum and resettlement in the asylum and resettlement summary tables. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
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 claims were decided in (a) 2014, (b) 2018, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of initial decisions on asylum applications are published in table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets, and includes a breakdown for year of initial decision. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to March 2021.
Additionally, the Home Office publishes further data on asylum and resettlement in the asylum and resettlement summary tables. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
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 claims were decided within the 26-week period in (a) 2014, (b) 2018, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to date.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office are unable to state how many asylum applications were decided within the 26-week period in 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2021 to date but can state the number of applications decided within the 24-week period (6months) from Q2 2014 to Q2 2020.
This information can be found at Asy_01 of the published Migration Transparency data:
Immigration & Protection data: February 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The number of staff who were allocated to processing asylum claims in 2021 is not recorded and held in a reportable format. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against multiple cost centres and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
However, the Home Office can provide the number of asylum case working staff from 2014 to 2020. This data can be found in ASY_04 of the published Transparency data:
Immigration & Protection data: February 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff were allocated to processing asylum claims in (a) 2014, (b) 2018, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office are unable to state how many asylum applications were decided within the 26-week period in 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2021 to date but can state the number of applications decided within the 24-week period (6months) from Q2 2014 to Q2 2020.
This information can be found at Asy_01 of the published Migration Transparency data:
Immigration & Protection data: February 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The number of staff who were allocated to processing asylum claims in 2021 is not recorded and held in a reportable format. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against multiple cost centres and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
However, the Home Office can provide the number of asylum case working staff from 2014 to 2020. This data can be found in ASY_04 of the published Transparency data:
Immigration & Protection data: February 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of refugees who will be helped annually by the new UK Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) we continue to welcome vulnerable refugees in need of protection to the UK. The number of refugees we resettle every year depends on a variety of factors including local authorities’ capacity and wider public sector capacity for supporting refugees and the extent to which Community Sponsorship continues to thrive. This year, the recovery from the pandemic will clearly be a significant factor affecting capacity. We are working closely with our partners to assess the capacity for resettlement in the months ahead and will continue to welcome those in need in the years to come.
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 reinstate (a) Action Access and (b) other alternative schemes to immigration detention.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of the Department’s immigration detention reform programme, we are committed to a series of two pilots exploring alternatives to detention.
The first of these pilots, Action Access, provided women who would otherwise be detained with a programme of support in the community. This pilot concluded on 31 March 2021 after operating for two years, as planned. The second pilot, the Refugee and Migrant Advisory Service, is currently supporting both men and women in the community and will remain in operation for two years until June 2022.
We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on these pilots and they have appointed the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to independently evaluate this work. These evaluations will be published, with the evaluation report of the Action Access pilot scheduled for Summer 2021. We will use the evaluations of these pilots to inform our future approach to case-management focused alternatives to detention.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards are in place to protect unaccompanied children who are wrongly diverted to adult asylum support services.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is an absolute priority. We are fully adhering to our statutory duties and we have improved both our facilities and the way we deal with arrivals in response to the unprecedented rise in small boat crossings.
Young people are prioritised to ensure the necessary welfare and security checks are completed in the shortest amount of time. After this they are collected by a local authority and cared for by social services.
We have contracted a team of social workers as a temporary measure to support the Kent Intake Unit, with the aim of strengthening the unit’s age assessment and child safeguarding processes.
KIU includes a non-detained facility (called the ‘Atrium’) where asylum claimants are able to wait once their asylum claim has been registered and it has a specific area for minors and other vulnerable customers which is operated by the Refugee Council (NGO) under contract from the Home Office.
If there is doubt about the age of an individual, they will be referred to a Local Authority for a Merton compliant age assessment to ensure they are diverted to the correct support services.
If any concerns about a service user’s age become apparent once they are in asylum support accommodation, the relevant local authority will be informed so they can take appropriate safeguarding action.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pending readmission or transfer agreements to return asylum seekers the UK has with other countries.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK already has arrangements with many countries across the world to facilitate the returns of asylum seekers.
The Joint Political Declaration between the EU and UK agreed in December 2020 noted the UK’s intention to engage in bilateral discussions with the most concerned Member States to discuss suitable practical arrangements, including on asylum and illegal migration. These discussions are continuing, and we have recently agreed a migration partnership with India.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to make funding available to support (a) late applicants and (b) people with pre-settled status apply for settled status.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The success of the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) – with more than 5.6 million applications received and more than 5 million grants of status, to 31 May 2021 – has been underpinned by joint working with and support for local authorities.
This includes £22 million in Home Office grant funding, through to 30 September 2021, for 72 organisations across the UK (including several local authorities and local government associations) to help vulnerable people – so far more than 310,000 – to apply to the EUSS. We have also provided additional funding, following a new burdens assessment, for local authority work in helping looked after children and care leavers to obtain EUSS status.
Alongside this, we have provided guidance, a toolkit of communications resources and ongoing webinars and other support for local authority staff concerning the EUSS.
We will continue to work closely with local authorities as we approach the 30 June 2021 deadline for applications to the EUSS by those resident in the UK by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. We will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications in line with the non-exhaustive guidance on this published on 1 April 2021.
The entitlement to central and local government benefits and services of those granted EUSS status, whether on the basis of an in-time or late application, is consistent with our obligations under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent guidance has been given to local authorities as the EU Settlement Scheme deadline approaches.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The success of the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) – with more than 5.6 million applications received and more than 5 million grants of status, to 31 May 2021 – has been underpinned by joint working with and support for local authorities.
This includes £22 million in Home Office grant funding, through to 30 September 2021, for 72 organisations across the UK (including several local authorities and local government associations) to help vulnerable people – so far more than 310,000 – to apply to the EUSS. We have also provided additional funding, following a new burdens assessment, for local authority work in helping looked after children and care leavers to obtain EUSS status.
Alongside this, we have provided guidance, a toolkit of communications resources and ongoing webinars and other support for local authority staff concerning the EUSS.
We will continue to work closely with local authorities as we approach the 30 June 2021 deadline for applications to the EUSS by those resident in the UK by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. We will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications in line with the non-exhaustive guidance on this published on 1 April 2021.
The entitlement to central and local government benefits and services of those granted EUSS status, whether on the basis of an in-time or late application, is consistent with our obligations under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements.