Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued on the formal process by which asylum seekers (a) are notified that they should leave hotels and (b) move to other Home Office-funded accommodation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office has always been clear that use of hotels as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers was a short-term measure to ensure that we met our statutory obligation to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute during a period of unprecedented numbers of small boat arrivals.
The closure of individual hotels and relocation of service users to alternative accommodation is being managed in accordance with established allocation of accommodation policy and processes.
Our accommodation providers will notify asylum seekers as early as possible of an upcoming hotel closure and will discuss the move with each individual and establish if there are any safeguarding, medical, or other personal circumstances which need to be considered.
Asylum accommodation is generally provided on a ‘no choice’ basis and individuals will be moved to suitable alternative accommodation, which may be in a different location from their current hotel. Those whose personal circumstances necessitate accommodation in a particular location, will have their requests considered in accordance with existing published policies.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many stop and search incidents took place in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency between September 2022 and September 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office publishes data from police forces on the number of stop and searches, broken down by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area, including the London borough of Haringey. Data is not published at parliamentary constituency level.
The latest data, covering the financial year ending 31 March 2023, by CSP area, can be found in table SS_47 of the Stop and search summary data tables which accompany the Police Powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrest statistics:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/stop-and-search-and-arrests-year-ending-march-2023
Statistics by CSP area are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously known as “Experimental Statistics”), to reflect ongoing work to improve data quality.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with the Metropolitan Police on creating a stop and search charter for London.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office has a regular programme of force engagement on stop and search, including with the Metropolitan Police Service. This has not specifically covered the creation of a stop and search charter for London.
The Home Office have recently run a consultation on our proposed framework for community scrutiny of stop and search, to ensure the power is used proportionately and appropriately.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the most common causes of gaps in the time between (a) visa or asylum appeals being approved at tribunal and (b) those decisions being implemented.
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: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken to implement (a) visa and (b) asylum appeals that were accepted at tribunal stage was in the last 12 months.
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: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken to implement visa and asylum appeals that are overturned by the tribunal court.
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: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a timetable on the implementation of buffer zones around abortion clinics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Public Order Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 2 May. Implementation of the Public Order Act measures is staggered.
The Government respects the will of Parliament and is working to commence Safe Access Zones as soon as is practicably possible. We have been considering what needs to be done to ensure Safe Access Zones can be implemented as effectively as possible, with law enforcement agencies having a clear and consistent understanding around enforcement, and abortion service providers and protestors being clear as to what is expected under the new law.
The timescales for commencing the new Section 9 offence of interference with access to, or provision of, abortion services will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on parliamentary time for legislation on the introduction of buffer zones around abortion clinics.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The timescales for commencing the new Section 9 offence of interference with access to, or provision of, abortion services will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish her Department's risk assessment for its policy of seizing medicines in short-term holding centres.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We take the welfare of people in our care extremely seriously and we continue to improve our short-term holding facilities. Individual risk assessments are conducted on all individuals entering a detention facility. Suitability for detention is assessed on a case-by-case basis with consideration of appropriate escalation points to safeguard individuals with vulnerabilities, including on prescribed medication.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the review into the process of police officer dismissals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Officers who fall seriously short of the standards expected have no place in our police, and we must ensure they can be dismissed as swiftly as possible.
The Government established a review to consider the effectiveness of the disciplinary system at removing officers who fall far short of the high standards expected of them. Ministers are considering the findings of the review carefully and will make announcements on next steps as soon as practicable.