Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the 3 July 2020 NAO report on the asylum accommodation and support contracts, whether her Department's safeguarding board has produced a safeguarding framework; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
A safeguarding framework has been produced, which is supported by our service providers safeguarding documentation.
The date and minutes of the Safeguarding Board will be published shortly.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were in full board hotels in the UK on 30 June 2020; how many hotels are being used for that purpose; what the average length of stay is across those hotels; and by what date she plans to have that group out of the (a) six Mears Group hotels in Glasgow and (b) all other hotels.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There were 4427 asylum seekers across 53 full board hotels in the UK on 30 June.
The average length of stay is not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
We are working with the providers to programme the reduction of the number of people in supported accommodation in a controlled manner. Consideration will be given to the needs of service users whilst balancing the impact of increased accommodation pressures on local authorities. We intend to work collaboratively with local authorities as we transition out of lockdown.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to order a Home office investigation into (a) the circumstances and results of Mears Group’s decision to move 321 people from secure serviced apartments to hotels in Glasgow from 27 March 2020 and (b) the relationship between those decisions and the incidents at MacLays Hotels on 5 May 2020 and at Park Inn Hotel on 26 June 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have been working closely with all our service providers throughout the Covid 19 crisis were satisfied that Mears moved service users from apartments to hotels to enable them to deliver their services and meet some of their contractual obligations, particularly around emergency repairs in light of movement restrictions, and so they could further assure themselves of access to meals, translation services, onsite support, controlled welfare and health support and deliver a more appropriate service in light of the health crisis.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) vulnerable and (b) other (i) asylum seekers and (ii) refugees during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have also been reviewing the level of the cash allowances provided to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we do each year to ensure that they remain capable of meeting their essential living needs.
As a result of this work, the standard allowance has been raised to £39.60 per week from £37.75 per week, an increase of around 5%. The increase is significantly higher than the current general rate of inflation, which Office of National Statistics data shows was only 0.5% in the 12 months period to May 2020. In addition to asylum support payments, asylum seekers are provided with free accommodation, utilities are paid for, council tax is paid for, they have free access to the NHS and their children have free access to education.
In March, we introduced temporary measures to continue supporting those asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees who would normally have had their accommodation and financial assistance stopped. Home office is currently reviewing this additional support,
The UK has a generous record in supporting asylum seekers. Last year, we made around 20,000 grants of asylum or protection (one of the higher figures in Europe), as well as offered protection to 3,000 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children – the highest number of any country in Europe. In addition, we have directly resettled around 20,000 people from the most dangerous areas of the world (especially Syrians) in the UK over the last 5 years. Finally, we spend around £14 billion per year in Overseas Aid, helping millions of people around the world. This is the highest amount of any country in Europe and we are the only G7 country to meet the 0.7% of GNI Overseas Aid target
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that social distancing is observed between visitors at entry points to the parliamentary estate.
Answered by Pete Wishart
A range of measures have been introduced at access points across the estate to support social distancing. These include the use of managed queues, booking systems, signage and the use of face coverings where it is harder to maintain social distancing e.g. during search functions.
Access to the estate has been restricted to essential business visitors only, which ensures a minimal number of visitors.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with respect to asylum seekers who cannot attend a meeting due to self-isolation as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
At present Asylum Operations are looking to maintain services wherever possible and have put in place the appropriate measures to safeguard people against the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Appointments may be affected, but we will continue to review the service impacts on a daily basis. As the national situation develops, Asylum Operations will take the measures necessary to support appointments, interviewing and decision making including the use of technology, whilst always protecting the needs of the most vulnerable.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is compliant with the requirement in section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code that time off with pay for safety representatives will not be set against facility time allowed under existing arrangements.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office provides trade union representatives with a maximum facility time allocation which covers the time they request to undertake trade union duties, union learning representative duties and health and safety duties. This is in line with the legislative obligation, set out in the Trade Union Act (2016), that information relating to facility time for relevant union officials be published, with facility time defined by that Act as including time off taken by a relevant union official that is permitted by the official’s employer, including under “regulations made under section 2(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974”. The Home Office provisions do also include scope for some approved health and safety duties, for example involving joint working with the employer, to not be set against the facility time allocation.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 1729 on Home Office: Equal Pay, if she will place in the Library copies of the Policy Equality Statements for the pay rounds in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018 and (d) 2019.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office will place in the Library copies of the Policy Equality Statements (PES) for the pay rounds 2016, 2017 and 2018. The PES for pay round 2019 will be undertaken shortly.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation has affected the right of recognised unions in her Department to bargaining information in relation to section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
GDPR has not affected the rights of unions in the Home Office in relation to bargaining information provided under section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, since personal information relating to individuals (which is protected by GDPR) is already excluded from the requirements under section 182 of the same Act.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the pay system in her Department has been changed to take account of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Mr G Willetts and Others on holiday pay and voluntary overtime; and whether affected workers in her Department have been given back pay as a result of that ruling.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office currently has a form of Holiday Pay allowance built into the pay system. The Home Office is aware of the Employment Appeal Tribunal referred to in the Question, and the implications for our approach to pay. The Department has signalled to the Trades Unions in Summer 2019 that it intends to open negotiations on this subject later in 2019. Decisions on back pay will be taken as part of the negotiations process.