Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the definition of a child under the EU Settlement Scheme to include US Special Guardianship Orders.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We keep the scope of the Immigration Rules for the EU Settlement Scheme under review, including in light of representations from stakeholders. However, we have received no such representations where US special guardianship orders are concerned and their status in the UK is not a matter for the Immigration Rules.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of skilled worker visa applications submitted by people who reside in Northern Ireland at the time of application have been waiting for a decision for more than three months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on this specific issue.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of skilled worker visas which have been processed outside target processing times in our Transparency data.
The Home Office Transparency data sets out how the department is performing against its service standard, which can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: Sponsorship transparency data: Q4 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2023 to Question 141595 on Asylum Dispersal Grants: Northern Ireland, how much funding he plans to allocate to The Executive Office under the Memorandum of Understanding in 2023; and if he will set out the method for calculating that funding allocation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office is in discussion with HM Treasury to inform funding for Asylum Dispersal for 2023/24. We will share the outcome of those discussions with The Executive Office as soon as possible.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to implement the use of questionnaires in place of face-to-face interviews to assess asylum applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
On 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum ‘legacy’ claims. These relate to historical asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Policy guidance on this was published on 23 February 2023 (Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Asylum claim questionnaires were sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen. These countries have been included in the streamlined asylum process on the basis of their high-grant rate of 95% or higher and over 100 grants in the year-ending September 2022 of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All asylum seekers will have already undergone a screening interview on arrival, as well as face-to-face security checks in which they will provide biometric information and their identity. Where there is insufficient information or any doubt about the information provided in the questionnaire or a caseworker has further questions including about someone’s nationality, a caseworker should arrange a follow-up asylum interview.
The policy is compliant with our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and an Equality Impact Assessment was drafted as part of the policy development process. We are committed to continue working with stakeholders going forward to improve the asylum system for all.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an equality impact assessment on the proposal to introduce questionnaires in place of face-to-face interviews to assess asylum applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
On 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum ‘legacy’ claims. These relate to historical asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Policy guidance on this was published on 23 February 2023 (Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Asylum claim questionnaires were sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen. These countries have been included in the streamlined asylum process on the basis of their high-grant rate of 95% or higher and over 100 grants in the year-ending September 2022 of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All asylum seekers will have already undergone a screening interview on arrival, as well as face-to-face security checks in which they will provide biometric information and their identity. Where there is insufficient information or any doubt about the information provided in the questionnaire or a caseworker has further questions including about someone’s nationality, a caseworker should arrange a follow-up asylum interview.
The policy is compliant with our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and an Equality Impact Assessment was drafted as part of the policy development process. We are committed to continue working with stakeholders going forward to improve the asylum system for all.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the use of questionnaires in place of face to face interviews to assess asylum applications on applicants.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
On 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum ‘legacy’ claims. These relate to historical asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Policy guidance on this was published on 23 February 2023 (Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Asylum claim questionnaires were sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen. These countries have been included in the streamlined asylum process on the basis of their high-grant rate of 95% or higher and over 100 grants in the year-ending September 2022 of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All asylum seekers will have already undergone a screening interview on arrival, as well as face-to-face security checks in which they will provide biometric information and their identity. Where there is insufficient information or any doubt about the information provided in the questionnaire or a caseworker has further questions including about someone’s nationality, a caseworker should arrange a follow-up asylum interview.
The policy is compliant with our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and an Equality Impact Assessment was drafted as part of the policy development process. We are committed to continue working with stakeholders going forward to improve the asylum system for all.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with stakeholder groups on proposals to use asylum questionnaires in place of face-to-face interviews.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
On 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum ‘legacy’ claims. These relate to historical asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Policy guidance on this was published on 23 February 2023 (Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Asylum claim questionnaires were sent to legacy claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen. These countries have been included in the streamlined asylum process on the basis of their high-grant rate of 95% or higher and over 100 grants in the year-ending September 2022 of protection status (refugee status or humanitarian protection). All asylum seekers will have already undergone a screening interview on arrival, as well as face-to-face security checks in which they will provide biometric information and their identity. Where there is insufficient information or any doubt about the information provided in the questionnaire or a caseworker has further questions including about someone’s nationality, a caseworker should arrange a follow-up asylum interview.
The policy is compliant with our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and an Equality Impact Assessment was drafted as part of the policy development process. We are committed to continue working with stakeholders going forward to improve the asylum system for all.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland after entering the asylum system.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, the duration of their receipt of support or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department plans to provide to the Department of Education in Northern Ireland through the Asylum Dispersal Grant in the next 12 months; when schools in Northern Ireland were invited to bid for that funding; and what the deadlines for those bids is.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has been working with The Executive Office (TEO) on an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding funding. The MoU is similar to the asylum dispersal grant funding provided to regions in England, Scotland and Wales, in which the Home Office has funded Northern Ireland over £4million as of December 2022. This funding is unconditional and will be allocated by the TEO.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with local authorities in Northern Ireland on the use of contingency accommodation for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to the continuing unprecedented number of small boats arrivals and the historical pressure from COVID-19 measures on the asylum system it has been necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers to meet our immediate statutory need.
As is the case across the UK, the Home Office notify local authorities when new contingency accommodation is stood up in a local authority area. Additionally, there are bi-weekly council engagement meetings chaired by The Executive Office (TEO), at which councils can raise any issues that they are experiencing. These meetings are regularly attended by representatives hosting contingency accommodation.