Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who arrived in the UK claiming to be under the age of 18 and who were subsequently assessed as being over the age of 18 have since been deported in the last three years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office publish the number of age dispute cases raised and resolved for asylum claimants in the Immigration Statistics release each quarter, in table 10 q:
In addition, the number of individuals who were returned in each quarter who had previously lodged an asylum claim is published in table rt 02 q:
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is the Government's policy to ensure that unaccompanied children arriving in the UK to seek asylum are given dental check-ups.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK are transferred to the care of a local authority. The local authority will arrange for the child’s health to be assessed and for a health plan to be drawn up. This will include dental care. Central records are not kept of the number of dental check-ups given to such children.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK have been given a dental check-up in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK are transferred to the care of a local authority. The local authority will arrange for the child’s health to be assessed and for a health plan to be drawn up. This will include dental care. Central records are not kept of the number of dental check-ups given to such children.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any of the refugees recently admitted to the UK from Calais as children will be subject to dental checks in order to verify their ages.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Secretary's statement on Calais on 24 October (Column 55) referred to the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks we carry out, working closely with local authorities and social workers in the UK, to ensure that the children transferred here are eligible to come and it is in their best interests to do so.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps have been taken to verify the age of children who have been recently transported from Calais to the UK.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Secretary's statement on Calais on 24 October (Column 55) referred to the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks we carry out, working closely with local authorities and social workers in the UK, to ensure that the children transferred here are eligible to come and it is in their best interests to do so.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials of her Department accept reports from dental consultants as evidence of age in cases where there is a dispute over the age of asylum seekers.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Where clear and credible documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the interview process to assess whether a person is under 18. This can be followed where necessary by a local authority assessment, in line with case law and approved by two social workers. In addition, the person may submit a report from a dental consultant on a voluntary basis. Records are not kept centrally on the number of reports from dental consultants submitted by asylum seekers.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have submitted reports from dental consultants to support age claims in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Where clear and credible documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the interview process to assess whether a person is under 18. This can be followed where necessary by a local authority assessment, in line with case law and approved by two social workers. In addition, the person may submit a report from a dental consultant on a voluntary basis. Records are not kept centrally on the number of reports from dental consultants submitted by asylum seekers.
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) male and (b) female child refugees and asylum seekers of each age have arrived in the UK since 1 September 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office publishes the Immigration Statistics release each quarter, and the latest release covering the quarter ending June 2016 is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016
The annual number of asylum claims received from main claimants and dependants, by age and sex is published in table as_04, in volume 2 of the asylum data tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546759/asylum2-q2-2016-tabs.ods
The quarterly number of asylum claims received from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, excluding dependants, sex and age at time of application, is published in table as_08_q, in volume 3 of the asylum data tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546760/asylum3-q2-2016-tabs.ods
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applicants have been issued with the IS.97M form in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The IS97M is issued at screening stage when we dispute a subject’s claim to be a minor. Statistics on the number of age disputed cases are available for each of the last three years at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/asylum#age-disputes
Asked by: David T C Davies (Conservative - Monmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applicants have been given an estimated date of birth by her Department which differs from the date claimed by those applicants in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
An estimated date of birth for an asylum seeker will be provided by the Home Office as part of the age assessment process where no clear and credible documentation as to age is available. If the asylum seeker continues to claim that their date of birth is different, age is recorded as “disputed”. Statistics on the number of age disputed cases are available for each of the last three years at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/asylum#age-disputes