Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the fee was for submitting an application to register a child as British in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Child registration fees from 2012 to 2018 are detailed within the table below:
DATE | FEE |
Financial Year 2018-19 | £1,012 |
Financial year 2017-18 | £973 |
Financial year 2016-17 | £936 |
Financial year 2015-16 | £749 |
Financial year 2014-15 | £669 |
Financial year 2013-14 | £673 1st child, |
Financial year 2012-13 | £551 1st child, |
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any compensation has been paid to members of the Windrush Generation who were wrongly detained; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We are currently carrying out a public consultation on the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Details of the consultation, including how to respond, are available at www.gov.uk/Windrush
We will be ensuring there is transparency over the Windrush Compensation Scheme. No one applying to the Scheme will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
We have identified one private law claim, which had not been considered at Ministerial level, for compensation of unlawful detention, pre-dating the Windrush Compensation Scheme, involving a member of the Windrush generation, where an NDA was signed. This is not untypical of litigation cases; for many years, and under successive governments, such clauses have been used from time to time in a wide range of litigation and the terms of such settlements are reached on the basis of agreement between the parties.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has asked any members of the Windrush Generation to sign a non-disclosure agreement; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We are currently carrying out a public consultation on the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Details of the consultation, including how to respond, are available at www.gov.uk/Windrush
We will be ensuring there is transparency over the Windrush Compensation Scheme. No one applying to the Scheme will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
We have identified one private law claim, which had not been considered at Ministerial level, for compensation of unlawful detention, pre-dating the Windrush Compensation Scheme, involving a member of the Windrush generation, where an NDA was signed. This is not untypical of litigation cases; for many years, and under successive governments, such clauses have been used from time to time in a wide range of litigation and the terms of such settlements are reached on the basis of agreement between the parties.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure the legality of the admission process of members of the Windrush generation that were detained.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Any decision to detain an individual is taken on the basis of careful consideration of the facts of the individual case. In order to detain an individual there must be a power to detain in legislation. Detention decisions must be in line with statutory detention powers and relevant case law as well as published policy on their use. As the policy makes clear, there is a presumption against detention.
Detention decisions are subject to internal assurance processes, including an initial decision by an operationally independent “Detention Gatekeeper” and initial and subsequent detention reviews. Reviews are conducted regularly at successively more senior levels throughout the period of detention to ensure that detention remains both lawful and appropriate. Case Progression Panels are held for those where detention reaches three months and at three monthly intervals thereafter.
Furthermore, any individual who is detained is entitled to make an application for immigration bail to the First Tier Tribunal. Those not subject to deportation orders are also automatically referred for immigration judge bail every four months. Individuals may also seek to determine the lawfulness of their detention by making an application to the High Court.
Whether we acted lawfully or not in detaining an individual is a matter which could only be determined by the courts looking at the facts of the individual cases.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been held in immigration detention centres in the UK in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office publish data on the number of children entering detention by year and quarter. The data is available in tables dt_02 and dt_02_q of the detention tables.
The latest available data are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending March 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/709326/detention-mar-2018-tables.ods
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many claims of compensation for wrongful immigration detention were (a) received by his Department and (b) successful in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse was of the compensation paid by his Department in that period.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office wrote to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 25 June 2018 detailing information relating to wrongful detention compensation claims. A copy of the response can be found here: https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/home-affairs/Correspondence-17-19/180625_Permanent_Secretary_Immigration%20Enforcement.pdf
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the nationalities were of people held in immigration detention centres in the UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office publish data on the nationalities of people in detention as at the last day of each quarter. Data for those in detention on 31 March 2018 is available in table dt_13_q of the detention tables.
The latest available data are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending March 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/709326/detention-mar-2018-tables.ods
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what statute people of the Windrush generation were detained.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Immigration detention decisions are made under powers in Schedules 2 and 3 to the Immigration Act 1971, section 62 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 or section 36 of the UK Borders Act 2007.
All decisions to detain are taken on the basis of a careful consideration of the individual circumstances of the case in question. Published Home Office policy is clear that there is a presumption in favour of liberty. Where a person is detained for the purpose of removal there must be a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period of time.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps were taken by (a) her Department, (b) removal centres and (c) other organisations to inform the Windrush generation of their rights including their right to (i) challenge detention and (ii) seek bail.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
When an individual is detained they are served with a notice specifying the statutory power under which they have been detained, the reasons for their detention, the factors that have been taken into account in reaching the decision to detain and their entitlement to apply for bail. The notice also contains advice that the Home Office will notify a nominated individual of their detention.
Since 15 January 2018 (the implementation of the Single Power of Bail IA 2016) all individuals detained are provided with the ‘Immigration Bail Information’ document by the detaining officer, which contains information on:
All individuals who are detained are made aware of their right to legal representation, and how they can obtain such representation, within 24 hours of their arrival at an IRC. The Legal Aid Agency operates legal advice surgeries across the detention estate in England, with detainees receiving up to 30 minutes of advice without reference to financial eligibility or merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual in detention may attend. If they require substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid then full legal advice can be provided
Individuals in detention also have regulated access to the internet under the requirements set out in Detention Services Order DSO 04/2016 (Internet access). This enables them to independently identify contact details for immigration legal advisors. Legal reference material is stocked in all IRC libraries and each IRC has a welfare officer who can signpost individuals to information on how to access legal advice.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what access to legal advice and representation was made available to Windrush generation detainees at the time of their detention.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
When an individual is detained they are served with a notice specifying the statutory power under which they have been detained, the reasons for their detention, the factors that have been taken into account in reaching the decision to detain and their entitlement to apply for bail. The notice also contains advice that the Home Office will notify a nominated individual of their detention.
Since 15 January 2018 (the implementation of the Single Power of Bail IA 2016) all individuals detained are provided with the ‘Immigration Bail Information’ document by the detaining officer, which contains information on:
All individuals who are detained are made aware of their right to legal representation, and how they can obtain such representation, within 24 hours of their arrival at an IRC. The Legal Aid Agency operates legal advice surgeries across the detention estate in England, with detainees receiving up to 30 minutes of advice without reference to financial eligibility or merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual in detention may attend. If they require substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid then full legal advice can be provided
Individuals in detention also have regulated access to the internet under the requirements set out in Detention Services Order DSO 04/2016 (Internet access). This enables them to independently identify contact details for immigration legal advisors. Legal reference material is stocked in all IRC libraries and each IRC has a welfare officer who can signpost individuals to information on how to access legal advice.