Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees have been moved to the Bristol City Council area in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We are unable to provide the number of refugees living in each Local Authority, as once refugee status has been granted the individual is not required to keep the Home Office updated on their current location.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been moved to the Bristol City Council area in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office publish figures on the number of asylum applicants living in dispersed accommodation (under Section 95), by local authority, in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The latest release for April-June 2015 is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2015 Figures on Section 95 support by local authority (including those in dispersed accommodation) are published in table as_16q, in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455576/asylum4-q2-2015-tabs.ods
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers the Government plans to resettle in the Bristol City Council area.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Under the Immigration and Asylum act 1999, asylum seekers who need accommodation are housed in communities across the UK according to an agreed ratio, based on various regional factors. This is reviewed regularly. Within each region, UKVI has established working arrangements with local authorities in order to consider dispersal patterns and numbers. This includes consulting key corporate partners in the local area in order to assess regularly the impact of dispersal policy on a particular community.
The COMPASS contract requires providers to liaise and consult with local authorities to ensure that accommodation provided to asylum seekers does not adversely affect local authority developments or community plans. Providers must also take into account the cultural compatibility of the environment; capacity of local health, education and other support services; concentration of accommodation of service users within particular areas; and the assessment of social tension risks.
Following the expansion of the Government's vulnerable person resettlement scheme, we have established a cross-Government committee to oversee the resettlement of vulnerable refugees and we are working closely with them and local authorities about future resettlement.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees the Government plans to resettle in the Bristol City Council area.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Resettlement under the government schemes is voluntary on the part of local authorities. We are grateful to those who take on this role and will continue to work in partnership with them.
We do not disclose the details of where refugees are resettled upon their arrival in the UK under the Government resettlement schemes as this may undermine the privacy and recovery of this vulnerable group of people.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police community support officers were working in police forces in (a) Bristol, (b) Avon and Somerset and (c) England and Wales in (i) 2010 and (ii) according to the most recently available figures.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office collects data on the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) employed by each police force in England and Wales. Figures for Basic Command units, including Bristol, ceased to be collected centrally from 2012 onwards. The table provided contains statistics on the number of PCSOs in Avon and Somerset and England and Wales as at 31 March 2010 and 31 March 2015. The table also contains the available data for Bristol BCU for 31 March 2010. As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.