Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to provide community-based alternatives to immigration detention for women.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Department will keep under review the feasibility of alternatives to detention, taking account of effectiveness and cost efficiency, as part of our plans to transform the asylum and returns system.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of suspending refugee family reunion applications on (a) women, (b) children and (c) other vulnerable groups.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The suspension of the refugee family reunion route is temporary while the Government undertakes a full review and reform of the current family rules to ensure we have a fair and properly balanced system. In the meantime, those with protection status can use other family routes to sponsor a partner and child to come to the UK. Information relating these changes are published on gov.uk at Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 1298, 4 September 2025 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce the criminalisation of asylum-seeking survivors of violence against women and girls.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Asylum-seeking victims of VAWG must be treated as victims, first and foremost. We recognise the challenges asylum-seeking victims of VAWG can face and the VAWG Strategy will include more detail on our approach to criminalisation of victims of VAWG. It is vital that we get this right, and we are committed to publishing the Strategy as soon as possible.

We are committed to delivering an asylum process that is gender sensitive, building on the Government’s wider strategy to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG).

In addition, the Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing the refugee move-on period to 28 days on levels of risk to women of (a) homelessness and (b) exposure to violence and abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

From 1 September 2025, the Home Office has taken the decision to pause the 56 day move on period pilot for single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision, with the exception of individuals who are pregnant, over the age of 65 or have a known/evidence disability, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act. All families and single adults that fall within the exception criteria granted asylum will continue to be given the 56-day pilot move on period until the end of December. We are committed to providing all our partners with appropriate notice of any further changes to the Move On period through our regular engagement forums and in writing.

We closely monitor the impact of all our policies, including the move on period, on the number and occupancy of asylum hotels, the overall costs of the asylum accommodation estate, the wider effect on local communities, and any pressures placed on local authorities and public amenities. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to identify improvements and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees move on from asylum accommodation. We are committed to keeping our partners informed through regular engagement.

This Government is also delivering a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 14 August 2025 from the hon. Member for Aberdeen North, reference ZA35390, CMS Reference: 121024945817 and 73911701.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department aims to respond to all ministerial correspondences within 20 working days, but there may be instances where there is additional information needed that may cause delays.

The correspondence in question was sent to DWP Ministerial Correspondence team on 18 August. As it was in relation to a Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operational matter, it was directed to CMS to address. A response will be sent by 16 September 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the compatibility of (a) the Government’s commitment to halving levels of violence against women and girls within a decade and (b) the detention of women in immigration removal centres.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Asylum-seeking victims must be treated as victims, first and foremost. We recognise the challenges asylum-seeking victims of VAWG can face and the VAWG Strategy will include more detail on our approach to migrant victims of VAWG. It is vital that we get this right, and we are committed to publishing the Strategy as soon as possible.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department carried out an economic impact assessment prior to suspending refugee family reunion.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Impacts on vulnerable individuals and equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, we consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, refugee family reunion is no exception.

The Home Office has carried out and published an Economic Note on the changes to the Immigration Rules on 4 September 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department carried out an equality impact assessment prior to suspending refugee family reunion.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Impacts on vulnerable individuals and equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, we consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, refugee family reunion is no exception.

The Home Office has carried out and published an Economic Note on the changes to the Immigration Rules on 4 September 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her department plans to publish statistics on the time taken by newly recognised refugees to submit family reunion applications.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.

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