Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were housed in (a) Brook House Immigration Removal Centre and (b) Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre at the start of each of the last six months; and what proportion of maximum capacity that represents.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The immigration removal estate is kept under ongoing review to ensure that the Home Office has sufficient capacity, in the right places and that it provides value for money.
The Home Office will maintain sufficient capacity to support the removal of the men and women it proves necessary to detain for the purposes of removal. In order to meet operational needs and demands, we will continue to operate the immigration removal estate in a flexible manner.
The Home Office publishes statistics on people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on people in detention under immigration powers are published in table Det_D02 of the Detention detailed datasets. The data can be broken down by place of detention. The latest data release relates to the number of people in detention at the end of June 2021.The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on detention.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what security clearance is required by staff working with people housed in hotels in the Gatwick area under her Department’s policies.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To respond to your question we have interpreted it as requiring this information for supported asylum seekers, resettled refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking minors and have provided information on that basis.
The Home Office do not routinely publish the numbers of people accommodated in hotels, or what hotels are used for accommodation, however we do publish information on the numbers of people accommodated in each local authority, which includes hotel accommodation at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2021
The Home Office considers the cost of accommodation to be commercially confidential and does not publish this information.
Staff employed by our providers working within hotels are required to have security clearance (SC) and a DBS check. Those staff who are employed by the hotel do not require security clearance unless their employers have clearance within their terms & conditions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels in the Gatwick area house people under her Department’s policies.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To respond to your question we have interpreted it as requiring this information for supported asylum seekers, resettled refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking minors and have provided information on that basis.
The Home Office do not routinely publish the numbers of people accommodated in hotels, or what hotels are used for accommodation, however we do publish information on the numbers of people accommodated in each local authority, which includes hotel accommodation at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2021
The Home Office considers the cost of accommodation to be commercially confidential and does not publish this information.
Staff employed by our providers working within hotels are required to have security clearance (SC) and a DBS check. Those staff who are employed by the hotel do not require security clearance unless their employers have clearance within their terms & conditions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of her Department’s policy of housing people in hotels in the Gatwick area in each of the last six months; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To respond to your question we have interpreted it as requiring this information for supported asylum seekers, resettled refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking minors and have provided information on that basis.
The Home Office do not routinely publish the numbers of people accommodated in hotels, or what hotels are used for accommodation, however we do publish information on the numbers of people accommodated in each local authority, which includes hotel accommodation at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2021
The Home Office considers the cost of accommodation to be commercially confidential and does not publish this information.
Staff employed by our providers working within hotels are required to have security clearance (SC) and a DBS check. Those staff who are employed by the hotel do not require security clearance unless their employers have clearance within their terms & conditions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were housed in hotels in the Gatwick area under her Department’s policies at the start of each of the last six months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To respond to your question we have interpreted it as requiring this information for supported asylum seekers, resettled refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking minors and have provided information on that basis.
The Home Office do not routinely publish the numbers of people accommodated in hotels, or what hotels are used for accommodation, however we do publish information on the numbers of people accommodated in each local authority, which includes hotel accommodation at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2021
The Home Office considers the cost of accommodation to be commercially confidential and does not publish this information.
Staff employed by our providers working within hotels are required to have security clearance (SC) and a DBS check. Those staff who are employed by the hotel do not require security clearance unless their employers have clearance within their terms & conditions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2021 to Question 41108, how travellers without access to the internet are able to complete the Passenger Locator Form.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All passengers must complete the Passenger Locator Form online, however, once completed they can print off their finished form to show carriers before departing to the UK.
Passengers may seek assistance, from family, friends or another third party, to complete on their behalf.
There are dedicated helplines for members of the public who are encountering issues with completing the PLF form. Whilst these helplines can provide advice, they cannot complete the form on behalf of the passenger.
The contact telephone number from within the UK is 0800 678 1767 and is open Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm. These calls are free of charge.
The contact telephone number when outside the UK is 0044 207 113 0371 and is open Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm. These calls are charged dependant on the network provider.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Welsh Government to identify and encourage applications from eligible individuals in Wales to the EU Settlement Scheme who did not apply by 30 June 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information of applications and concluded applications by UK country to 31 March 2021 are published in Tables EUSS_01 and EUSS_03_WAL of the quarterly EUSS statistics tables (EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has so far invested nearly £8 million in marketing campaigns to encourage eligible EEA nationals and their family members to apply to the EUSS, and provided grant funding of £22 million through to 30 September 2021 to a network of now 72 organisations across the UK working to help vulnerable groups to apply.
Plans have been shared with communication colleagues in the Devolved Administrations throughout to align and support respective efforts; and core assets have consistently been produced in Welsh translation and shared widely. We will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, community organisations and others to encourage remaining EEA nationals and their family members eligible for the EUSS to apply and secure their rights in the UK.
We have made clear we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications and have already published non-exhaustive guidance on what will be considered reasonable grounds for making one.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number and proportion of eligible people in Wales who did not apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by the 30 June 2021 deadline.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information of applications and concluded applications by UK country to 31 March 2021 are published in Tables EUSS_01 and EUSS_03_WAL of the quarterly EUSS statistics tables (EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has so far invested nearly £8 million in marketing campaigns to encourage eligible EEA nationals and their family members to apply to the EUSS, and provided grant funding of £22 million through to 30 September 2021 to a network of now 72 organisations across the UK working to help vulnerable groups to apply.
Plans have been shared with communication colleagues in the Devolved Administrations throughout to align and support respective efforts; and core assets have consistently been produced in Welsh translation and shared widely. We will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, community organisations and others to encourage remaining EEA nationals and their family members eligible for the EUSS to apply and secure their rights in the UK.
We have made clear we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications and have already published non-exhaustive guidance on what will be considered reasonable grounds for making one.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of pending applications to the EU Settlement Scheme are from applicants in Wales.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The latest published information of applications and concluded applications by UK country to 31 March 2021 are published in Tables EUSS_01 and EUSS_03_WAL of the quarterly EUSS statistics tables (EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Home Office has so far invested nearly £8 million in marketing campaigns to encourage eligible EEA nationals and their family members to apply to the EUSS, and provided grant funding of £22 million through to 30 September 2021 to a network of now 72 organisations across the UK working to help vulnerable groups to apply.
Plans have been shared with communication colleagues in the Devolved Administrations throughout to align and support respective efforts; and core assets have consistently been produced in Welsh translation and shared widely. We will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, community organisations and others to encourage remaining EEA nationals and their family members eligible for the EUSS to apply and secure their rights in the UK.
We have made clear we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications and have already published non-exhaustive guidance on what will be considered reasonable grounds for making one.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2020 to Question 71114, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the immigration rules to ensure that Welsh language skills are awarded equal points as English, including a date whereby final conclusions of that assessment will be published.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are continuing to explore the role of the Welsh language in our immigration system, reflecting its importance to both the communities where it is spoken and to the UK as a whole. Language skills are an important part of integration for those coming to work, study or settle in the UK.