Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 24 March (HL6373), why, over the past 13 years, they have allowed the UK to have a "broken asylum system".
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The significant increase in dangerous journeys across the Channel is placing unprecedented strain on our asylum system. Those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach rather than risking their lives or paying people smugglers to make the dangerous journey across the Channel.
The UK has a proud history of supporting refugees and since 2015, we have offered a place to just under half a million men, women and children seeking safety – including those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, as well as family members of refugees
Our focus will remain on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability, as the best way to help the most vulnerable who are at risk of war and persecution is through safe and legal routes.
This bypasses the evil criminal gangs and protects vulnerable people, including children.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government who has statutory responsibility for unaccompanied children seeking asylum who are in interim accommodation provided by the Home Office before they are placed under the care of a local authority.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Whilst an unaccompanied child is in interim accommodation provided by the department, the Home Office will do whatever is reasonable to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. However, this does not impact the statutory duties owed to unaccompanied children by local authorities at this or any other time. It is for the relevant local authority to consider its duties under the Children Act 1989. The Home Office does not have, and therefore cannot discharge, duties under Part 3 of the Children Act 1989.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people entered the UK legally on a visa each year from 2015 to 2022; and of those, how many have remained in the UK illegally by overstaying their visa.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics quarterly release’. Data on visas granted are published in table Vis_D02 of the ‘Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes’ detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q4 (October to December) 2022. Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘Entry clearance visas summary tables’. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on visas.
Please note that the published Home Office entry clearance visa statistics show the number of visa applications and outcomes, but this may not necessarily equal the total number of individuals arriving in the UK on visas (for example, some visas may be unused, or some individuals may apply for more than one visa in a given period).
The Home Office also publishes data on the number of instances of individuals either departing late or having no record of departure against their leave in the published ‘Reports on statistics relating to exit checks’, with the latest data relating to the year ending March 2020. Please note, the data cannot tell us the number of 'overstayers' as some people may have departed on time but not been picked up in the data (for example those leaving the UK via the Common Travel Area from the UK to Ireland).
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which countries they have had discussions with over the last three years about receiving people who have arrived in the UK wishing to seek asylum; and which of those countries stated that they do not wish to receive and process such individuals from the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We are unable to comment on discussions that may be being held with other countries. We are, however, committed to working closely with international partners as we act on fixing our broken asylum system.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people came to the UK seeking asylum for each year from 2002 to 2022; and of those, how many were granted asylum.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.uk. Data on outcomes of asylum applications raised in specific years can be found in table Asy_D04 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’ on GOV.uk. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
The latest data relate to 2021 and are accurate as of June 2022. An update to this table will be published in August 2023, which will include data for 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ on GOV.uk.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Greater Manchester Police concerning any evidence of instances of unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have gone missing while staying in hotels, and who may have been taken by gangs involved in crime.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have no unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) hotels in Greater Manchester. The Home Office can confirm that those responsible for the care of UASC in temporary accomodation have not had discussions with Greater Manchester Police.
The Home Office takes the wellbeing, welfare and security of children and minors in our care extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with local authorities.
When a young person who has previously gone missing from an emergency interim UASC Hotel is encountered or located, the Police force where the young person is missing from should be notified. If the young person was located by another Police force in a different area then the force dealing with the missing persons case will liaise with them regarding the circumstances of the encounter and how they came to locate the young person. This will assist both forces with identifying whether there are any concerns regarding possible trafficking; exploitation or other potential criminal activities that may require investigation.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on any children who run away or go missing from home or care home, states that young people who go missing should be offered a Return Home Interview. This can help understand why the young person went missing as well as identify any harm that may have occurred to them as well as possible risks that might need to be addressed.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals seeking asylum in the UK the government of Rwanda have agreed to receive and process in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have been discussing a range of scenarios with the Government of Rwanda around volumes of relocations. The current planning envisages several thousand people being relocated to Rwanda each year.
It should be noted that the arrangement is uncapped, and Rwanda has plans in place to scale up their ability to support more relocations if needed.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have signed agreements with any countries, other than Rwanda, to remove those seeking asylum in the UK and to process their asylum applications; and if so, what are those countries.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We are unable to comment on discussions that may be being held with other countries. We are, however, committed to working closely with international partners as we act on fixing our broken asylum system.
This ground-breaking Partnership is a model that could be replicated elsewhere, and we are always willing to work with partners around the world to tackle this joint challenge.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have arrived in the UK in the last two years seeking asylum; how many of those seeking asylum arrived by small boats; and of those who arrived by small boats, how many (1) waited, or (2) are waiting, for over six months to have a decision made on their asylum application.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ report and on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on gov.uk.
The latest data on the asylum outcomes of small boat arrivals is published in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK, year ending December 2022’ release. Data on all asylum applications is published in table Asy_D01 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.
The Home Office does not publish the duration time of asylum-seeking small boat arrivals awaiting a decision. However, data on all asylum applications awaiting a decision is published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals who arrived in the UK by small boats in the last two years have had a decision on their application for asylum; and of those that have had a decision, how many were granted asylum.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ report and on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on gov.uk.
The latest data on the asylum outcomes of small boat arrivals is published in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK, year ending December 2022’ release. Data on all asylum applications is published in table Asy_D01 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.
The Home Office does not publish the duration time of asylum-seeking small boat arrivals awaiting a decision. However, data on all asylum applications awaiting a decision is published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.