Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how he plans to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the support for newly recognised refugees under the new asylum advice and accommodation contracts.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Accommodation and support services will continue for 28 days from when an asylum seeker has been granted asylum. During this period the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) Provider, Migrant Help, will assist newly recognised refugees to access local housing and benefit services through their dedicated ‘Move-On’ service. Within one working day of notification of the decision by the Home Office, Migrant Help will contact newly recognised refugees to help prepare them for their new lives in the UK.
This improved service includes: providing information on the length of ‘grace period’ and next steps on support, accommodation and employment; booking an appointment with the local Department of Work and Pensions office for a ‘work focussed interview’; signposting Service Users to the relevant Local Authority housing team; and providing information on, and signposting Service Users to, relevant public services, local support networks and voluntary sector organisations.
As part of the AIRE contracts, this service, will include clearly defined performance standards measured through a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set within a wider Performance Management Regime (PMR). These KPIs will be monitored formally at Contract Management meetings between the providers and representatives of UK Visas and Immigration and will be supported by a rigorous contract compliance regime that will ensure that the required performance standards are met.
The Home Office and its Provider remains committed to working in partnership with local government and civil society to evaluate, develop and improve services.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that children who make an asylum application in the UK are not incorrectly identified as adults.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Age assessment is a highly complex and challenging area of work. There is no single method or combination of methods which can accurately predict age. The Home Office’s approach reflects our commitment to promote and safeguard the welfare of all children. A key part of this is identifying adults who are seeking to pass themselves off as children and ensuring that children are correctly identified at the earliest opportunity.
Where clear and credible documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the process to assess whether a person is under 18. In these circumstances, the Home Office will treat a person claiming to be a child as an adult only where their physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggest they are 25 years of age or over.
When there is doubt about an individual’s claim to be a child, Home Office policy is to refer them to the relevant local authority to carry out a careful “Merton compliant” age assessment, which must be carried out by two social workers and must adhere to guidelines set out by the Courts.
The Home Office keeps its policies and processes under review and we remain committed to striking the right balance between ensuring that children who claim asylum are appropriately supported and maintaining the integrity of the asylum system by preventing adults being treated as children.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect of that Department's policies on resettled refugees; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We continue to engage with colleagues in central government to ensure that all those we resettle are aware of, and receive, the support they are entitled to. This includes regular dialogue with DWP concerning how to support refugees, both through formal meeting structures, and informally as specific issues arise.
It is right that the UK continues to offer a safe and legal route to the UK for the most vulnerable refugees, for whom resettlement is the only durable solution. We continue to engage with international and domestic delivery partners and stakeholders as we prepare to transition to the new resettlement scheme in 2020 and work through detailed policy of the new scheme.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he takes to ensure that recommendations made by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration are implemented by his Department.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office is committed to reform across all areas of the Border, Immigration and Citizenship System and works hard to address and implement those ICIBI recommendations it accepts.
Progress is tracked through regular reviews and reported to senior officials, while detailed updates on progress and implementation are shared with the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration on a regular basis.
The Department engages with the ICIBI’s inspection programme. This includes an assessment of how the Department has implemented earlier ICIBI recommendations for any re-inspections.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to announce additional details of the integrated programme to resettle an additional 5,000 refugees from 2020-2021.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We continue to engage with colleagues in central government to ensure that all those we resettle are aware of, and receive, the support they are entitled to. This includes regular dialogue with DWP concerning how to support refugees, both through formal meeting structures, and informally as specific issues arise.
It is right that the UK continues to offer a safe and legal route to the UK for the most vulnerable refugees, for whom resettlement is the only durable solution. We continue to engage with international and domestic delivery partners and stakeholders as we prepare to transition to the new resettlement scheme in 2020 and work through detailed policy of the new scheme.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average time taken was for UK Visas & Immigration to process indefinite leave to remain applications in each year since 2010; what proportion of those applications application were responded to outside of the 20-day service standard; and what the average number of days was for those response times that exceeded the service standard.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We do not publish this specific data for all applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), however the vast majority of such cases are dealt with within the service standard of 6 months (which applies to straightforward applications, where the customer has met all their obligations). Where an application is defined as non-straightforward, due to complexity, the customer will be written to within the normal processing time to explain why it will not be decided within the normal standard, and to explain what will happen next).
The published statistics on leave to remain applications that have been processed within service standard can be found in the migration transparency data release https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-february-2019 at: InC_02: Percentage of In-Country visa applications, for each Route, processed within Service Standards.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to her Written Statement of 23 July 2018 on Government Response to Caste Consultation, HCWS898, if she will ensure that (a) the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance and (b) other non-Government organisations working with victims of caste-based discrimination are able to comment on and input into that draft guidance.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government Equalities Office will engage with a range of organisations involved in the issue of caste and the Equality Act 2010, before the guidance is published.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to her Written Statement of 23 July 2018 on Government Response to Caste Consultation, HCWS898, whether the guidance for employers, service providers and public authorities will be statutory guidance linked to the relevant sections of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We intend to issue non-statutory guidance.