Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have received a substantive interview in each (a) of the last five years and (b) quarter of the last five years in (i) the UK, (ii) the North East and (iii) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Whilst we hold data on the current addresses of asylum claimants, the Home Office is unable to state how many asylum applications have received a substantive interview in each (a) of the last five years and (b) quarter of the last five years in (i) the UK, (ii) the North East and (iii) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency, nor can we state the number of asylum applications which have received a decision in each quarter of the last five years from claimants in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency, (b) the North East and (c) the UK as this information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it is not held in a reportable format.
The Home Office does publish data on the number asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration and can be found at Asy_01 of the Transparency data: Q1 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and those processed within 6 months and initial decision outcomes, for main claimants only, found at Asy_D02 and Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics: List of tables - GOV.UK (List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases have been handled by the MP Account Manager team in the last 6 months; and what proportion of these cases received a substantial response within 20 working days.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of Hon. Members written correspondence within 20 working days.
Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, including the unprecedented amount of correspondence about the situation in Afghanistan and more recently in Ukraine. Ministers and officials also had to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Department recognises it has not been able to meet service standard in some cases, but has implemented an action plan to clear backlogs and drive up performance.
Data about intake and performance in answering Hon. Members correspondence are published quarterly with the latest Quarter available at: Customer service operations data: Q4 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and this includes data up to and including the end of quarter 4 - 2021.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for an answer on the UKVI MP Account Manager Team hotline.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis there has been a significant increase in calls to the MP Enquiry Line leading to lengthy wait times for which we apologise.
Normal staffing levels for the MPs Enquiry Line is a maximum of 6 agents available at peak times and this was increased to 16 on Monday 4th April.
We are now seeing a reduction in waiting times and we anticipate call wait times volumes will drop significantly from next week.
To ease pressure on the lines during this period we have requested MPs Offices only use the line for Ukraine queries or non-Ukraine compassionate/urgent cases.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are assigned to the UKVI MP Account Manager Team hotline.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis there has been a significant increase in calls to the MP Enquiry Line leading to lengthy wait times for which we apologise.
Normal staffing levels for the MPs Enquiry Line is a maximum of 6 agents available at peak times and this was increased to 16 on Monday 4th April.
We are now seeing a reduction in waiting times and we anticipate call wait times volumes will drop significantly from next week.
To ease pressure on the lines during this period we have requested MPs Offices only use the line for Ukraine queries or non-Ukraine compassionate/urgent cases.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will allocate extra funding to constabularies to deliver in-depth, face to face and role specific disclosure and rebuttable presumption material training for all officers and staff involved in the submission of files to the CPS.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Training standards and the national policing curriculum are set by the College of Policing. However, forces provide local training and development at several different levels ranging from initial entry, leadership and ongoing development.
Following the revised Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure coming into force at the end of 2020, the College have updated their core curriculum and a suite of learning products, including videos, was developed by the College and National Police Chiefs’ Council to explain the changes to the guidance.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce an independent mechanism for police pay.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) is an independent body that considers and make recommendations to the Government on the appropriate level of pay and allowances for police officers. The Home Secretary’s remit letter asks the PRRB for recommendations on how to apply the pay award for 2022/23.
The PRRB gathers and invites parties to submit evidence to inform its decisions. This includes both written and oral evidence from the Government, police employers and police staff associations. The PRRB weigh the evidence, consider independent research, and formulate detailed recommendations.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 112 of the Levelling Up in the United Kingdom White Paper, how much and what proportion of the total £100 million investment in Project ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) has been allocated to Newcastle.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Through Project ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) we are trail-blazing a whole-system response to combatting drug misuse. Project ADDER combines targeted and tougher policing with enhanced treatment and recovery services.
We have already committed a total of £59 million investment for Project ADDER from 20/21 - 22/23. Through the Government drug strategy entitled ‘Hope over Harm’ published on 6 December, we have also committed to extending Project ADDER for two more years until 2025.
To date, the Newcastle ADDER project has been allocated a total of £3.3m for FY 2021-23. This includes £2.2m for Newcastle Council and £1.1m for Northumbria Police over two years. Further details of how ADDER sites can access funds to support the extension of projects for further two years will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of community-based alternatives to detention for female asylum seekers in response to the unpublished findings of the Action Access pilot which concluded in March 2021.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We have been working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the Action Access pilot and they have appointed the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to independently evaluate this work. The evaluation report of the Action Access pilot is scheduled for publication this month. The report will include the Home Office’s response to the findings.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to correspondence dated 8 September 2021 from the Rt Hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The correspondence from the Rt Hon. Member of 8 September was not received by the Home Secretary or the Home Office, which has led to a delay in response. A copy of the Rt Hon. Member’s correspondence has now been retrieved from his office, prioritised for response and I will respond shortly.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the (a) eight cases between February and May 2021 and (b) seven cases between June and August 2021 relating to UKVI raised with her Department by the hon Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office has responded to 18 of the Rt Hon Member’s written enquiries between February and August 2021 and will provide substantive responses to any outstanding enquiries as quickly as possible