Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the cost of housing asylum seekers in (a) hotels, (b) private rental accommodation and (c) council housing in each of the last five financial years.

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

The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of small boat crossings since 4 July 2024.

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

The Border Security Command was established to provide strategic leadership in tackling small boats, ensuring our approach is informed by a single and shared understanding of the threat through the integrated use of intelligence, assessments, data and evidence. The Command has an established process for monitoring and evaluating work underway, including assessing delivery and monitoring trends in arrivals. The Government keeps all options to tackle small boat crossings, and the Organised Crime Groups behind them, under constant review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the countries with which the Government is conducting negotiations for the return of illegal migrants. started.

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

Listing the countries with which the Government is conducting negotiations relating to the return of illegal migrants, either to their country of origin or a country through which they travelled to the UK, would be unhelpful in fostering and building on relations which are vital in supporting the tackling of illegal migration and targeting the gangs that prey on the vulnerable.

Bilateral returns agreements are one of many tools that facilitate returns and support international returns co-operation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her priorities are to tackle illegal immigration; and how these differ from her immediate predecessor.

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

As the Home Secretary has set out, she will do whatever it takes to secure our borders; working to restore order to the asylum system, ensuring that the rules are properly respected and enforced, and working upstream to tackle those facilitating illegal migration.

The now embedded Border Security Command (BSC) is leading the national response to preventing small boats crossing the English Channel. The BSC work closely with the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, and overseas counterparts in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Iraq. This collaborative approach has already led to widely publicised raids, arrests, and new bilateral agreements that will further strengthen enforcement and intelligence-sharing over the coming months.

To ensure we restore order to the asylum system, we are committed to meaningful reform of our current immigration system and processes. We will legislate to reform our approach to the application of Article 8 in the immigration system. Alongside this we will also pursue international reform, working closely with our partners in the Council of Europe. These reforms will restore the correct balance between individual rights and the wider public interest of controlling migration.

Funding for Ely and Haughley Rail junction upgrades

Found: Tidball (Labour; Penistone and Stocksbridge) Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat; South Devon) Patrick Spencer