Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of an inquiry into safeguarding measures in relation to asylum accommodation in the context of reports of 200 missing asylum-seeking children
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in emergency interim hotels are safe and supported whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of specialist social workers and nurses.
We have no power to detain UASC in hotels and we know some do go missing. Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located. Children’s movements in and out of hotels are monitored and recorded and they are accompanied by support workers when attending organised activities and social excursions off-site, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.
When a young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised alongside the police and local authorities, to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
Regarding an inquiry; the Home Secretary is taking advice from officials and considering the appropriate next steps.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the use of hotel accommodation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and if she will take steps to review that assessment in the context of reports of missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The rise in the number of UASC crossing the Channel in small boats means there are significant challenges on providing local authority care places for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give some unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst Local Authority accommodation is found. The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are as safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a Local Authority.
When considering whether to accommodate UASC in Home Office operated hotels, advice and guidance was sought from organisations with expertise and experience with young people. These included the Department for Education, Safeguarding Advice and Children’s Champion and Local Authorities.
Safeguarding is a key consideration when identifying potential hotels for temporary use by the Home Office to accommodate UASC. Hotel specific risks assessments are completed and mitigation against risks put in place. If the facility is not considered appropriate, we do not continue to pursue the hotel as an option.
We are clear that we must end the use of hotels as soon as possible. We are providing Local Authorities with children’s services with £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to recruit an Anti-Corruption Champion.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
An announcement on a new champion will be made in due course.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to accelerate the decision-making process for asylum applications from people from Syria.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All asylum claims are considered on a case by case basis and in line with published policy. Claims by Syrian nationals will be considered in the same way as claims from any other nationality.
We are taking immediate action to rapidly speed up processing times and eliminate the backlog of people waiting for initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023.
To accelerate decision making we are driving productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes: shorter, more focussed interviews; removing unnecessary interviews; making guidance simpler and more accessible; dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded; recruiting extra decision makers; and allocating dedicated resources for different nationalities.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing asylum seekers the right to work while they await a decision on their asylum application.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Asylum seekers are allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is she taking to support those fleeing domestic abuse in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A central part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.
The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors.
The commitments it made include doubling funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline. And with the Ministry of Justice, we committed to provide multi-year funding for support services. This will offer more stability and consistency for service users, as services will not be dependent on yearly grants. It will help to ensure delivery of high-quality support throughout any increases in the cost of living.
The Plan also committed to establish trials of a ‘flexible fund’, which charities could use to provide extra money to victims and survivors in light of cost of living pressures. This money could be used to help them flee an abuser.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) financial and (b) personal impacts of delayed immigration decisions on people awaiting a decision.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UKVI has faced extremely high pressures over the past two years. All visa routes have seen extremely high demand following the end of the pandemic and the easing of travel restrictions.
UKVI is working hard to reduce processing times and is now back within service standard across a number of our visa routes. UKVI is working hard to speed up decision making by rolling out more efficient technology, including digital interviewing, moving away from a paper-based system, and recruiting more decision-making staff. UKVI have updated guidance on expected waiting times so that customers have a realistic indication of how long their applications will take to be processed. We encourage customers to continue to refer to these updates as our processing times change on a regular basis. The link to this guidance for in country applications is: Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and out of country applications is: Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for immigration decisions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UKVI has faced extremely high pressures over the past two years. All visa routes have seen extremely high demand following the end of the pandemic and the easing of travel restrictions.
UKVI is working hard to reduce processing times and is now back within service standard across a number of our visa routes. UKVI is working hard to speed up decision making by rolling out more efficient technology, including digital interviewing, moving away from a paper-based system, and recruiting more decision-making staff. UKVI have updated guidance on expected waiting times so that customers have a realistic indication of how long their applications will take to be processed. We encourage customers to continue to refer to these updates as our processing times change on a regular basis. The link to this guidance for in country applications is: Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and out of country applications is: Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual reports 2019 to 2021, published on 26 October 2022, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) investigating that report's findings on animal welfare in laboratories and (b) taking steps to support scientists in the development of new approach methodologies to help reduce animal testing.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Regulator has strengthened its regulatory oversight and published its process establishment audits at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-research-technical-advice#process-and-standards-for-establishment-full-system-audits. The audit process includes an animal welfare assessment.
Government policy is to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved through funding UK Research and Investment who fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and fund further research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.
The Regulator has a responsibility to assess all project licence applications for the full application of the principles of the 3Rs and all licence holders have a standard condition in their licences that requires them to deliver the 3Rs. In addition, all establishments have an Animal Welfare and Ethical Review body that has a responsibility to advise the Establishment Licence Holder and Project Licence Holders on the 3Rs.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to speed up the average processing time for applications to the (a) the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and (b) the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Applications for Ukraine Schemes are processed as quickly as possible whilst ensuring that the appropriate checks and safeguarding measures are in place. Staff from other departments were brought in to assist and many remain in place to maintain caseworking capacity.