Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals against decisions (a) not to award and (b) to stop support provided under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 there have been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Appeals relating to Asylum Support are heard in the First-tier Tribunal Social Entitlement Chamber (Asylum Support) which is administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes official statistics on the operation of HMCTS which includes the number of Asylum Support appeals received in each of the last five years. These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the most recent official statistical publication (covering the period up to the end of September 2014) can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
HMCTS does not collate information on the volume of cases received broken down by decision type. This information could only be provided at a disproportionate cost by manually checking individual tribunal files for the period in question.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the residence test for civil legal aid with Article 16 of the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
We believe that in principle, individuals should have a strong connection to the UK in order to benefit from the civil legal aid scheme. We therefore intend to introduce a residence test for civil legal aid requiring applicants to be lawfully resident in the UK, Crown Dependencies or British Overseas Territories at the time they apply for civil legal aid and have resided there lawfully for at least 12 continuous months in the past.
We are satisfied that the residence test is fully compatible with our domestic and international legal obligations, including the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the ability for individuals detained for immigration purposes at HM Prison The Verne to access (a) legal and (b) health services.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
HM Prison The Verne started taking immigration detainees from 24 March 2014 as scheduled . The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will retain The Verne as a prison in the short term.
While The Verne retains its designation as a prison it will be governed by Prison Rules rather than Detention Centre Rules. Detainees held at The Verne are treated in the same way as other detainees held within the prison estate. As such they have access to appropriate heath care and legal advice. Independent immigration advice is provided on site by Migrant Help. In addition, detainees are able to telephone Detention Action, and BID (Bail for Immigration detainees).
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his plans are for HMP The Verne.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
HM Prison The Verne started taking immigration detainees as scheduled from 24 March 2014. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will retain The Verne as a prison in the short term but its population will comprise immigration detainees as planned with the Home Office.
NOMS intends to review the designation of The Verne later this year, with the intention of completing the re-designation to an immigration removal centre by the end of September 2014.
All foreign national offenders (FNOs) sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.
The Ministry of Justice and the Home Office are committed to working together to expedite the removal of foreign criminals. NOMS will always supply sufficient prison places for those committed by the courts.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2013, Official Report, column 772W, on Judicial Review, what further assessment has been made of the reasons for the increase in the number of applications for judicial review.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The use of judicial review more than tripled between 2000 and 2013, from around 4,300 applications to around 15,700. The increase has been driven mainly by immigration and asylum cases but civil judicial reviews have increased by around 27% over the same period, from 1,745 in 2000 to 2,210 in 2013.
In 2012 only around 1,400 of 7,600 applications considered for permission, including at an oral renewal, were granted permission to proceed to a final hearing. Between 1 October 2012 and 31 December 2013 around 30% of judicial reviews which reached the permission stage or oral renewal were found to be totally without merit.
The governemnt is determined to improve the judicial review process. The rationale for the Government's reforms is set out in ‘Judicial review: further proposals for reform – the Government response' (https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/judicial-review). The Government is determined to improve the judicial review process so that it is not open to abuse and arguable cases can proceed quickly to final resolution.
The Government is clear that judicial review is, and will remain, an important means to ensure the actions of Government and other bodies are lawful.