Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applicants receiving support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 have been receiving that support for more than (a) two, (b) four and (c) six years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The total number of main applicants supported under Section 4 is now well below the peak of 12,019 in the Quarter 3 of 2009, standing at 3,566 in the Quarter 3 of 2014.
The number of main asylum claimants receiving Section 4 support for more than two, four and six years is set out in the table below.
Duration | Number of people |
More than 2 years and up to 4 years | 1,405 |
More than 4 years and up to 6 years | 869 |
More than 6 years | 329 |
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
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: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects to appoint the next Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Answered by James Brokenshire
I refer my honourable Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement of the Home Secretary on 10 February 2015. Reference HCWS274.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children granted discretionary leave to remain were subject to an enforced removal after turning 18 in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not return Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) whose claims have been refused, unless adequate reception arrangements are in place in the country to which the child is to be returned. If adequate
reception arrangements are absent, most unaccompanied children are granted UASC Leave (formally known as UASC discretionary leave) which usually lasts until their 18th birthday.
When a child passes the age of 18 and UASC Leave expires, they are no longer considered to be a UASC and are therefore required to take steps to voluntarily return or seek further leave to remain. If the individual does not seek to
regularise their stay through further applications or leave is not granted they may be removed in accordance with the Immigration Rules and Published Home Office policy should they fail to leave voluntarily.The table below outlines the number of individuals removed in each of the last five years who had previously been granted discretionary leave to remain as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child but has since passed the age of 18 and had
not regularised their leave or left the UK voluntarily.
Year | Total |
2009 | 3 |
2010 | 43 |
2011 | 119 |
2012 | 57 |
2013 | 88 |
2014 | 40 |
Grand Total | 350 |
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people ordinarily resident in the UK have a European Health Insurance Card.
Answered by Jane Ellison
As of 31 December 2014 there were 26,801,935 valid European Health Insurance Cards issued to people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, in circulation.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Nigerian government on implementing the (a) recommendations made by the UK and (b) other recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
At Nigeria’s UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in October 2013, the UK called on the Nigerian government to fully investigate reports of extra judicial killings and torture by the Nigerian security forces, to bring to justice those responsible and to establish a human rights monitoring system.
We continue to raise these and other human rights concerns with the Nigerian authorities, as highlighted at the UPR, such as the death penalty and LGBT rights.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the human rights implications of UK military assistance to the Nigerian government to help combat Boko Haram.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
When providing military assistance to another nation, the Ministry of Defence is required under the UK Government’s Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) Human Rights Guidance to consider the possibility of that assistance directly or significantly contributing to a violation of human rights and to identify measures that mitigate this risk. We continue to follow these stringent guidelines. The UK Government has made clear to the Nigerian authorities at all levels that, whilst we support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, we do not condone human rights violations.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial and material support her Department provides to families who are removed from the UK via pre-departure accommodation.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Families removed from the UK via Cedars pre-departure accommodation are provided with an individual returns support package which can include financial assistance, based on need.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fresh applications for asylum have been (a) made and (b) accepted, in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
There were 905 fresh claims, from main applicants, for asylum in the United Kingdom in 2009, 1,621 in 2010, 969 in 2011, 849 in 2012 and 866 in 2013 (provisional figure). This data can be found at as_01 and as_01_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.
2014 fresh claims data will be released on 26 February 2015.
Asked by: Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have applied for an administrative review under paragraph 34M of Part 1 of the Immigration Rules since 20 October 2014.
Answered by James Brokenshire
According to internal management information,138 people applied for an administrative review under paragraph 34M of Part 1 of the Immigration Rules between 20 October 2014 and 31 December 2014.