Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people from Sudan applying for entry clearance to the UK have requested that (a) the biometric enrolment process be excused and (b) the application be predetermined since April 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on the number of applications that are excused from the biometric enrolment process and those that are pre-determined due to applicants undertaking unsafe journeys.
Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the current UK immigration system to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. They enable comprehensive checks to be made against immigration and criminality records to identify those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, immigration controls, or are likely to breach our laws if they are allowed to come to the UK.
The threshold in the unsafe journeys guidance for excusing the requirement to attend a visa application centre is deliberately set at a high-level because of the need to protect the integrity of the UK border. If we do not know about a person's identity we are less able to assess the risks they may pose to the public. This is why we would only excuse applicants from being required to attend a visa application centre to enrol their biometrics in circumstances that are so compelling as to be exceptional.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and in what proportion of cases he has (a) excused the biometric enrolment process and (b) predetermined the application for people applying for entry clearance to the UK from Sudan since April 2003.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on the number of applications that are excused from the biometric enrolment process and those that are pre-determined due to applicants undertaking unsafe journeys.
Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the current UK immigration system to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. They enable comprehensive checks to be made against immigration and criminality records to identify those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, immigration controls, or are likely to breach our laws if they are allowed to come to the UK.
The threshold in the unsafe journeys guidance for excusing the requirement to attend a visa application centre is deliberately set at a high-level because of the need to protect the integrity of the UK border. If we do not know about a person's identity we are less able to assess the risks they may pose to the public. This is why we would only excuse applicants from being required to attend a visa application centre to enrol their biometrics in circumstances that are so compelling as to be exceptional.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people accused by Educational Testing Service of cheating in its Test of English for International Communication have received compensation from the Government; and how much has been paid out in that compensation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of support provided to asylum seekers on levels of poverty among asylum seekers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of destitute asylum seekers. Support is usually provided in the form accommodation and a weekly allowance. Additional support is also available to pregnant women, young children, and individuals who have exceptional needs over and above those of the average supported asylum seeker or their dependants.
The level of the allowance is reviewed each year to ensure it covers an individual's “essential living needs”. Full details of the items that are considered essential are set out in reports on gov.uk. Following the 2023 review, allowances have increased for many supported individuals including pregnant women and young children.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 25 November 2022 to Question 93420, 1 December 2022 to Question 97406 and 19 October 2023 to Question 203428, by what date he expects the Atlas caseworking system will provide further information on the number of applicants having the No Recourse to Public Funds condition attached to their Leave to Remain.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Transition of in-country casework to ATLAS is underway and will become the default caseworking system for in-country casework routes by June 2024.
Following transition of in-country casework, ATLAS will therefore become the primary source of MI, including No Recourse to Public Funds, by mid-June 2024.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan households who arrived in the UK under Operation Warm Welcome remain in interim hotels under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK has made one of the largest commitments of any country to support those impacted by events in Afghanistan.
The last publication of Afghan Resettlement Operational data released on the 30 September 2023 (updated on 23 November 2023) shows the following: 1,674 people, around half of whom are children, were living in interim accommodation (i.e., hotels/serviced accommodation) at the end of September 2023. This number changes frequently as those within interim move into settled accommodation.
For more information on individuals within interim accommodation, including nationality, age and sex breakdowns, see table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets. For data on those in accommodation by location, see the regional and local authority immigration groups data tables.
We are unable to provide a running commentary on interim accommodation occupation. The next release of Afghan Operational Data is scheduled for around the 22 February 2024.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the correspondence of 5 April 2023 from the Children’s Commissioner to the Secretary of State entitled Statutory information request on Home Office accommodation of children seeking asylum, on how many of the variables listed in the data summary his Department holds data for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In relation to the Children’s Commissioners correspondence, for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) who have been accommodated in hotels, the Home Office holds data on all variables outlined in the ‘data request summary’ excluding variable 8 and 23.
There were elements of the data requested which were not held in an electronically retrievable form and would have required the manual check of over 5,000 records. The Home Office were unable to provide all of the data as it would have required a high level of manual resource to obtain at a time of high operation demands. The Home Office did reach out to the Children’s Commissioners office in May 2023 to offer an alternative option to enable the commissioner to review children’s records, although this offer was turned down.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of complaints concerning asylum accommodation were escalated to (a) the accommodation provider and (b) his Department in 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 25 November 2022 to Question 93420 and 1 December 2022 to Question 97406, what recent estimate she has made of the date by which the Atlas caseworking system will provide further information on the number of applicants having the No Recourse to Public Funds condition attached to their Leave to Remain.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
ATLAS will become the default caseworking system for in-country casework by early to Mid-2024.
Following transition of in-country casework, ATLAS will therefore become the primary source of MI, including No Recourse to Public Funds, by early to Mid-2024.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Educational Testing Service will be permitted to tender to provide the Secure English Language Test.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office will follow the ‘Government Commercial Function: Standards on GOV.UK’ which define how all Government Departments should operate commercially to ensure strong commercial behaviours and delivering Value For Money (VFM). Non-compliance risks breaching ‘Managing Public Money (GOV.UK)’ guidelines that means the Accounting Officer cannot be assured of VFM. It could also be unlawful if actions do not comply with the laws relating to the procurement of public contracts. The primary laws in relation to the award of public contracts are the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) on legislation.gov.uk where we are required to treat all suppliers equally and without discrimination and shall act in a transparent and proportionate manner.
This opportunity would be advertised in the usual manner and any interested party should register interest via Find a Tender service Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk)