Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2022 to Question 18775 on Human Trafficking: Prosecutions, how many people have been successfully prosecuted for people smuggling since December 2019.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office aims to tackle the organised crime gangs behind illegal migration. The Home Office works tirelessly, with other national and international law enforcement authorities, to tackle migrant smuggling gangs who organise and profit from illegal crossings and to bring to justice the ruthless criminals behind them. We are determined to go after the callous people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people in difficult circumstances and put them in life-threatening situations.
The Joint Intelligence Cell has dismantled 59 organised crime groups since its inception in July 2020. This year alone, the Cell has so far secured the arrests of 384 suspected people smugglers. The Cell records activity undertaken by UK and French law enforcement agencies.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people smugglers who aid migrants to illegally cross the English Channel have been (a) identified and (b) prosecuted in each month since January 2021.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office aims to tackle the organised crime gangs behind illegal migration. The Home Office works tirelessly, with other national and international law enforcement authorities, to tackle migrant smuggling gangs who organise and profit from illegal crossings and to bring to justice the ruthless criminals behind them. We are determined to go after the callous people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people in difficult circumstances and put them in life-threatening situations.
The Joint Intelligence Cell has dismantled 59 organised crime groups since its inception in July 2020. This year alone, the Cell has so far secured the arrests of 384 suspected people smugglers. The Cell records activity undertaken by UK and French law enforcement agencies.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are projected to be in receipt of asylum support for more than one year in financial years (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24, and (c) 2024-25.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum seekers in receipt of support in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest publication (November 2022) can be found here Immigration and protection data: Q3 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (opens in a new tab) of the workbooks. Data are published on a quarterly basis. The latest information was published 24 November 2022.
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, the duration of their receipt of support or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been in receipt of asylum support for more than one year in each of the last five calendar years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum seekers in receipt of support in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest publication (November 2022) can be found here Immigration and protection data: Q3 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (opens in a new tab) of the workbooks. Data are published on a quarterly basis. The latest information was published 24 November 2022.
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, the duration of their receipt of support or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated by (a) her Department and (b) FCDO in departmental budgets for financial year 2022-23 to cover support costs for people in receipt of asylum support for more than one year.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The United Kingdom has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and other support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
The Departmental allocation for asylum support in 2022/23 main estimates was £1026m. This was funding provided directly by HM Treasury . We are in negotiations with HM Treasury through the supplementary estimates process regarding additional funding requirements. Funding allocations are based on the total asylum population, not how long individual asylum seekers have spent in the system.
FCDO is not allocated funding by HM Treasury for costs relating to asylum support in the UK and so has not allocated funding to cover such costs in 2022/23.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated by (a) her Department and (b) FCDO in departmental budgets for financial year 2022-23 to cover support costs for people in receipt of asylum support.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The United Kingdom has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and other support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
The Departmental allocation for asylum support in 2022/23 main estimates was £1026m. This was funding provided directly by HM Treasury . We are in negotiations with HM Treasury through the supplementary estimates process regarding additional funding requirements. Funding allocations are based on the total asylum population, not how long individual asylum seekers have spent in the system.
FCDO is not allocated funding by HM Treasury for costs relating to asylum support in the UK and so has not allocated funding to cover such costs in 2022/23.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the possible compensation due to asylum-seekers as a result of the conditions at Manston asylum centre.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Decisions to detain people are not taken lightly. We will robustly defend decisions subject to legal challenge, when appropriate to do so, with a decision to defend or concede based on the merits of the individual case.
The facility at Manston provides suitable welfare provisions including hot food, fresh clothing, toilet facilities, sanitary packs and medical care. It provides for all the basic needs of people who will have arrived tired, cold, in wet clothing and who may not have eaten during their journey. We will continue to innovate to provide for the basic needs of those in our care and to ensure the safety of everyone at Manston as a priority.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of asylum-seekers in hotel accommodation awaiting an inadmissibility decision.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The significant increase in dangerous journeys across the Channel is placing unprecedented strain on our asylum system and it has made it necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers. The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.
Statistics relating to supported asylum seekers temporarily residing in contingency accommodation are published as Immigration Statistics under the S98 population tables. The latest publication (March 2022) can be found here Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition)(opens in a new tab).
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average length of time spent by an asylum-seeker waiting for a decision on inadmissibility.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Published statistics on inadmissibility can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2021/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to#inadmissibility
The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of these statistics which provide an average length of time to reach an inadmissibility decision. Those figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the draft Written Ministerial Statement emailed by the Home Secretary to the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings was market sensitive.
Answered by Suella Braverman
I wrote to the Home Affairs Select Committee Chair on 31 October and a copy of the letter was placed in the House Libraries - I refer the Rt. Hon. member to that letter.