Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with women who have first-hand experience of seeking asylum about (a) their experiences of the asylum system in the UK and (b) potential changes to the asylum system that would benefit women and girls.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to the most vulnerable people in genuine need, including women, and this will not change. This government remains committed to delivering a gender-sensitive asylum system ensuring that all those who seek asylum are treated with dignity and respect.

The Nationality and Borders Bill will deliver the Government’s New Plan for Immigration – the most comprehensive reform in decades, to fix the broken asylum system. The reformed asylum system will continue to strive to provide a system which is sensitive to gender and trauma-related needs, for example continuing to provide the opportunity for all those claiming asylum to be interviewed by an individual of the same gender and a trauma informed approach to actively avoid the re-traumatisation whilst an individual is in the asylum system.

We are taking into account the recently received report ‘We want to be strong’, commissioned research, experiences of those seeking asylum and welcome engagement through our stakeholder networks. Engagement, including on the New Plan for Immigration, is already underway, as we build a system that is fair, but firm; which safeguards those who may be vulnerable; and protects against any unintended consequences.