Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department decided to track only the first 10,000 successful applicants through the managed migration pilot and not to track unsuccessful applications.

Subject to parliamentary approval, we have sought powers to conduct a pilot phase of Managed Migration, to track up to a maximum of 10,000 claimants through the process. The goal of the pilot is to learn as much as possible and to increase numbers as slowly and gradually as necessary, and there will be safeguards in the process to ensure that no-one is left behind. We will report on our findings from the pilot before bringing forward legislation to extend managed migration.

We have said that all individuals will be tracked all the way through the pilot process and understanding the reasons for unsuccessful applications will be an important part of the pilot. However, there will be safeguards in place to protect those who might otherwise fail to make a successful claim.

The Department is committed to finding those who will need support and will help them through the process, including home visits where necessary. This will give an indication of the size of the support requirement which will be key information for any future scaling.

Our stakeholders and partners will also play a key role and we will work with partners to ensure we reach people who might otherwise be missed, and the further development of these delivery relationships is a major aspect of this phase of the programme.