Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the UNHCR, Evaluation of the Refugee and Migrant Advice Service’s Alternative to Detention Pilot, published 23 August; and what plans they have to use its findings to inform ministerial decision-making in regard to the development and implementation of alternatives to migrant detention in the UK.

UNHCR’s independent evaluations of the Community Engagement Pilot series found no definitive evidence that community-based case management focused alternatives to immigration detention led to the quicker resolution of individual cases nor represented better value for money. Given that these key tests for the pilots were not met, we have no plans to progress any further community-based case management focused alternatives to immigration detention.

The published Home Office response to the evaluation of the Refugee and Migrant Advice Service pilot can be found within the evaluation report at Appendix C.