Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the circumstances in which refugees who arrive in the UK after passing through an EU country can still, under certain circumstances, be returned to the first EU country they entered, under the Dublin Regulation (EU Regulation No 604/2013).

The UK is no longer bound by the Dublin Regulation and as such no longer returns asylum seekers under these provisions.

The UK is in discussions regarding the returns of asylum seekers to European Union Member States; however, it would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on these negotiations.

Returns may also be agreed with partner countries on a case-by-case basis without formal agreements. This happened historically, outside of the former Dublin arrangements, and will continue to be part of the approach we apply.

Our inadmissibility provisions in the Immigration Rules give us the legal basis to declare an asylum claim as inadmissible where a person has a connection to, or has passed through, a safe country. The first returns on inadmissibility grounds have been successfully carried out.