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Written Question
Migrants: Detainees
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have absconded from immigration detention in each year since 2004.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on escapes from immigration detention in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on escapes from detention centres and absconds from escort is published by year in table Det_05a of the ‘Detention summary tables’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The published data covers the period from 2017 to 2023. Data prior to 2017 is not published. Data for the year 2024 is due to be published in the August 2025 edition of the publication.


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing number of migrant deaths when attempting to cross the English Channel.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Channel crossing attempts by migrants in small boats have always been lethally dangerous, with the Channel being a very busy shipping lane. The first recorded fatalities occurred in August 2019. Since the start of 2024, there have been 12 fatal incidents involving the deaths of 37 people. Crossings are getting more and more dangerous as time goes on, with the danger and the risk rising as quality of boats deteriorates and more people are crammed on board.

The ‘vessels’ used to make these crossings are not of commercial manufacture. They are poorly constructed, from cheap and flimsy materials, are unseaworthy, underpowered, and lack safety equipment. They founder frequently, and for each fatal incident there are plenty of other near misses where boats have begun to deflate and people have gone in the water.

The criminal gangs who facilitate these crossings have no interest in the welfare of their clients, only in the pursuit of profit. It is for this reason that boats are increasingly seen to be overcrowded, with the most vulnerable packed into the middle of the boat where crushing and other injuries, such as fuel burns, become more likely.

We are working closely with the French to reduce the risk to life from these crossings and with partners across Europe to bring the evil people smuggling gangs to justice.


Written Question
Home Office: Equality
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many positions in her Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Home Office does not routinely collate information on specific words and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.

Information on spending and staffing can be found in the Department's annual report and accounts.


Written Question
Asylum: Housing
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which 10 local authorities in the UK had the most asylum seekers in the most recent year for which figures are available, and how much funding each of those 10 local authorities received to support asylum seekers.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly.  This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.

The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.

  • Grant 7 was launched in April 2024 to facilitate local authority support of increased dispersal accommodation (DA) accommodation.  The £3500 payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, overflow dispersal accommodation (ODA) and initial accommodation (IA).
  • Grant 6 was launched in April 2024 to acknowledge the contribution of Local Authorities to supporting asylum seekers.  A payment of £750 was made for each occupied bedspaces as of 01 April 2024 and a subsequent payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, ODA and IA and contingency accommodation (CA).

Written Question
Asylum: Housing
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which 10 local authorities in the UK had the most asylum seekers supported by the Home Office by proportion of population in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly.  This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.

The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.

  • Grant 7 was launched in April 2024 to facilitate local authority support of increased dispersal accommodation (DA) accommodation.  The £3500 payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, overflow dispersal accommodation (ODA) and initial accommodation (IA).
  • Grant 6 was launched in April 2024 to acknowledge the contribution of Local Authorities to supporting asylum seekers.  A payment of £750 was made for each occupied bedspaces as of 01 April 2024 and a subsequent payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, ODA and IA and contingency accommodation (CA).

Written Question
Immigration: Windrush Generation
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost was to the public purse of (a) legal fees and (b) related costs incurred for the rejection of freedom of information requests between 30 March 2020 and 9 September 2024 seeking the publication of the report entitled, The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We do not know the total legal fees incurred as we have not yet been billed for the complete period between 30 March 2020 to 9 September 2024, but we expect the final cost to be in the region of £20,000-£22,500. There was no awarding of costs in the First Tier Tribunal judgment that the Department must disclose the Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal report. The only other costs incurred were Home Office officials’ time.


Written Question
Overseas Students: Visas
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Accreditation UK scheme for institutions providing courses to students on a Sponsored Study visa.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

International students using the student and child student routes must be sponsored by an education provider that holds a Student sponsor licence.

Education providers wishing to sponsor international students must obtain and maintain a Home Office Sponsor licence to do so and must be assessed for educational quality by an Educational Oversight body. We keep our immigration policies and Student sponsorship system under constant review.


Written Question
Asylum: Applications
Wednesday 18th September 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of former asylum applicants who have withdrawn their applications (a) have left the country and (b) her Department knew the location of in each year since 2015.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not routinely publish the information you have requested, we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
British Nationality: Assessments
Tuesday 17th September 2024

Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) names and (b) addresses are of all test centres used for the Life in the UK Test.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The full list of Life in the UK test centres as of 10 September 2024 is as follows:

Name of test centre

Address

Town/City

Postcode

PSI @ North East Scotland College

Ground Floor, North East Scotland College, Gallowgate

Aberdeen

AB25 1BN

People 1st Belfast

Rosemont, 89 Malone Road,

Belfast

BT9 6SP

PSI Birmingham

Gateway House, 3rd Floor, 50-53 High Street

Birmingham

B4 7SY

Community Training Portal Blackburn

Suite 15, Kings Court, Kings Street,

Blackburn

BB2 2DH

MTS@Vantage Point, Brighton

7th floor, Vantage Point, New England Rd, Brighton

Brighton

BN1 4GW

Pitman/go train Bristol

Unit 9, Hide Market, Waterloo Road, St Philips

Bristol

BS2 0PL

MTS Cardiff

5th Floor, 5-7 Market Chambers, 5-7 St Marys Street

Cardiff

CF10 1AT

MTS Coventry

1st floor, 101 Lockhurst Lane

Coventry

CV6 5SF

PSI Croydon

8th Floor, Grosvenor House, 125 High Street

Croydon

CR0 9XP

MTS @ Edinburgh

40 Sciennes, Newington

Edinburgh

EH9 1NJ

Episkopi e-LC

Episkopi LC

Episkopi/Cyprus

BFPO 58

We Can Train Pitman

Exam rooms Park Five Business Centre, Harrier Way, Sowton Industrial Estate

Exeter

EX2 7HU

PSI Glasgow

Adelphi Centre, 12 Commercial Road

Glasgow

G5 0PQ

Iranian Association

222 King Street, Hammersmith

Hammersmith

W6 0RA

Computer Learning Centre Hounslow

65 Kingsley Road

Hounslow

TW3 1QB

PSI Nairn Inverness

Nairn Community & Arts Centre

Inverness

IV12 4BQ

PSI at The Hub Business Centre Ipswich

2nd floor, Room 16a , 2 Civic Drive

Ipswich

IP1 2QA

PSI Leeds

Part 4th Floor, Oxford House, Oxford Row

Leeds

LS1 3BE

PSI Leicester

5th Floor, 60 Charles Street

Leicester

LE1 1FB

PDA (Training) Ltd Lewisham

107-109 Lewisham High Street

Lewisham

SE13 6AT

PSI Liverpool

1 Union Court, 4th Floor

Liverpool

L2 4SJ

Community Training Portal Luton

114-134 Midland Road,Luton,

Luton

LU2 OBL

Synod Solutions @ Maidstone

1st floor, 114 Kestrel House, Knight Rider Street,

Maidstone

ME15 6LU

PSI Manchester

6th Floor, Boulton House, 17-21 Chorlton Street

Manchester

M1 3HY

MTS Milton Keynes

Gloucester House, MTS Ground Floor , 399 Silbury Boulevard

Milton Keynes

MK9 2AH

PSI Newcastle

Arden House, 4th Floor, Regent Centre, Gosforth

Newcastle

NE3 3LU

PSI Norwich

Room 23-24, Ground Floor, Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street

Norwich

NR3 1JU

Community Training Portal Nottingham

2 Pelham Court, Pelham Road, CTP Ground Floor (Palmer House)

Nottingham

NG5 1AP

PSI Oxford

Unit 1 (first entrance at the rear of the building), Watlington House, Watlington Road

Oxford

OX4 6NF

PSI Penrith

Ground floor,Eden Rural Foyer,Old London Rd

Penrith

CA11 8ET

PSI at Online Exams Peterborough

Sefton House, Adam Court, Newark Road

Peterborough

PE1 5PP

PSI eAssessment Plymouth

Cobourg House, 3rd Floor, 32, Mayflower Street

Plymouth

PL1 1QX

Pitman/We can train Portsmouth

Portsmouth Technopole, Kingston Crescent

Portsmouth

P02 8FA

Preston Academy of English

38 Ormskirk Road

Preston

PR1 2QP

PSI Reading

Highline, 6th Floor, 30 Greyfriars Road

Reading

RG1 1PE

PSI Sheffield

The Synergy Building, Bank Street Entrance, Bank Street, Hartshead

Sheffield

S1 2EL

PSI Stratford

2nd Floor, Boardman House, 64 Broadway, Stratford, London

Stratford

E15 1NT

Computeraid

4th Floor, 11 Wind Street

Swansea

SA1 1DP

Community Training Portal Watford

Suite W2 & W3 Victoria House, 45-47 Vicarage Road

Watford

WD18 0DE


Written Question
British Nationality
Tuesday 17th September 2024

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the right to British citizenship under the British Nationality Act 1981 is not confused or conflated with the powers and discretion delegated to the Home Secretary to manage the immigration system including naturalisation of adult migrants.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

In line with the duties introduced by the Equality Act 2010, the Home Office undertakes an equality impact assessment whenever decisions are taken on policy relating to registering statutory rights to British citizenship. Most recently, equality impact assessments were undertaken when changes were made to Section 3(1) British Nationality Act 1981 and on the introduction of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.

There are various provisions within the British Nationality Act 1981 that allow for children born in the UK to register as British citizens. The Home Office has published clear and easy to follow guidance for applications under each of these sections. Home Office caseworkers are trained to carry out their duties to ensure that those who apply and meet the statutory requirements are granted citizenship.