Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17238 on Migrants: Domestic Violence, for what reason his Department does not routinely publish information on the concession or immediate settlement for migrant victims of domestic abuse in a reportable format; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing the number of individuals who have claimed indefinite leave to remain through the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (a) in each year between 2018 and 2023 and (b) annually from 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data relating to specific concessions within the Act are not published as part of the National Statistics series. The latest quarterly Immigration Systems Statistics were published in February 2024, and include data for the period to December 2023. Table Se_04, “Grants of settlement to spouses on the basis of marriage”, is included within the Settlement summary tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d8880b54f1e70011165916/settlement-summary-dec-2023-tables.xlsx.
Table Se_04 provides data on persons “Granted settlement due to domestic violence after leave to remain granted as a spouse”. The published statistics do not show how many or what proportion of these would have applied under DDVC.
There are currently no plans to publish the requested information within these tables. However, the contents of all tables are regularly reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and meet the requirements of users.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department provides funding to the Home Office Islamic Network; and how much staff time was taken to run that network in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Faith and Belief networks in the Home Office do not receive any Home Office funding for their activities.
The chairs of all Faith and Belief networks including Christian, Islamic, Jewish Networks, Hindu Connection and Sikh Association are permitted up to 20% facility time with executive committee members receiving 10% to carry out network related activities.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications for citizenship were refused in each year since 1994.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Historical data relating to those who applied to naturalise/registration can be found here:
These summary tables report those who were naturalised, registered, or refused on tab Cit_02 since 1987.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of Afghan nationals who are family members of individuals resettled to the UK under pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme who have (a) applied for and (b) been granted (i) entry clearance under refugee family reunion rules, (ii) leave outside those rules and (iii) leave to enter or remain in the UK under other immigration routes.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government continues to work with partners in the region to evacuate eligible people and are committed to bringing more Afghans to the UK in the long term. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under both the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Public data giving the requested breakdown of family members is not available; however, the latest published statistics, summarised at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), show that, at the end of December 2023, 10,520 have been relocated under ACRS, with 9,706 individuals resettled under Pathway 1 of this scheme so far.
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under ACRS Pathway 1 without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited in the first half of this year. Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason sponsors are required to obtain consent from people they are sponsoring abroad before his Department will process queries; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of this change on the processing time of sponsorship cases.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data protection legislation requires the sponsor of an application to have written consent from the applicant giving them permission to receive information about their immigration matter before the Home Office can share details about the application with the sponsor.
The processing of applications is not itself affected by this requirement.
For MP enquiries, the MP Account Management (MPAM) Team require third party constituents to provide evidence of permission to show they are acting on behalf of another data subject. This is known as a Letter of Authority (LOA). MPs are given five working days to provide an LOA. If the MP has difficulties obtaining a LOA in this period, the Home Office will extend this period as long as they are notified that an extension is required within the original 5 working day window.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to support sponsors in obtaining consent from persons abroad within the five-day deadline; and what support his Department provides for cases where obtaining such consent within the deadline is not possible.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data protection legislation requires the sponsor of an application to have written consent from the applicant giving them permission to receive information about their immigration matter before the Home Office can share details about the application with the sponsor.
The processing of applications is not itself affected by this requirement.
For MP enquiries, the MP Account Management (MPAM) Team require third party constituents to provide evidence of permission to show they are acting on behalf of another data subject. This is known as a Letter of Authority (LOA). MPs are given five working days to provide an LOA. If the MP has difficulties obtaining a LOA in this period, the Home Office will extend this period as long as they are notified that an extension is required within the original 5 working day window.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of asylum seekers presenting as homeless.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Asylum seekers are not eligible for statutory homelessness assistance. The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when people whose cases had been on hold as part of the Review of applications by Tier 1 (General) migrants refused under paragraph 322(5) of the Immigration Rules and where time spent in the UK as such a migrant formed a part of the consideration can expect to receive a decision on their outstanding applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not publish statistics on legacy cases.
Currently, there is one outstanding case which will be concluded shortly.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the applications from Tier 1 (General) migrants which were refused under paragraph 322(5) that were subject to review have been decided following the completion of the Review of applications by Tier 1 (General) migrants refused under paragraph 322(5) of the Immigration Rules.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not publish statistics on legacy cases.
Currently, there is one outstanding case which will be concluded shortly.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's press release entitled 100th asylum hotel set to close next week, published on 20 March 2024, how many of the 100 hotels closed by the end of March 2024 were used to accommodate personnel relocating through the (a) Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and their families.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
None of the 100 hotels were used to accommodate people relocating through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by region or constituency.