Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason Afghan refugees are being moved from York.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office currently does not have any Afghan bridging hotels in York.
To help people rebuild their lives here, we have a duty to end the practice of families living in hotels in the UK. This is in the best interests of families and individuals and will enable them to benefit from the security of housing and long-term consistency of public services. This includes schooling, and the freedoms of independent living that only suitable non-hotel accommodation can provide.
Further information about the support that the government has stood-up can be found at New support for Afghans in UK hotels to find settled housing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 174212 on on Afghanistan: Refugees, if he will publish the data for (a) April 2023 (b) May 2023.
Answered by James Heappey
Since December 2022, as and when relocation to the UK has become possible for individuals or families, we use commercial flights, rather than RAF or charter flights, to bring individuals to the UK. Hence, no RAF Voyager or commercial flights have flown from Pakistan to the UK between December 2022 and March 2023.
Month | Total RAF flights departed Pakistan organised by MOD |
Nov 2022 | 2 |
Dec 2022 | 0 |
Jan 2023 | 0 |
Feb 2023 | 0 |
Mar 2023 | 0 |
Apr 2023 | 0 |
May 2023 | 0 |
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's factsheet on offers of settled accommodation for Afghan refugees in bridging hotels, published on 24 April 2023, what recent guidance she has issued to local authorities to assist with helping Afghan refugees to secure private rented accommodation through the Find Your Own Accommodation scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All eligible Afghan citizens who come to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have valid immigration status, which means that they have the right to work, the right to rent, access to education and healthcare and can apply for public funds.
The Find Your Own (FYO) accommodation pathway has been established and empowers Afghan families to source their own accommodation, rather than the Home Office. Council support staff in hotels will work closely with households to help them navigate the pathway.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) own the FYO accommodation policy. Guidance has been made available to local authorities on the FYO accommodation pathway and how to support those on Afghan Resettlement Schemes looking to move into the private rented sector. Local authorities have also been provided with resources which can be distributed to Afghan households on the FYO accommodation pathway. This includes information on the support available, the process, advice on guarantors and how to search for a home. Local authorities can access all available resources on Knowledge Hub.
Whilst the Home Office are unable to provide the requested breakdown of the numbers participating in the FYO accommodation scheme, Home Office officials continue to work at pace, alongside c.350 local authorities across the UK, to meet the demand for housing.
The latest Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022, published on 23 February, show that over 9,000 people have now been supported into settled accommodation (This breaks down as c.8,500 moved into homes with an additional c.500 matched but not yet moved).
In December, DLUHC announced the £500 million Local Authority Housing Fund for English councils to obtain housing for those fleeing conflicts (including Ukrainians and Afghans). It is expected to deliver up to 500 homes for Afghan households including larger, complex families. As announced on 28 March this fund is being expanded by £250m with the majority of the additional funding used to provide further housing for Afghans currently in bridging accommodation, and the rest used to ease existing homelessness pressures.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding his Department has allocated in total for local authorities to support Afghan refugees into private rented accommodation through the Local Authority Tariff and Housing Costs Fund; and how much funding has been allocated to each local authority which has agreed to assist refugees through the Find Your Own Accommodation scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All eligible Afghan citizens who come to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have valid immigration status, which means that they have the right to work, the right to rent, access to education and healthcare and can apply for public funds.
The Find Your Own (FYO) accommodation pathway has been established and empowers Afghan families to source their own accommodation, rather than the Home Office. Council support staff in hotels will work closely with households to help them navigate the pathway.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) own the FYO accommodation policy. Guidance has been made available to local authorities on the FYO accommodation pathway and how to support those on Afghan Resettlement Schemes looking to move into the private rented sector. Local authorities have also been provided with resources which can be distributed to Afghan households on the FYO accommodation pathway. This includes information on the support available, the process, advice on guarantors and how to search for a home. Local authorities can access all available resources on Knowledge Hub.
Whilst the Home Office are unable to provide the requested breakdown of the numbers participating in the FYO accommodation scheme, Home Office officials continue to work at pace, alongside c.350 local authorities across the UK, to meet the demand for housing.
The latest Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022, published on 23 February, show that over 9,000 people have now been supported into settled accommodation (This breaks down as c.8,500 moved into homes with an additional c.500 matched but not yet moved).
In December, DLUHC announced the £500 million Local Authority Housing Fund for English councils to obtain housing for those fleeing conflicts (including Ukrainians and Afghans). It is expected to deliver up to 500 homes for Afghan households including larger, complex families. As announced on 28 March this fund is being expanded by £250m with the majority of the additional funding used to provide further housing for Afghans currently in bridging accommodation, and the rest used to ease existing homelessness pressures.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to help Afghan refugees who have not secured settled accommodation through (a) a direct offer and (b) the Find Your Own Accommodation scheme by the time the bridging hotel accommodation ends.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All eligible Afghan citizens who come to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have valid immigration status, which means that they have the right to work, the right to rent, access to education and healthcare and can apply for public funds.
The Find Your Own (FYO) accommodation pathway has been established and empowers Afghan families to source their own accommodation, rather than the Home Office. Council support staff in hotels will work closely with households to help them navigate the pathway.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) own the FYO accommodation policy. Guidance has been made available to local authorities on the FYO accommodation pathway and how to support those on Afghan Resettlement Schemes looking to move into the private rented sector. Local authorities have also been provided with resources which can be distributed to Afghan households on the FYO accommodation pathway. This includes information on the support available, the process, advice on guarantors and how to search for a home. Local authorities can access all available resources on Knowledge Hub.
Whilst the Home Office are unable to provide the requested breakdown of the numbers participating in the FYO accommodation scheme, Home Office officials continue to work at pace, alongside c.350 local authorities across the UK, to meet the demand for housing.
The latest Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022, published on 23 February, show that over 9,000 people have now been supported into settled accommodation (This breaks down as c.8,500 moved into homes with an additional c.500 matched but not yet moved).
In December, DLUHC announced the £500 million Local Authority Housing Fund for English councils to obtain housing for those fleeing conflicts (including Ukrainians and Afghans). It is expected to deliver up to 500 homes for Afghan households including larger, complex families. As announced on 28 March this fund is being expanded by £250m with the majority of the additional funding used to provide further housing for Afghans currently in bridging accommodation, and the rest used to ease existing homelessness pressures.
Across the UK, we will provide over £7,000 per person of flexible funding to enable LAs to support move-on from hotels, consisting of a much more flexible allocation of the existing Housing Costs Fund and £4.1k per person of new funding. This new funding recognises the additional burdens being place on councils to support Afghans into settled homes as quickly as possible and in a way that makes sense locally. The flexibility of this funding looks to provide councils with the ability to address the key supply and affordability challenges this cohort face in accessing their own accommodation.
Alongside this new, flexible funding, we will also increase the flexibility of the wraparound support payment to enable it to be used more widely for housing costs, including capital spend where necessary to support moves out of hotels.
The Home Office is unable to provide the amount allocated to each local authority participating in the FYO accommodation scheme.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 26 April 2023 to Question 181331 on Refugees: Families, if she will make it her policy to include evidence of risk of (a) violence against women and girls in Iran and (b) mass arrests at peaceful protests as a compelling reason to prioritise a family reunion application.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
It is not appropriate to set out through policy a prescriptive list of circumstances which may lead to an application being prioritised. Instead, where the out-of-country operational team receives a request for prioritisation from an applicant or their representative, a manager will undertake a holistic consideration of the applicant’s individual circumstances to determine whether it should be prioritised.
Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. That is the fastest route to safety.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on concluding the application process for a family reunion visa with reference GWF062464506.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This visa application is currently under consideration.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Home Office response to report on re-inspection of family reunion applications, published 21 February 2023, and the accepted recommendation from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration to implement a mechanism to triage family reunion applications after biometrics have been submitted and before the decision-making stage, when the dedicated team to work on this will be in place.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Secretary has fully accepted all the recommendations made in the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration regarding family reunion applications.
Following the recommendations made, the Home Office has already undertaken a review of resourcing for consideration of Family Reunion visa applications, and have a dedicated resource to identify, for example, unaccompanied children and prioritise their applications.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Home Office response to report on re-inspection of family reunion applications, published on 21 February 2023, and the accepted recommendation from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) to introduce criteria for expediting applications based on vulnerability, when this criteria will be incorporated into family reunion policy guidance.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Family Reunion guidance was published on 12 April 2023. This introduced a prioritisation process which includes the expedition of all applications from unaccompanied children. Requests for prioritisation from applicants or their representatives will be determined by a manager, who will undertake a holistic consideration of the applicant’s circumstances.
We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for all family reunion applications.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Home Office response to report on re-inspection of family reunion applications, published on 21 February 2023, and the accepted recommendation from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) to dedicate staffing resource to urgently address the work in progress (WIP) prioritising family reunion applications from children separated from both parents, how many full time equivalent decision maker posts (a) are already in place for family reunion applications and (b) will be created to implement that recommendation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has fully accepted all the recommendations made in the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration regarding family reunion applications.
Following the recommendations made, the department has already undertaken a review of its’ resourcing for consideration of Family Reunion visa applications, and we are currently in the process of increasing number of decision makers to speed up processing times.
Since 2015 we have granted approximately 45,000 family reunion visas to the family members of refugees. We prioritise all applications where the application has been made by an unaccompanied child, under the age of 18. We will also prioritise applications where there is an evidenced urgent or compelling reason to do so.