Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure family reunion applications made by people from Iran at risk of persecution are processed in a timely way.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
It is our long established policy to prioritise applications where there is a particularly urgent or compelling reasons to do so.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for her Department to make a decision on a refugee family reunion application in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information regarding processing times for family reunion applications is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a visa scheme for Rohingya people to relocate to the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK already welcomes refugees and people in need through the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme Under these schemes, refugees are assessed and referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) according to their submissions criteria, which are based on at-risk people’s needs and vulnerabilities. In addition to this, the Government provides a safe and legal route to bring families together through its refugee family reunion policy. The UK has a proud record of providing protection for people fleeing war and persecution. Between 2015 and December 2022, just under half a million (481,804) people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This allows immediate family members as defined in the Immigration Rules of those granted protection in the UK to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she will take to enable the parents of children who have come to the UK from Afghanistan under the UNHCR scheme, and are currently fostered by British families, to come to the UK so that they can resume their parenting roles.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UNHCR refer refugees who have fled Afghanistan under Pathway 2 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), based on assessments of protection needs and vulnerabilities. Those we resettle under Pathway 2 (and the ACRS as whole) may be accompanied by their immediate family members, including spouse or partner and dependent children under 18 years.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2023 to Question 162117 on Afghanistan: Refugees, how many Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (a) principals and (b) dependents were housed in bridging hotels on 15 March 2023 following their relocation to the UK under that scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All those resettling under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) or Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), have recourse to public funds and the right to work and study.
We are working intensively across government, and in partnership with local authorities across the country to both bring down the number of people in bridging hotels and help families move into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible so they can put down permanent roots. Local authorities currently receive integration tariff funding of £20,520 per person, over three years, for each Afghan family they resettle and provide full integration support to for this duration.
Statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes is available in the Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022(opens in a new tab) release.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she will take to provide safe routes for family reunification.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government already provides a safe and legal route to bring families together through its refugee family reunion policy. This allows the partner and children of those granted protection in the UK to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country. Our family reunion policy has reunited many refugees with their family members; since 2015 more than 44,659 family reunion visas have been granted.
Our policy also makes clear that there is discretion to grant visas outside the Immigration Rules, which caters for extended family members where there are compelling compassionate factors or relevant factors under Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights. In addition, there are separate provisions in the Rules such as paragraph 319X to allow extended family to sponsor children to come here where there are serious and compelling circumstances.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of English lessons on the ability of refugees residing in hotels to integrate into the local community.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Councils with bridging hotels in their area have been commissioned by the Home Office to deliver hotel wraparound support to people on the Afghan resettlement schemes. As part of the wraparound support, Local Authorities should provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) support for residents to support integration and enable guests to move on to permanent accommodation and settle into new communities, access jobs and services.
Local Authorities who resettle families will also receive £850 for English language provision for adults requiring this support. This funding is available to Local Authorities who resettle families under the 3-year ACRS/ARAP scheme with effect from 1 September 2021.
Those over the age of 19 will have immediate access to funding through the Department for Education’s Adult Education Budget and be eligible for fully funded ESOL courses.
Additionally, DLUHC is supporting the Home Office to develop an integration package for the Afghan families, which includes a further 12-month support package for English (ESOL) of £850 per adult.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to prevent homelessness amongst Ukrainian refugees in the UK.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As we have set out previously, we always knew that it was sadly inevitable that a small proportion of sponsorships would fail and that there was a risk that sponsors would be unable to continue sponsoring after the conclusion of their initial period of hosting. We therefore took the decision to extend the period when sponsors can receive ‘thank you’ payments and to increase the payments for those whose guests have been in the country for over 12 months. Councils have a duty to ensure families have temporary housing and they receive government support for each Homes for Ukraine guest in their area for precisely this eventuality. In addition, we have set out further support, details of which can be found here.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing English language support for refugees.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All refugees and those granted protection in the UK should be able to fully integrate into life here and become self-sufficient, providing for themselves and their families, and contributing to the economy. Refugees in the UK have access to mainstream benefits and services to enable their integration and we are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees.
The Government recognises the ability to speak English is key to helping refugees integrate into life in the UK, as well as to breaking down barriers to work and career progression.
The Government is committed to offering an enhanced integration package for refugees arriving through safe and legal routes, to help them integrate and become self-sufficient more quickly. This will be delivered in England through the Refugee Employability Programme (REP), centred on the three key pillars tailored employment support, integration support and English language training.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a National Integration Strategy to help improve refugee integration outcomes.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All refugees and those granted protection in the UK should be able to fully integrate into life here and become self-sufficient, providing for themselves and their families, and contributing to the economy. Refugees in the UK have access to mainstream benefits and services to enable their integration and we are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees.
The Government recognises the ability to speak English is key to helping refugees integrate into life in the UK, as well as to breaking down barriers to work and career progression.
The Government is committed to offering an enhanced integration package for refugees arriving through safe and legal routes, to help them integrate and become self-sufficient more quickly. This will be delivered in England through the Refugee Employability Programme (REP), centred on the three key pillars tailored employment support, integration support and English language training.