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 employment 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: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the ages of all the Afghan refugees being moved from London to Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are not able to provide the data on ages requested, the recent update to the published 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data', shows that, at 4th November 2022: 9,242 people, around half of whom were children, were living in temporary accommodation such as hotels.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) on case working systems. Once this work concludes, further statistics on both schemes will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
We acknowledge that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, however, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels and support people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible. In order to deliver value for money to the taxpayer, we are consolidating the number of bridging hotels being used, by maximising capacity in hotels which have available rooms and rooms being returned back to hotels that are not being used or do not match family requirements.
This sometimes means families can be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In this case, families were notified in September 2022 that the Home Office contract was ending in February 2023, and have been supported by their Home Office Liaison Officer and Local Authority every step of the way since then. This includes the receiving Local Authorities, who are responsible for allocating school places and ensuring that suitable health care support is in place.
There is an acknowledged shortage of longer-term housing for all, nevertheless, we continue to work tirelessly with over 350 local authorities to house and support Afghan families.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what type of accommodation is being arranged in Yorkshire for Afghan refugees being moved from London.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are not able to provide the data on ages requested, the recent update to the published 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data', shows that, at 4th November 2022: 9,242 people, around half of whom were children, were living in temporary accommodation such as hotels.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) on case working systems. Once this work concludes, further statistics on both schemes will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
We acknowledge that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, however, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels and support people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible. In order to deliver value for money to the taxpayer, we are consolidating the number of bridging hotels being used, by maximising capacity in hotels which have available rooms and rooms being returned back to hotels that are not being used or do not match family requirements.
This sometimes means families can be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In this case, families were notified in September 2022 that the Home Office contract was ending in February 2023, and have been supported by their Home Office Liaison Officer and Local Authority every step of the way since then. This includes the receiving Local Authorities, who are responsible for allocating school places and ensuring that suitable health care support is in place.
There is an acknowledged shortage of longer-term housing for all, nevertheless, we continue to work tirelessly with over 350 local authorities to house and support Afghan families.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) educational, (2) medical, and (3) transport, facilities in the area which Afghan refugees are being moved to in Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are not able to provide the data on ages requested, the recent update to the published 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data', shows that, at 4th November 2022: 9,242 people, around half of whom were children, were living in temporary accommodation such as hotels.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) on case working systems. Once this work concludes, further statistics on both schemes will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
We acknowledge that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, however, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels and support people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible. In order to deliver value for money to the taxpayer, we are consolidating the number of bridging hotels being used, by maximising capacity in hotels which have available rooms and rooms being returned back to hotels that are not being used or do not match family requirements.
This sometimes means families can be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In this case, families were notified in September 2022 that the Home Office contract was ending in February 2023, and have been supported by their Home Office Liaison Officer and Local Authority every step of the way since then. This includes the receiving Local Authorities, who are responsible for allocating school places and ensuring that suitable health care support is in place.
There is an acknowledged shortage of longer-term housing for all, nevertheless, we continue to work tirelessly with over 350 local authorities to house and support Afghan families.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with Afghan refugees prior to their decision to move them from London to Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office are not able to provide the data on ages requested, the recent update to the published 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data', shows that, at 4th November 2022: 9,242 people, around half of whom were children, were living in temporary accommodation such as hotels.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) on case working systems. Once this work concludes, further statistics on both schemes will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
We acknowledge that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, however, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels and support people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible. In order to deliver value for money to the taxpayer, we are consolidating the number of bridging hotels being used, by maximising capacity in hotels which have available rooms and rooms being returned back to hotels that are not being used or do not match family requirements.
This sometimes means families can be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In this case, families were notified in September 2022 that the Home Office contract was ending in February 2023, and have been supported by their Home Office Liaison Officer and Local Authority every step of the way since then. This includes the receiving Local Authorities, who are responsible for allocating school places and ensuring that suitable health care support is in place.
There is an acknowledged shortage of longer-term housing for all, nevertheless, we continue to work tirelessly with over 350 local authorities to house and support Afghan families.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to close any London hotels housing refugees from Afghanistan.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
While hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels, moving people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible so they can put down permanent roots.
To deliver value for money to the taxpayer, officials are working at pace to consolidate the number of bridging hotels being used, by maximising capacity in hotels which have available rooms and returning rooms back to hotels that are not being used or do not match family requirements.
Part of this work means families can, sometimes, be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In these instances, families are given appropriate notice of a move and are supported by their Home Office Liaison Officer and Local Authority every step of the way.
We are working intensely across government to find permanent accommodation for these families.
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 the current average processing times are for Refugee Family Reunion applications outside the rules.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All applications for refugee family reunion are made on the same visa application form. It is only when an application has been considered that it can be established whether the application falls within the criteria of the Rules or not.
Information regarding processing times is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications. We are reviewing processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to our customers. We always prioritise applications where there is an evidenced urgent or compelling reason to do so.
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 the current average processing times are for Refugee Family Reunion applications inside the rules.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All applications for refugee family reunion are made on the same visa application form. It is only when an application has been considered that it can be established whether the application falls within the criteria of the Rules or not.
Information regarding processing times is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications. We are reviewing processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to our customers. We always prioritise applications where there is an evidenced urgent or compelling reason to do so.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of refugees admitted under the Homes for Ukraine scheme who are homeless.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As of 18 November, local authorities in England accepted homelessness duties to 2,985 Ukrainian households across all visa schemes; 915 were single households and 2,070 family households.
1,720 homelessness duties were owed to households who arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Figures show only a very small fraction of Ukrainian arrivals have had a homelessness duty accepted and councils have a duty to ensure families are not left without a roof over their head.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Afghan refugees have been admitted to the UK under the UNHCR Resettlement Schemes since August 2021; and how many further applications they expect to approve in the first quarter of 2023.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Earlier this summer, we began receiving referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of vulnerable refugees who have fled Afghanistan for resettlement to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) Pathway 2.
UNHCR has the global mandate to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees, and with whom we already work in resettling refugees under our flagship UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Mandate and Community Sponsorship Schemes. UNHCR will refer individuals in accordance with their standard resettlement submission criteria, which are based on an assessment of protection needs and vulnerabilities. Under both our current and previous resettlement schemes we have accepted and resettled a number of Afghan refugees in third countries. Historic and current operational data in relation to the UK’s resettlement schemes, including broken down by nationality, can be found at: Gov.UK
We are also pleased to have now welcomed the first families (four individuals) under ACRS Pathway 2. On 24th November the latest Immigration Statistics publication included data on Pathway 2 arrivals for the first time and this can be found using the same link. We anticipate receiving referrals from UNHCR for up to 2,000 refugees during the first year of this pathway, although this number will be kept under review. We will continue to receive UNHCR referrals to the scheme in coming years.