Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 29 April (HL3718), in which circumstances, and why, it would not be applicable to apply the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book to HS2 property compensation cases.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Red Book sets out the approach to be adopted for property valuation. It is not applicable to compensation cases where there is no claim for property value and the claim is limited to disturbance compensation or losses not based on the value of land, such as relocation costs.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much will people whose claims have been rejected be offered to move to Rwanda voluntarily.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Individuals who have no right to remain in the UK legally are being offered voluntary relocation to Rwanda under a new agreement with the Government of Rwanda. This will relocate individuals who have no right to work, rent or remain in the UK to relocate to Rwanda and allow them to build safe and prosperous lives there.
Individuals will receive £3,000 to support their relocation, paid to them on a card that can only be used in Rwanda.
This builds on our already widely used voluntary returns scheme, which saw more than 19,000 people return to their country-of-origin last year. We can also now facilitate relocation to Rwanda, providing an alternative for those whose country of origin is unsafe or those who would prefer not to return, but have no right to remain in the UK.
Under this Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Rwanda, individuals relocated voluntarily will have the same package of support for up to five years and access to integration programmes, so that they can study, undertake training, and work. Actual spend of the policy will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what grounds the asylum seeker sent to Rwanda on 30 April 2024 had claimed asylum.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Individuals who have no right to remain in the UK legally are being offered voluntary relocation to Rwanda under a new agreement with the Government of Rwanda. This will relocate individuals who have no right to work, rent or remain in the UK to relocate to Rwanda and allow them to build safe and prosperous lives there.
Individuals will receive £3,000 to support their relocation, paid to them on a card that can only be used in Rwanda.
This builds on our already widely used voluntary returns scheme, which saw more than 19,000 people return to their country-of-origin last year. We can also now facilitate relocation to Rwanda, providing an alternative for those whose country of origin is unsafe or those who would prefer not to return, but have no right to remain in the UK.
Under this Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Rwanda, individuals relocated voluntarily will have the same package of support for up to five years and access to integration programmes, so that they can study, undertake training, and work. Actual spend of the policy will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way.
It would not be appropriate to provide individual details of voluntary relocations that the Home Office has helped facilitate.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was spent on sending an asylum seeker to Rwanda on 30 April 2024.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Individuals who have no right to remain in the UK legally are being offered voluntary relocation to Rwanda under a new agreement with the Government of Rwanda. This will relocate individuals who have no right to work, rent or remain in the UK to relocate to Rwanda and allow them to build safe and prosperous lives there.
Individuals will receive £3,000 to support their relocation, paid to them on a card that can only be used in Rwanda.
This builds on our already widely used voluntary returns scheme, which saw more than 19,000 people return to their country-of-origin last year. We can also now facilitate relocation to Rwanda, providing an alternative for those whose country of origin is unsafe or those who would prefer not to return, but have no right to remain in the UK.
Under this Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Rwanda, individuals relocated voluntarily will have the same package of support for up to five years and access to integration programmes, so that they can study, undertake training, and work. Actual spend of the policy will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way.
It would not be appropriate to provide individual details of voluntary relocations that the Home Office has helped facilitate.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what airline took an asylum seeker to Rwanda on 30 April 2024.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Individuals who have no right to remain in the UK legally are being offered voluntary relocation to Rwanda under a new agreement with the Government of Rwanda. This will relocate individuals who have no right to work, rent or remain in the UK to relocate to Rwanda and allow them to build safe and prosperous lives there.
Individuals will receive £3,000 to support their relocation, paid to them on a card that can only be used in Rwanda.
This builds on our already widely used voluntary returns scheme, which saw more than 19,000 people return to their country-of-origin last year. We can also now facilitate relocation to Rwanda, providing an alternative for those whose country of origin is unsafe or those who would prefer not to return, but have no right to remain in the UK.
Under this Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Rwanda, individuals relocated voluntarily will have the same package of support for up to five years and access to integration programmes, so that they can study, undertake training, and work. Actual spend of the policy will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way.
It would not be appropriate to provide individual details of voluntary relocations that the Home Office has helped facilitate.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 21043 on Afghanistan: Refugees, how many people (a) have been relocated and (b) are due to be relocated in the next 12 weeks under the ARAP scheme as a result of such a reassessment.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to my answer to Question 23497. The Ministry of Defence is working hard to review ineligible decisions made against applications from the Triples and other specialist units where we hold credible evidence, and I will update the House when the review is complete.
When any individual is found eligible under ARAP the Ministry of Defence works to ensure relocation occurs as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when the review of applications to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy that were made by people who supported UK Special Forces in Afghanistan will be completed.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The reassessment began on 26 March 2024 and will take approximately twelve weeks to complete. Some complex cases might extend beyond the 12 weeks.
I will update the House once the review is completed, but my immediate priority is processing the cases as swiftly and diligently as possible and ensuring that the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme criteria is consistently applied to all applications being reassessed.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 21043 on Afghanistan: Refugees, in how many and what proportion of reassessed ARAP applications has the applicant been assessed as being eligible for relocation.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The reassessment of applications from those with credible links to former Afghan specialist units began on March 26 and I can confirm that overturned decisions have already been communicated to applicants.
As I stated in my answer to Question 21043, my immediate priority is to process all cases as diligently and swiftly as is possible. I will update the House once the review is completed.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2024 to Question 15728 on Afghanistan: Refugees, how many applicants are awaiting an eligibility decision as of 18 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As of 23 April 2024, 2,352 applicants are awaiting an initial eligibility decision under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme.
Of these, 632 are applications raised in the last 3 months and 1,720 applications are complex cases awaiting an eligibility decision. The ARAP scheme remains open, and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received over 96,000 principal applications in total.
Defence is working hard to consider all remaining applications, conducting checks and seeking additional information to ensure a decision can be made.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff will employed in her Department's offices in Aberdeen at grade (a) 6, (b) 7 and (c) SCS by 2027.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Aberdeen has 102 staff (as at end March 24) and our ambition is to increase this to 135 by March 2027, however this is the overall target for this location; targets are not specific to grades or staff groups.
Relocation of roles out of London is being managed via voluntary relocation of internal staff and through recruitment, therefore we are unable to predict grade composition of staff that will be based in Aberdeen in 2027.