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1659257

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are not placed in adult prisons.
	tabling member printed	Earl Russell
	uin	HL9992
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.</p><p>Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.</p><p>Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.</p><p>The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.</p><p>The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:24:27 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1659256

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied child asylum seekers have been placed in HMP Elmley in Kent; and how many are still held there.
	tabling member printed	Earl Russell
	uin	HL9991
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office does not collect data on the number of age dispute cases that have arisen in adult prisons and is unable to confirm the statistics referenced in the Guardian article, which are derived from local authority responses to an FOI request. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here. Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</p><p>Furthermore, the Home Office published data on age disputes aggregates the age disputes resolved by including the outcomes of initial age decisions by the Home Office taken at the point of first contact, comprehensive Merton compliant age assessments conducted by social workers and any subsequent legal challenge into one category.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:25:34 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1659251

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Audit Office's report on the Government's Asylum and Protection Transformation Programme.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL9986
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The NAO report into the Asylum &amp; Protection Transformation Programme fully recognises the significance of the transformation programme, and the efforts of the Home Office to reform the asylum and protection system.</p><p>The report acknowledges the key work the programme has done to date to tackle the challenges facing the asylum system, but notes concern around securing dispersal accommodation, and the ability of decision makers to clear the backlog. The report suggested three recommendations for the programme to increase its chances of success, all of which are accepted and embedded within our programme approach going forward.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:27:03 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1660852

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Bicycles: Locks and Keys
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with industry representatives on the potential merits of bringing forward proposals to establish security standards for bike locks.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	199651
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Department for Transport and Active Travel England are working with the police-led National Cycle Crime Group to support regional cycle crime enforcement partnerships and raise awareness of better security, especially around effective ways for people to secure their cycles.</p><p>The Home Office has no plans to introduce security standards for bike locks.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 21/09/2023 15:24:12 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1660776

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Home Office: Correspondence
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time is that it takes his Department to respond to Members’ correspondence.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	199551
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office do not routinely report against average response times. Data regarding the volume of correspondence responded within the Cabinet Office set 20 day service level agreement, which can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q2-2023" target="_blank">Customer service operations data: Q2 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p>In the last reporting period (April – June 2023) the Home Office responded to 98% of correspondence from Members within 20 days.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 21/09/2023 11:57:23 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1660453

	registered interest
	date	13/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Home Office: Policy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Minister in their Department is responsible for overseeing work on long-term strategic challenges; and how many officials in their Department (a) undertake horizon scanning work and (b) focus on delivering long-term priorities.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	199420
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Liaison Committee recently launched an inquiry into select committee scrutiny of strategic thinking across Whitehall.</p><p>The Government will be providing written evidence to this in due course. Under Rishi Sunak, this Conservative Government will always look to make the right long-term decisions for the country.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 21/09/2023 15:22:42 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1660392

	registered interest
	date	13/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of asylum seekers that have entered the UK via small boats in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	199288
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-statistics" target="_blank">Irregular migration to the UK statistics</a>’ release. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals is published in table Irr_D02 of the ‘<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/irregular-migration-detailed-dataset-and-summary-tables#detailed-datasets" target="_blank">Irregular migration to the UK detailed dataset</a>’ with the latest data up to the end of June 2023.</p><p>Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 21/09/2023 12:19:21 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1657322

	registered interest
	date	01/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Boats
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's factsheet: asylum accommodation on a vessel in Portland Port, updated on 25 August 2023, what fire safety standards she has applied to the Bibby Stockholm; and to which industry standards the factsheet refers.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	197264
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>Under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.</p><p>In the Netherlands and Belgium, the authorities have delivered accommodation for asylum seekers on vessels in a safe and secure manner.</p><p>The Bibby Stockholm vessel has been used for decades to provide safe and decent accommodation to oil rig workers and was used between 1995 to 1998 to accommodate refugees in Germany.</p><p>Corporate Travel Management (CTM) are responsible for managing the services on the barge. CTM managed two Scottish vessels housing refugees and have a strong track record of providing this kind of accommodation. We are confident that it will continue to manage the vessel and its supporting services. CTM has worked closely and successfully with local authorities and other public and voluntary organisations in Scotland.</p><p>The Bibby Stockholm adheres to the Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005 and has an appropriate fire risk assessment that complies to those regulations including safety features such as fire doors, fire detection systems and firefighting equipment at strategic locations.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 21/09/2023 15:04:49 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana