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1279213

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2021
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to enable remote asylum interviews for unaccompanied children where a responsible adult must be present.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	141606
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>Following the suspension of asylum interviews at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 the Home Office worked on implementing plans to restart asylum interviews as soon as it was safe to do so.</p><p>Adult interviews restarted in July 2020 and interviews involving unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and young people restated in September 2020 (where a responsible adult must be present).</p><p>The Home Office has continued to develop use of remote digital interviewing to complement existing face to face interviews. The Home Office has successfully completed a remote interviewing proof of concept with Kent County Council. The Home Office is already engaged in working with all UK Local Authorities to roll out remote interviewing of UASC and young people nationally, where there is agreement to help expand capacity and capability.</p><p>Additionally, children who claim asylum are asked to complete a Statement of Evidence Form (SEF). The information contained in SEF will be used alongside all of the other evidence already held about the claim to help determine whether or not it is appropriate to omit an asylum interview.</p><p>The criteria for when a substantive asylum interview can be omitted are contained in Paragraph 339NA of the Immigration Rules and include cases where we are able to take a positive decision on the basis of evidence available, or if the claimant is unfit or unable to be interviewed owing to enduring circumstances beyond their control. It would be inappropriate to adopt a blanket approach to certain nationalities or groups because of the differing circumstances of each claim.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 29/01/2021 15:01:18 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1279214

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2021
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been waiting nine months or longer for a decision on their asylum application in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	141607
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>The Home Office does not publish data on how many children has been waiting nine months or longer for a decision on their asylum application.</p><p>However, the Home Office do publish data on the number of Asylum applications awaiting a decision, by duration, as part of the published Immigration Statistics, year ending September 2020, at asy_04:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2020/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2020/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement</a></p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 29/01/2021 15:01:13 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1279215

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2021
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have had decisions made on their asylum application without requiring an interview in the last nine months.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	141608
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>The Home Office are unable to state how many children have had decisions made on their asylum application without requiring an interview in the last nine months as this information is not published.</p><p>However, the Home Office can state the number of Initial decisions on asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), by outcome year ending September, as part of the published Immigration Statistics found at Asy_02b:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2020/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2020/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement</a></p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 29/01/2021 15:00:44 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1279216

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2021
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which local authorities have agreed to facilitate remote interviews following her proof-of-concept exercise with Kent county council to conduct unaccompanied asylum-seeking children interviews in its local offices.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	141609
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>After a successful proof of concept with Kent County Council, the Home Office has expanded the programme of facilitated remote interviews for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to all Local Authorities across the United Kingdom.</p><p>Early indications are there is significant interest, however discussions are still ongoing with Local Authorities.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 29/01/2021 15:00:18 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1420374

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average number of days taken to process claims for unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK is; and how many days her Department took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in (a) 2021, (b) 2020 and (c) 2019; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	119806
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2022 answer text <p>The Home Office is unable to state what the average number of days taken to process claims unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK and how many days it took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in 2021, 2020 and 2019 as this information is not collected in a format which can published.</p><p>The Home Office has established two dedicated case working Hubs for deciding children’s asylum claims which are now fully operational. The hubs have established improved focus on and greater control of children’s cases, to build expertise, identify efficiencies and provide a consistency of decision making (and quicker outcomes) for our customers.</p><p>We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities nationally on the remote interview process for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people utilising digital interviewing video capabilities to complement in person interviews.</p><p>Since May 2021 we have increased Local Authority opt in for digital interviewing to 108 Local Authorities helping to speed up processes, reduce delays and the numbers of children and young people who have an outstanding claim.</p><p>We are continuing to recruit additional decision-makers who will be trained to process children’s asylum claims.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 10/02/2022 13:12:36 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1420696

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has received representations from Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit on their concerns that children seeking asylum in the UK are at a higher risk of criminal exploitation, self-harm and dying by suicide; and what steps she is taking to tackle the backlog of children seeking asylum.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	120904
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>The Home Office regularly receive representations from Greater Manchester child and migrants’ rights organisations on children seeking asylum in the UK.</p><p>The department most recently received a courtesy copy of an open letter dated 16 December 2021, from the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) in which 25 child and migrant rights organisations wrote to us and we replied to this on the 20 January 2022.</p><p>The department maintains a working relationship with GMIAU and other regional organisations through our strategic partnerships; including the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF), who continue to work collaboratively to ensure asylum claims from children and young people remains one of our top priorities.</p><p>The Home Office have established two dedicated case working Hubs for deciding children’s asylum claims which are now fully operational. The hubs have established improved focus on and greater control of children’s cases to build expertise, identify efficiencies and provide a consistency of decision making (and quicker outcomes) for our customers.</p><p>We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities nationally on the remote interview process for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people utilising digital interviewing video capabilities to complement in person interviews.</p><p>Since May 2021 we have increased Local Authority opt in for digital interviewing to 108 Local Authorities helping to speed up processes, reduce delays and the numbers of children and young people who have an outstanding claim.</p><p> </p><p>We are continuing to recruit additional decision-makers who will be trained to process children’s asylum claims to further reduce the number outstanding.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 21/02/2022 10:51:08 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1562875

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many decision makers in her Department were fully trained to make decisions on unaccompanied asylum seeking children’s claims as of 19 December 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	113422
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2023 answer text <p>e Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously, and we prioritise applications from children and young people.</p><p>The Home Office does not publish the data requested. However we are able to provide data on the number of initial decisions on asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), which can be found in the latest Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>UASC generally enter the care system to be accommodated and supported by a local authority as looked after children. The Home Office budget provides significant support to local authorities in this area in addition to existing local Government funding. The latest published statistics from the Department for Education, for the year ending 31 March 2022, show there were 5,540 UASC being cared for in England alone, an increase of 34% from the previous reporting year. This does not include the high intake seen this summer.</p><p>The Home Office has a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework in place for all asylum decision makers. Decision makers who specifically deal with children’s claims complete an additional training on Keeping Children Safe and have an additional period of mentoring.</p><p> </p><p>Our aim is for Asylum Casework to have 2,500 caseworkers by August 2023, with around 10% dedicated to children's casework and we have recruitment plans in place to ensure we reach those numbers.</p><p> </p><p>The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA) came into force on 28 June 2022. In accordance with NABA, all new asylum claims made on or after 28 June 2022 will be considered and processed under the new legislation, whilst existing claims will be worked through under previous legislation and asylum policies.</p><p> </p><p>The Asylum Casework team are working to reintroduce service standards and are aligning with changes being introduced through the NABA. Our intention to reintroduce service standards aligns with the recommendation from the recent Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) published report - An inspection of asylum casework (November 2021). The re-induction will also include children’s asylum claims.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick grouped question UIN 113423 113424 113425 113426 113427 113428 question first answered 11/01/2023 17:42:33 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1562878

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the length training is for Home Office decision makers to enable them to consider children’s asylum applications.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	113423
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2023 answer text <p>e Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously, and we prioritise applications from children and young people.</p><p>The Home Office does not publish the data requested. However we are able to provide data on the number of initial decisions on asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), which can be found in the latest Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>UASC generally enter the care system to be accommodated and supported by a local authority as looked after children. The Home Office budget provides significant support to local authorities in this area in addition to existing local Government funding. The latest published statistics from the Department for Education, for the year ending 31 March 2022, show there were 5,540 UASC being cared for in England alone, an increase of 34% from the previous reporting year. This does not include the high intake seen this summer.</p><p>The Home Office has a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework in place for all asylum decision makers. Decision makers who specifically deal with children’s claims complete an additional training on Keeping Children Safe and have an additional period of mentoring.</p><p> </p><p>Our aim is for Asylum Casework to have 2,500 caseworkers by August 2023, with around 10% dedicated to children's casework and we have recruitment plans in place to ensure we reach those numbers.</p><p> </p><p>The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA) came into force on 28 June 2022. In accordance with NABA, all new asylum claims made on or after 28 June 2022 will be considered and processed under the new legislation, whilst existing claims will be worked through under previous legislation and asylum policies.</p><p> </p><p>The Asylum Casework team are working to reintroduce service standards and are aligning with changes being introduced through the NABA. Our intention to reintroduce service standards aligns with the recommendation from the recent Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) published report - An inspection of asylum casework (November 2021). The re-induction will also include children’s asylum claims.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick grouped question UIN 113422 113424 113425 113426 113427 113428 question first answered 11/01/2023 17:42:33 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1562886

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral statement by made by the Prime Minister on 13 December 2022, Official Report, columns 885-88 on Illegal Immigration, whether it is her Department's intention to have 2,400 asylum decision makers; and how many of the new decisions makers her Department plans to train will make decisions on children's asylum applications.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	113424
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2023 answer text <p>e Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously, and we prioritise applications from children and young people.</p><p>The Home Office does not publish the data requested. However we are able to provide data on the number of initial decisions on asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), which can be found in the latest Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>UASC generally enter the care system to be accommodated and supported by a local authority as looked after children. The Home Office budget provides significant support to local authorities in this area in addition to existing local Government funding. The latest published statistics from the Department for Education, for the year ending 31 March 2022, show there were 5,540 UASC being cared for in England alone, an increase of 34% from the previous reporting year. This does not include the high intake seen this summer.</p><p>The Home Office has a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework in place for all asylum decision makers. Decision makers who specifically deal with children’s claims complete an additional training on Keeping Children Safe and have an additional period of mentoring.</p><p> </p><p>Our aim is for Asylum Casework to have 2,500 caseworkers by August 2023, with around 10% dedicated to children's casework and we have recruitment plans in place to ensure we reach those numbers.</p><p> </p><p>The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA) came into force on 28 June 2022. In accordance with NABA, all new asylum claims made on or after 28 June 2022 will be considered and processed under the new legislation, whilst existing claims will be worked through under previous legislation and asylum policies.</p><p> </p><p>The Asylum Casework team are working to reintroduce service standards and are aligning with changes being introduced through the NABA. Our intention to reintroduce service standards aligns with the recommendation from the recent Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) published report - An inspection of asylum casework (November 2021). The re-induction will also include children’s asylum claims.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick grouped question UIN 113422 113423 113425 113426 113427 113428 question first answered 11/01/2023 17:42:33 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1562889

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2022
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many decisions is a decision maker in her Department expected to make on average each week if they are deciding applications of unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	113425
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2023 answer text <p>e Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously, and we prioritise applications from children and young people.</p><p>The Home Office does not publish the data requested. However we are able to provide data on the number of initial decisions on asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), which can be found in the latest Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>UASC generally enter the care system to be accommodated and supported by a local authority as looked after children. The Home Office budget provides significant support to local authorities in this area in addition to existing local Government funding. The latest published statistics from the Department for Education, for the year ending 31 March 2022, show there were 5,540 UASC being cared for in England alone, an increase of 34% from the previous reporting year. This does not include the high intake seen this summer.</p><p>The Home Office has a comprehensive training programme and mentoring framework in place for all asylum decision makers. Decision makers who specifically deal with children’s claims complete an additional training on Keeping Children Safe and have an additional period of mentoring.</p><p> </p><p>Our aim is for Asylum Casework to have 2,500 caseworkers by August 2023, with around 10% dedicated to children's casework and we have recruitment plans in place to ensure we reach those numbers.</p><p> </p><p>The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA) came into force on 28 June 2022. In accordance with NABA, all new asylum claims made on or after 28 June 2022 will be considered and processed under the new legislation, whilst existing claims will be worked through under previous legislation and asylum policies.</p><p> </p><p>The Asylum Casework team are working to reintroduce service standards and are aligning with changes being introduced through the NABA. Our intention to reintroduce service standards aligns with the recommendation from the recent Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) published report - An inspection of asylum casework (November 2021). The re-induction will also include children’s asylum claims.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick grouped question UIN 113422 113423 113424 113426 113427 113428 question first answered 11/01/2023 17:42:33 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan