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1144807

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	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 is taking to ensure people who are in receipt of Section 4 support are able to cover (a) travel fares which can only be purchased with cash and (b) other upfront travel costs in order to report at Home Office reporting centres.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent North
	tabling member printed	Ruth Smeeth
	uin	286814
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 09/09/2019 16:47:52 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4508 label Biography information for Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent

1144809

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	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 ensure reporting frequencies are not excessively (a) burdensome and (b) expensive for people who live in places where the journey to a reporting centre is significant.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent North
	tabling member printed	Ruth Smeeth
	uin	286815
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency South Ribble answering member printed Seema Kennedy question first answered 09/09/2019 16:54:51 answering member 4455 label Biography information for Seema Kennedy
	tabling member	4508 label Biography information for Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent

1145333

	registered interest
	date	06/09/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of applicants for support under section 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, in the last year for which records are held, were asked to provide further information to support their request, broken down by the reason further information was required.
	tabling member printed	Lord Watson of Invergowrie
	uin	HL17784
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2019 answer text <p>The information requested would require a manual trawl of records of all service users receiving section 4 support and could only be provided at a dis-proportionate cost.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 08/10/2019 11:16:37 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	1241 label Biography information for Lord Watson of Invergowrie

1145611

	registered interest
	date	24/09/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department paid to Sodexo to provide the Aspen card service in each year for which data is available; and what estimate her Department has made of the future costs of that service.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	290395
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office does not publish data on the costs of the Sodexo contract as it is considered commercially sensitive.</p><p>As we are in the process of retendering for the payment card we are unable to provide any information on future costs.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 08/10/2019 15:00:21 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1147094

	registered interest
	date	30/09/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	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 is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of Section 4 support are able to pay (a) travel fares which can only be purchased with cash and (b) other upfront travel costs in order to report at Home Office reporting centres.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent North
	tabling member printed	Ruth Smeeth
	uin	292322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 08/10/2019 16:09:52 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4508 label Biography information for Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent

1148816

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	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 is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are able to pay (a) travel costs that can only be paid in cash and (b) other travel costs in order to attend Home Office reporting centres.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent North
	tabling member printed	Ruth Smeeth
	uin	293
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The assistance available to people supported under section 4 of the 1999 Act consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and provision of a debit card (the “Aspen Card”) which can be used to buy food and other essential items. The Aspen card cannot be used to withdraw cash, but it bears the visa logo and can be used at retail outlets that accept visa transactions.</p><p>If the supported person is required to report as a condition of their immigration bail their travel costs are also covered if they are accommodated more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre or in certain other circumstances, for example if they are unable to walk because of a disability.</p><p>In practical terms the travel costs are covered by issuing tickets or by uploading further funds on to the person’s Aspen card.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 05/11/2019 12:43:37 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4508 label Biography information for Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent

1149947

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they use to determine whether an applicant for section 4 asylum support should be considered particularly vulnerable; what is the target timescale for an asylum seeker who is deemed to be vulnerable to receive that support under Home Office guidelines; and what was the average time taken for a payment to be made after an application for support by an applicant that met that criteria in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL154
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>The Asylum Seekers (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2005 define a vulnerable person as:</p><ul><li>A minor</li><li>A disabled person</li><li>An elderly person</li><li>A pregnant woman</li><li>A person who has been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence;</li><li>A person who has had an individual evaluation of his situation that confirms he/she has special needs.</li></ul><p>Accommodation providers are also contractually required to take account of any particular circumstances and vulnerability of those that they accommodate. The definition of vulnerability in the contracts is the same as the one set out in the 2005 Regulations.</p><p>The particular circumstances of other supported asylum seekers and their dependants who may have other particular vulnerabilities are also carefully considered, for example because they have care needs or health problems that require a need for a specific type of accommodation or accommodation in a particular location. Further details regarding these policies can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-accommodation-requests-policy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-accommodation-requests-policy</a></p><p>We aim to decide most of these applications within 5 working days, or 2 days of the Home Office reviewing the application if the person is vulnerable, but some take longer because of the need to make further enquiries to establish that the person is eligible to receive the support.</p><p>The Home Office monitors closely the performance of asylum support application decision making and has a range of targets for processing support applications depending on the nature of the application being made. However information on processing times is not recorded in a format suitable for publication. We are currently in the process of embedding a new system and reporting tools and once this has been implemented we will review our reporting processes,.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 30/10/2019 17:56:56 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford attachment 1 file name Allocation-Of-Accommodation-v5_0.pdf title Accommodation Requests policy
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1173243

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to monitor the time taken to issue ASPEN cards to people on asylum support; and what steps she is taking to ensure that back payments are paid in cases where there has been a delay in issuing that card.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	7663
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2020 answer text <p>A dedicated ASPEN team is in place and manages, via the AIRE Service Provider, all enquiries relating to ASPEN Cards which includes a contact email inbox.</p><p>The HO does not routinely collect data on the time taken to issue ASPEN cards but we are continuing to work with all accommodation providers to ensure that applicants are able to access financial support upon dispersal. There is an Emergency Support Payment (ECP) provision available from Providers to ensure that Service Users are supported until receipt of their ASPEN Card.</p><p>For service users awaiting payment of backdated support, there is a priority workstream in place which is subject to robust scrutiny to ensure correct levels of backdated support are provided.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 7664 question first answered 30/06/2020 13:10:35 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1173244

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that people in receipt of asylum support are able to access payments via their ASPEN card when moved to dispersal accommodation.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	7664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2020 answer text <p>A dedicated ASPEN team is in place and manages, via the AIRE Service Provider, all enquiries relating to ASPEN Cards which includes a contact email inbox.</p><p>The HO does not routinely collect data on the time taken to issue ASPEN cards but we are continuing to work with all accommodation providers to ensure that applicants are able to access financial support upon dispersal. There is an Emergency Support Payment (ECP) provision available from Providers to ensure that Service Users are supported until receipt of their ASPEN Card.</p><p>For service users awaiting payment of backdated support, there is a priority workstream in place which is subject to robust scrutiny to ensure correct levels of backdated support are provided.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 7663 question first answered 30/06/2020 13:10:35 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1176528

	registered interest
	date	05/02/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to extend the contract with Sodexo for the provision of Aspen cards to asylum seekers.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	13048
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/04/2020 answer text <p>A new supplier will provide payment card services following transition from the current provider, Sodexo. Timelines are currently being finalised.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 06/04/2020 16:30:00 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows