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1329931

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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	For what reason her Department continues to monitor asylum seekers' usage of Aspen Cards.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Margaret Ferrier
uin	901027
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2021 answer text <p>Aspen cards are prepaid debit cards used to provide financial support to destitute asylum seekers. Their use is recorded and will be investigated where there are safeguarding concerns, for example to help locate a person who has gone missing, or potential breaches of the conditions of support to which the recipients have agreed, such as to prevent fraud.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 07/06/2021 16:05:22 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4386 label Biography information for Margaret Ferrier

1329979

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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 compensate people who had no access to asylum support payments during the recent Aspen card transition; and what steps she is taking to ensure people do not temporarily lose access to asylum support payments in the future.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Riverside
tabling member printed	Kim Johnson
uin	11698
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2021 answer text <p>A significant majority of service users have received their new Aspen card and they have successfully activated and started using the card.</p><p>Those who have experienced issues have been supported via the provision of emergency cash payments until their issue has been resolved. Due to this, there has always been some form of access to asylum support payments for the user population (even without an ASPEN card).</p><p>The provision of emergency cash payment has been in place for some time and will continue to be in place where emergency access to asylum support is required.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 15/06/2021 16:02:46 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4824 label Biography information for Kim Johnson

1330128

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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, if she will undertake an urgent and full review of the ASPEN card contract transition; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	11552
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>The PrePaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card which is used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad and has undergone over 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems. A significant majority of service users have received their new Aspen card, have successfully activated it and are using it.</p><p>The relevant Home Office teams continue to proactively work with all appropriate delivery partners to provide resolutions for any issues faced since the new service went live on Monday 24<sup>th</sup> May 2021.</p><p>Cash payments were made available in emergencies. This was in place to happen well before the transition took place.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 10/06/2021 16:25:36 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1330130

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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 many calls the Migrant Help service received about Aspen cards on each day from 21 May and 4 June 2021.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	11554
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>We have been working with Migrant Help to reduce call volumes and monitor waiting times, which included increases of resources prior to and after the card service change.</p><p>Whilst we saw a significant increase in call volumes over the period 21<sup>st</sup> May until 4<sup>th</sup> June we are not able to categorise the nature of the calls at this point.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 10/06/2021 16:29:57 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1330247

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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 how much was the weekly benefit payment received by asylum seekers in each of the last 10 years.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL802
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2021 answer text <p>Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute can obtain support from the Home Office. The support package usually consists of free, furnished accommodation (with utility bills and council tax paid) and a weekly cash allowance to meet other essential living needs.</p><p>The standard weekly cash allowance for a single adult asylum seeker over the past 10 years is set out in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Weekly Rate</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>From 18 April 2011</p></td><td><p>£36.62</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>From 6 April 2015</p></td><td><p>£36.95</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>From 6 February 2018</p></td><td><p>£37.75</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>From 15 June 2020</p></td><td><p>£39.60</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>From 22 February 2021</p></td><td><p>£39.63</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 21/06/2021 15:59:32 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

1330248

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
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 assessment they have made of the failure to pay benefits to asylum seekers due to contractual changes to the ASPEN card payments system; and what steps they will take to ensure that this does not happen again.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL803
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2021 answer text <p>The PrePaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card that is used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad and has undergone over 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems.</p><p>Service users were notified of the transition in advance and a significant majority of service users have received their Aspen card and successfully activated it. For those who have done this the service is functioning as expected. The cards are fully working, withdrawals and purchases are being made and the automated IVR activation line is operating well.</p><p>Transitions of this nature are complex, and plans to mitigate anticipated issues were, and remain, in place. Cash payments were made available in emergencies. We will continue to work with the remainder of service users to activate their cards and ensure they are supported throughout.</p><p>As part of our management of service contracts continuous improvement assessments will be factored in throughout the contract term and implemented accordingly.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 21/06/2021 15:51:48 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno