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1331211

registered interest
date	09/06/2021
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 make it her policy to ensure that any asylum seekers who have been adversely affected in the ongoing Aspen payment card transition will (a) have all back-payments due from 24 May 2021 automatically paid in full and (b) not suffer over-payment claw-backs of emergency payments given as a consequence of the payment card transition.
tabling member constituency	Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
tabling member printed	Stuart C McDonald
uin	13088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Weekly payments are continuously accruing on Aspen cards for eligible asylum seekers, even if they have not yet received or activated their new card. Once successfully activated, service users can access their accrued funds, therefore no back-payments will be required.</p><p>The vast majority of cards have been activated and payments were available for those without ASPEN access.</p><p>The position on emergency cash payments and reconciliation of balances will be reviewed in due course.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 14/06/2021 16:59:32 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4393 label Biography information for Stuart C McDonald

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

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

1329679

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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 recent assessment her Department has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) effectiveness of the operation of ASPEN cards; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	10514
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>The PrePaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card 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 them.</p><p>The service is functioning as expected. The cards are 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>Our main focus is to ensure all remaining service users have an activated card so the new service can be accessed and support payments received. 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 constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 14/06/2021 15:51:31 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1329779

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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 estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum seekers who have (a) not received new Aspen cards and (b) experienced problems activating or using the new Aspen cards; and how many of those affected were (i) pregnant, (ii) children and (iii) disabled.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	10538
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Service Users were notified of the transition to the new Aspen cards well in advance of the transition and a significant majority of service users have now successfully received and activated their new card. For those who are not in receipt of an activated card and for any service user who required an emergency cash payment, funds were issued to cover the period until a new card arrives and / or it is successfully activated.</p><p>Additionally, accommodation providers are conducting welfare checks in which they will ensure those eligible for asylum support payments have received their new card and they understand how to activate it. We will continue to share data with our providers to ensure they prioritise the appropriate welfare/safeguarding checks.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) continue to support the Home Office in rolling out new ASPEN cards to asylum accommodation addresses. They have recently amended processes to ensure service users have increased opportunities to activate cards or avoid card cancellations. They have also agreed to facilitate bulk issue of cards to accommodation blocks to ensure activation for particular user groups.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) were awarded the contract for a new prepaid card service following an open and competitive tendering process which included due diligence checks. The Home Office utilised a Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework with 4 suppliers to conduct the tendering exercise and in total, three suppliers on the Framework (including Prepaid Financial Services) made a bid for the Support Payments Card (SPC) contract.</p><p>The Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad in schemes involving refugees and vulnerable persons. The Home Office systems underwent 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems incorporating technical and operational scenarios.</p><p>The programme utilised a number of data sources and the operation is managing implementation through internal databases therefore we do not currently have the people we support broken down by a particular category. Whilst, we are satisfied the majority have activated cards, we continue to provide direct access to the Home Office for local authorities via Strategic Migration Partnerships and third sector partners to ensure payments to those with vulnerabilities are prioritised.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 10539 10540 10541 10542 question first answered 14/06/2021 15:46:51 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1329780

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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 piloting or testing of the new Aspen Card her Department undertook prior to its roll out on 24 May 2021.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	10539
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Service Users were notified of the transition to the new Aspen cards well in advance of the transition and a significant majority of service users have now successfully received and activated their new card. For those who are not in receipt of an activated card and for any service user who required an emergency cash payment, funds were issued to cover the period until a new card arrives and / or it is successfully activated.</p><p>Additionally, accommodation providers are conducting welfare checks in which they will ensure those eligible for asylum support payments have received their new card and they understand how to activate it. We will continue to share data with our providers to ensure they prioritise the appropriate welfare/safeguarding checks.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) continue to support the Home Office in rolling out new ASPEN cards to asylum accommodation addresses. They have recently amended processes to ensure service users have increased opportunities to activate cards or avoid card cancellations. They have also agreed to facilitate bulk issue of cards to accommodation blocks to ensure activation for particular user groups.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) were awarded the contract for a new prepaid card service following an open and competitive tendering process which included due diligence checks. The Home Office utilised a Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework with 4 suppliers to conduct the tendering exercise and in total, three suppliers on the Framework (including Prepaid Financial Services) made a bid for the Support Payments Card (SPC) contract.</p><p>The Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad in schemes involving refugees and vulnerable persons. The Home Office systems underwent 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems incorporating technical and operational scenarios.</p><p>The programme utilised a number of data sources and the operation is managing implementation through internal databases therefore we do not currently have the people we support broken down by a particular category. Whilst, we are satisfied the majority have activated cards, we continue to provide direct access to the Home Office for local authorities via Strategic Migration Partnerships and third sector partners to ensure payments to those with vulnerabilities are prioritised.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 10538 10540 10541 10542 question first answered 14/06/2021 15:46:51 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1329781

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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 due diligence checks her Department carried out on Prepaid Financial Services prior to the award of the Aspen card contract; and how many other applicants there were for that contract.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	10540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>Service Users were notified of the transition to the new Aspen cards well in advance of the transition and a significant majority of service users have now successfully received and activated their new card. For those who are not in receipt of an activated card and for any service user who required an emergency cash payment, funds were issued to cover the period until a new card arrives and / or it is successfully activated.</p><p>Additionally, accommodation providers are conducting welfare checks in which they will ensure those eligible for asylum support payments have received their new card and they understand how to activate it. We will continue to share data with our providers to ensure they prioritise the appropriate welfare/safeguarding checks.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) continue to support the Home Office in rolling out new ASPEN cards to asylum accommodation addresses. They have recently amended processes to ensure service users have increased opportunities to activate cards or avoid card cancellations. They have also agreed to facilitate bulk issue of cards to accommodation blocks to ensure activation for particular user groups.</p><p>Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) were awarded the contract for a new prepaid card service following an open and competitive tendering process which included due diligence checks. The Home Office utilised a Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework with 4 suppliers to conduct the tendering exercise and in total, three suppliers on the Framework (including Prepaid Financial Services) made a bid for the Support Payments Card (SPC) contract.</p><p>The Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) solution is a well-established Mastercard pre-paid card used by organisations across the UK as well as abroad in schemes involving refugees and vulnerable persons. The Home Office systems underwent 5 months of rigorous testing to integrate with Home Office systems incorporating technical and operational scenarios.</p><p>The programme utilised a number of data sources and the operation is managing implementation through internal databases therefore we do not currently have the people we support broken down by a particular category. Whilst, we are satisfied the majority have activated cards, we continue to provide direct access to the Home Office for local authorities via Strategic Migration Partnerships and third sector partners to ensure payments to those with vulnerabilities are prioritised.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 10538 10539 10541 10542 question first answered 14/06/2021 15:46:51 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes