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1204725

registered interest
date	17/06/2020
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	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 during the covid-19 outbreak to improve the (a) provision and (b) accessibility of Government guidance and information on asylum to people seeking asylum.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	60876
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2020 answer text <p>In March, we set up a dedicated engagement channel with key stakeholders to cover the impact of Covid-19 on asylum and resettlement, and to ensure that the necessary guidance and information was reaching asylum seekers across the UK. The British Red Cross were nominated by the sector as the single point of contact; officials speak to them on a regular basis and calls are often accompanied by written updates, which the British Red Cross share with the wider sector, and onto asylum seekers. We have also set up a similar engagement channel with the Strategic Migration Partnership, which also includes a weekly call and regular written updates.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Our liaison with British Red Cross as a single point of contact has successfully ensured that asylum seekers have the information they require in recent months. We are now in the process of drafting additional guidance, which will be published on GOV.UK, on asylum interviewing and decision-making during the period in which our operations are still affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK. This will provide greater provision of information to asylum seekers.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 22/06/2020 15:51:24 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1204726

registered interest
date	17/06/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been waiting more than six months for an asylum decision; and if she will grant those people the right to work and access education.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	60877
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release). Data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision or further review are published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets). Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2019. Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘summary tables’ (attached). The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.</p><p>Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ (https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&amp;organisations%5B%5D=home-office&amp;order=release-date-oldest).</p><p>Asylum seekers can work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is published by the Home Office and based on expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.</p><p> </p><p>Asylum seeker right to work is a complex issue. A review of the policy is ongoing, and we are considering the evidence put forward on the issue.</p><p> </p><p>There is nothing in the Immigration Rules to prevent asylum seekers studying. However, asylum-seekers who wish to access higher education courses can expect to be charged the full cost of their course by the university concerned.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 22/06/2020 15:54:38 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp attachment 1 file name Copy of asylum-summary-sep-2019-tables.xlsx title Asylum summary tables
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1201024

registered interest
date	08/06/2020
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	Her Majesty's Government in what circumstances individual applications for asylum are referred to ministers; what proportion of Home Office decisions on asylum applications are notified to ministers’ private offices (1) before, and (2) after, those decisions are communicated to the applicant for asylum; and how many such decisions have been so notified during the first five months of 2020.
tabling member printed	Lord Marlesford
uin	HL5389
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2020 answer text <p>Individual applications for asylum are referred to ministers when they are identified as potentially sensitive or high-profile. Such cases may be referred to Ministers by the relevant case working team if they feel it appropriate or, dependant on the circumstances of the case, when they are raised through MPs representation, or in Parliament; or when specific Ministerial authorisation is required.</p><p>The Home Office is unable to state what proportion of decisions on asylum applications are referred to Minister’s private offices, before and/or after those decisions are communicated to the applicant for asylum or how many such decisions have been notified during the first five months of 2020, as this does not form part of any routinely published data and is not held in a reportable format.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 22/06/2020 11:37:39 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	1854 label Biography information for Lord Marlesford

1201026

registered interest
date	08/06/2020
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	Her Majesty's Government how many grants of asylum were granted in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, and (3) 2019; and what was the breakdown of nationality of those granted asylum in each of those years.
tabling member printed	Lord Marlesford
uin	HL5391
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release). Data on the number of grants of asylum are published in tables Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement’ (attached) datasets, and are broken down by nationality and type of grant (asylum, humanitarian protection, discretionary leave etc.) for all requested years.</p><p> </p><p>Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘summary tables’ (attached). The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.</p><p> </p><p>Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ (https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?keywords=immigration&amp;content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&amp;organisations%5B%5D=home-office&amp;order=relevance).</p><p> </p><p>Annex A (attached) provides the published data from Asy_D02. The data relate to grants made at initial decision and include main applicants only. The pivot table can be used to show data on nationality.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford attachment 1 file name Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement datasets.xlsx title Asylum applications, initial decisions 2 file name Asylum summary tables.xlsx title Asylum summary tables 3 file name HL5391 Annex A.xlsx title Annex A question first answered 22/06/2020 11:36:37 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	1854 label Biography information for Lord Marlesford

1197531

registered interest
date	20/05/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum cases were pending in each of the last six months.
tabling member constituency	Hampstead and Kilburn
tabling member printed	Tulip Siddiq
uin	49790
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications awaiting a decision in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’.<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release" target="_blank"> https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release</a></p><p>Data on the number of people who are awaiting a decision on their asylum application are published in the asylum applications awaiting a decision data table in Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets</a></p><p>Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to as at the end of March 2020.</p><p>Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘summary tables’. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement.</p><p>Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 08/06/2020 16:46:26 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4518 label Biography information for Tulip Siddiq

1196056

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many negative decisions on asylum claims have been made but not served since 23 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	47280
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/05/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office publishes data on initial decisions on asylum applications by outcome. This data can be found at Asy_02a, of the published Immigration Statistics December 2019 <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement</a>. However, this data is not yet published for the period from March 2020.</p><p>During COVID-19, Asylum Operations continue to make and serve decisions on cases where there is enough information to do so. In terms of decisions on negative claims ‘made but not served’, the Home Office does not publish data on what is usually a brief interregnum between a decision being written and then served.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 26/05/2020 13:10:54 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1188727

registered interest
date	20/04/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees have been resettled in the UK in each of the last three months.
tabling member constituency	Stirling
tabling member printed	Alyn Smith
uin	37985
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/05/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. These can be found at <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistic</a></p><p>The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 21 May 2020. These figures will include the number of people resettled in the period January to March 2020 and will also include a breakdown of minors arriving under each scheme. We do not publish a breakdown of resettlement family reunifications.</p><p>The arrival of refugees under our schemes is currently impacted by travel restrictions globally. As a result, our current planned arrivals will not happen as originally scheduled. We are closely monitoring the situation and expect resettlements to resume when conditions allow.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 37986 37987 question first answered 12/05/2020 16:06:59 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4738 label Biography information for Alyn Smith

1186957

registered interest
date	23/03/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to monitor the quality of experience of people seeking asylum in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	33522
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office issues an information leaflet to asylum claimants at the point of claim which outlines the asylum process and the claimant’s responsibilities within that process. This information leaflet is periodically reviewed.</p><p>Independent guidance and advice are also available to asylum claimants provided by Migrant Help. Migrant Help are present in initial accommodation where destitute asylum seekers are initially housed and their services can also be accessed via their website or by phone. Their website is available in multiple languages, and the helpline is free and accessible in multiple languages.</p><p>UKVI work closely with our key partners and stakeholders to seek and share feedback to identify ways in which we can improve the quality of experience of people seeking asylum in the UK. We have recently set up a Customer Experience Management Team, based across the UK, who will work closely on a local level with stakeholders, to identify key areas to improve the overall experience for people seeking asylum in the UK.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 33518 question first answered 31/03/2020 14:19:17 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1187289

registered interest
date	23/03/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people can continue to access the asylum system.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	33474
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/04/2020 answer text <p>The Home Office is updating guidance and processes in accordance with Public Health England advice in relation to the Covid-19 outbreak to ensure people can continue to access essential systems.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 21/04/2020 15:00:37 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1184666

registered interest
date	12/03/2020
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of removing service standards from asylum claims on the time taken to conclude those claims for (a) adult claimants and (b) minors.
tabling member constituency	Oxford East
tabling member printed	Anneliese Dodds
uin	28757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2020 answer text <p>Until October 2018, there was a published Service Standard in place to decide 98% of straight-forward cases within six months from date of claim. Whilst the operation consistently achieved this for three years, the number of non-straight forward cases awaiting a decision grew rapidly and it became clear that the former service standard no longer best served those that used our services. For these reasons, former Ministers agreed that we should move away from the service standard to reprioritise cases in the short term, whilst we come to longer term arrangement for service standards that meet the needs of all parties.</p><p>As a result, we moved away from the 6-month service standard to concentrate on older claims, cases with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). That has meant some claims that would have been categorised as straightforward and received a decision within 6 months have waited longer.</p><p>However, it would be difficult to attribute this to changes to the service standard, as asylum intake has been significantly higher than expected levels since October 2018.. Published statistics show that there were 35,566 asylum applications in the UK (main applicants only) in the year ending December 2019, an increase of 21% from the previous year.</p><p>This means that despite a number of interventions, the number of claims awaiting a decision has grown.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 19/03/2020 16:43:30 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4657 label Biography information for Anneliese Dodds