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  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seeker applications were received in each of the last five years; and how many such applicants were (a) refused, (b) granted refugee status, (c) granted humanitarian protection and (d) granted discretionary leave to remain.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office publishes an analysis of applications for whole-year cohorts of asylum seekers to establish the overall success rates following appeal; this is available in Table as_06 (Asylum data table Volume 2) of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. For the latest years, some cases will still be outstanding. This cohort analysis is therefore not able to provide a complete picture for the latest applications but for most years will provide the most complete description of the outcome for asylum seekers. The analysis of the outcomes of asylum applications are the recorded outcomes of the group (or cohort) of applicants in any one year, at a particular time. This dataset is updated, in full, annually and is currently available up to 2014.

    Insert Table

    A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics April – June 2015, is available from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will estimate the effect on demand on policing services of budgetary reductions in other government departments.

    Mike Penning

    Home Office officials are working with the police and other government departments as part of the Spending Review preparations. This work includes understanding of the interface between the police and other agencies. We encourage greater joint working to continue to reduce crime and manage demand. The Department also welcomed the College of Policing report “Estimating demand on the police service", published in January, which included analysis of non crime demand. The report is available on the College of Policing website www.college.police.uk

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  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) financial implications for her Department and (b) potential risks to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and the public of proposals to give PCSOs powers of arrest.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office has no plans to give powers of arrest to police community support officers (PCSOs); we have therefore made no assessment of the consequences of making such a change.

    On Wednesday 9 Septemer 2015, my Right Honourable friend the Home Secretary launched a consultation on reforming the powers of police staff and volunteers. The proposals set out in the consultation document seek to make police staff and volunteers more flexible in their roles by enabling Chief Constables to designate them with a wider range of powers, ensuring that they have the police powers necessary to do their job. The consultation also proposes a list of core powers that will be exclusively available to Constables, including Special Constables, and this list includes the power of arrest.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to make the register of deaths of UK residents available online.

    Richard Harrington

    Under present legislation, the register of deaths in England and Wales contains details of all deaths which have taken place there, regardless of whether the deceased was a UK resident. Similar arrangements are in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Civil registration is a devolved matter.

    In England and Wales, information from the register of deaths is made available in the form of a certificate, on payment of the appropriate fee. Currently, there are no plans to change this process.

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consideration she has given to the use of family reunions to facilitate resettlement within the Government’s Syrian refugee programme.

    James Brokenshire

    We recognise that families may be separated because of the nature of conflict and persecution and the speed and manner in which those seeking asylum often flee their country of origin. Our refugee family reunion policy allows immediate family members of a person in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection status – that is a spouse or partner and children under the age of 18, who formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin – to reunite with them in the UK.

    The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme was launched in January 2014 and is the first resettlement programme run by the UK to target support for refugees specifically on the basis of their vulnerability. On 7 September 2015, the Prime Minister announced a significant extension of the scheme, in recognition of the worsening crisis. We intend to resettle 20,000 refugees from Syria’s neighbouring countries over the lifetime of this Parliament.

    The scheme is helping those in the greatest need who cannot be supported effectively in the region by giving them protection and support in the UK. The current criteria for acceptance under the scheme will be expanded to ensure more of those in the greatest need are resettled, together with their family members, in the UK. Where possible, the Government working with UNHCR, aims to resettle all close family members and dependents together.

    Those resettled under the Syrian VPR scheme are eligible to act as sponsors under the family reunion provisions. This means that if their immediate family members are still abroad, and they meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules, they will be issued with a visa and the family will be able to reunite in the UK. Any family members who are already in the UK are also eligible to apply under the family reunion provisions.

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many transit visas her Department has issued to Syrian refugees since May 2015.

    Richard Harrington

    In Q2 2015 (April to June – the latest period for which figures are available) no transit visas have been issued to Syrian refugees.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people arrived at Heathrow Airport without travel documents in the last year for which figures are available.

    James Brokenshire

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department paid in spectrum charges in each financial year from 1999-2000 to 2014-15.

    Mike Penning

    The table below details the amount the Department paid in spectrum charges from 2009/10 to 2014/15. The variation in charges from 2010 is the result of Home Office reducing its holdings by sharing and releasing spectrum. Use of spectrum in the years from 1999 to 2009 remained at a constant level and our records indicate this was charged at £2,916,000 per annum.

    Financial Year/ Cost:

    2009-2010 £2,916,000

    2010-2011 £2,819,820

    2011-2012 £2,317,836

    2012-2013 £1,779,309

    2013-2014 £1,816,022

    2014-2015 £1,325,654

  • Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether refugees offered a home in Britain will be vetted before entry.

    Richard Harrington

    The operation of the UK’s resettlement schemes, including the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Scheme, involves the UNHCR submitting potential cases for our consideration. The cases are then screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds.

  • Jack Dromey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will provide the information on the police formula requested by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands; and how the exemplifications described in Annex A of her Department’s letter of 15 September 2015 will affect that force.

    Mr John Hayes

    The consultation on police funding arrangements closed on 15 September and the responses are being analysed. The Government will consider these responses carefully to determine what changes, if any, are required. We will continue to engage with policing partners during this process and intend to provide information, including exemplifications of future allocations, as these develop. At this stage final force-level allocations have not been set and will not be determined until we have completed our analysis.