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  • Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether LGBTI people who are at risk are included in the vulnerability criteria of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme; and if so, what steps they are taking to identify vulnerable LGBTI people in refugee camps or places of displacement, and what resources and services will be provided to LGBTI refugees resettled to the UK in order to address their specific needs.

    Lord Bates

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) vulnerability criteria for identifying refugees under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme include persons at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, and LGBTI refugees are identified through their normal screening procedures.

    Local authorities are provided with full case details of all referrals so they can make an assessment of the needs of refugees, before deciding whether to accept them for resettlement. Whilst the Government provides funding to ensure these needs can be met, it is up to individual local authorities to decide how this should be achieved.

  • Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what vulnerability criteria are being used by the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme.

    Lord Bates

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies people most in need of resettlement under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme based on the following criteria: women and girls at risk; survivors of violence and/or torture; refugees with legal and/or physical protection needs; refugees with medical needs or disabilities; children and adolescents at risk; persons at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity; and refugees with family links in resettlement countries.

  • Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in ensuring that management and statistical information concerning asylum claims on grounds of sexuality and gender identity are recorded accurately and comprehensively by the Home Office, and when that data will be published.

    Lord Bates

    We are still looking into the feasibility of publishing figures on the number of asylum applications by sexual orientation of the applicants. Any plans to publish will be subject to the data being of appropriate quality, in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

  • Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in the review of countries designated under section 94(5) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 following the Supreme Court judgment in R (JB (Jamaica)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 8.

    Lord Bates

    The process of reviewing all the designated countries is nearing completion. Any proposals for changes to the designation of countries must be made by order and so will be put to Parliament.

  • Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in preventing the bullying, harassment and abuse of LGBTI people in immigration detention centres, in the light of the recent inquiry into the use of immigration detention in the UK by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, and of concerns expressed by the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group.

    Lord Bates

    We take the welfare of our detainees very seriously and no form of ill-treatment or discrimination is tolerated.

    On 9 February 2015 the Home Secretary announced an independent review of welfare in detention, led by Stephen Shaw CBE, which will focus on vulnerable detainees.

    We will come back to this House before Committee stage of the Immigration Bill to respond to this report.

    Guidance for staff in the immigration detention estate is being updated to include a new detention services order on the care and management of LGB detainees in immigration removal centres and the existing detention services order on transsexual detainees will be updated to include guidance on intersex detainees.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many passport interview offices there were in each year since adults applying for the first time for a passport were required to attend a personal interview.

    Lord Bates

    The table below shows the maximum number of interview locations available in each year. The introduction of passport interview offices on 3rd party sites reflects the move to sharing interview locations with 3rd parties, mainly Local Authorities, where previously HM Passport Office had its own site.

    Calendar Year

    Maximum number of passport interview offices

    Maximum number of passport interview offices on 3rd party site

    Total maximum number

    2008

    67

    0

    67

    2009

    67

    0

    67

    2010

    65

    0

    65

    2011

    55

    0

    55

    2012

    23

    11

    34

    2013

    22

    11

    33

    2014

    22

    11

    33

    2015

    22

    11

    33
  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many adults applying for a passport for the first time have failed to attend their scheduled personal interview in each year since such interviews were required.

    Lord Bates

    The numbers given reflect the number of interviews where the applicant failed to attend.

    An applicant is given three attempts to book and attend an interview. If they fail to attend 3 times then we can withdraw their application.

    From 2008 to 2009 information on failed interviews was held in each Interview Office and not collated or transformed into centrally held data.

    Financial Year

    Number of interviews where applicant did not attend

    2009-10

    4887

    2010-11

    4542

    2011-12

    3442

    2012-13

    4623

    2013-14

    3967

    2014-15

    4414
  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many adults applying for a passport for the first time have failed the personal interview test in each year since such interviews were required.

    Lord Bates

    Interview offices were established in 2008 for first time adult applicants. From 2008 to 2010 information on failed interviews was held in each Interview Office and not collated or transformed into centrally held data. A failed interview does not automatically mean the passport application has failed. It indicates that the interviewer was not fully satisfied with the answers given within the allotted interview time and the application requires further investigation.

    During this period a number of changes were made to the way in which we conduct our interviews; these changes have led to fewer interviews being failed. Our new interview processes are more flexible and allow us to gather more details from the applicant at the interview stage. This means that interview staff are able to progress the application to a point where they can advise central examining teams that a passport should be issued. Previously, with less freedom in the questions they could put to the applicant they may have had to fail the interview so that these details could be established by another means later on in the process.

    Calendar Year

    Volume of Interviews failed

    2010

    2,396

    2011

    2,009

    2012

    1,016

    2013

    795

    2014

    239
  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many personal interviews with adults applying for a passport for the first time have been conducted in each year since such interviews were required, and what has been the total cost of conducting those interviews.

    Lord Bates

    The 2007-08 information below reflects the pilot and roll out of the Interview offices across this period of time. The increase in costs in 2008-09 reflects the final locations and staff starting. The reduction in costs between 2011 and 2012 reflects the reduction in locations.

    Financial Year

    Number of Interviews

    Estate and staff costs (£)

    2007-08

    85,051

    31,915,273

    2008-09

    261,438

    37,316,440

    2009-10

    297,575

    36,756,542

    2010-11

    296,312

    31,087,014

    2011-12

    257,518

    10,289,941

    2012-13

    283,341

    9,269,802

    2013-14

    277,560

    8,946,213
  • Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent of self-harm among school children as a consequence of bullying in the education system.

    Lord Nash

    The Department has not made a systematic assessment of the extent of self-harm as a consequence of bullying. There is wide variation in reported rates of self-harming among school children because individuals often do not disclose it. However, schools are well placed to spot a change in behaviour that may indicate something is wrong. To assist school staff, we published advice for schools on mental health and behaviour, providing teachers with information and tools that will help them to identify and support pupils with mental health needs, including advice about making referrals to a specialist service when necessary. The advice includes specific information about self-harm and effective treatment, as well as a school case study about how to address mental health issues in a non-stigmatising way in the classroom.

    The SEND Code of Practice makes it clear that schools need to look past any behaviour issues to identify underlying problems, including mental health issues, and put support in place where learning is affected. Our new joint training pilots with the NHS will further help to schools to effectively support children and young people with mental health concerns.

    The new PSHE lesson plans include teaching about self-harm and to help schools teach about mental health we have funded the PSHE Association to provide new mental health guidance and resources. This will help schools provide age appropriate teaching about mental health issues through the teaching of PSHE.

    All bullying is unacceptable and every school is required to have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle all forms of bullying. They are held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour. In 2015-16, the Government has provided £3.3m to charitable organisations to help tackle bullying and to provide support for those who are bullied. This is further to the £4m provided over the period 2013-15.