Tag: Lord Roberts of Llandudno

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 12 July (HL Deb, col 124), how many Syrian refugees have been settled in each of the 71 local authorities so far.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Progress on resettlement in each local authority is indicated in quarterly immigration statistics. The last set of statistics, published on 26 May 2016, showed that 1,602 Syrians were resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme between October 2015 and March 2016 and sets out how many were located in each local authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to identify families in the UK who would be willing to receive related unaccompanied child refugees from the refugee camps in Calais.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

UK Government officials have confirmed that the Citizens UK list has been passed to the French authorities, who are primarily responsible for migrants on French territory.

We continue to work with the French authorities and others to speed up exist-ing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary. We will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe; over 70 of these are from France.

It is important that the due processes under the Dublin Regulation are followed. This position was recently confirmed in a Court of Appeal judgement (“ZAT and others”). Families are only contacted once a transfer request has been made and a family link has been established. When we accept a request to transfer an unaccompanied minor we liaise with Local Authorities and the child’s family.

A new scheme to allow community groups to directly sponsor a refugee family was launched by the Home Secretary and Archbishop of Canterbury on 19 July. The Full Community Sponsorship scheme enables community groups including charities, faith groups, churches and businesses, to take on the role of supporting resettled refugees in the UK. A ‘Help Refugees in the UK’ web-page has also been developed on GOV.UK to make it easier for the public to support refugees in the UK and allow local authorities to focus support on the goods and services that refugees need.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to ensure and monitor the security and wellbeing of individuals deported from the United Kingdom to potentially dangerous home countries.

Lord Bates

The Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of individuals once removed from the UK as they have been found not to need protection and therefore that they are not at real risk of harm. Each case is considered on its individual merits including, where relevant, the reasonableness of internal relocation.

Returns are only undertaken when the Home Office and courts deem it is safe to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the 1,000 refugees that are to be resettled in the UK by Christmas will be transported to the UK.

Lord Bates

The 1,000 Syrian refugees that we expect to be resettled in the UK before Christmas will be brought to the UK using a combination of scheduled and charter flights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government to which countries unsuccessful asylum seekers were deported in each year between 2010 and 2014, and in each of those years, how many unsuccessful asylum seekers were deported to each of those countries.

Lord Bates

The data on removals and voluntary departures by type and destination are available in the latest Home Office release, Immigration Statistics: July to September 2015, in table rv.06. This publication is available from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

Deportations are a specific subset of removals which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked. It is not possible to separately identify deportations from enforced removals. It is not possible within these figures to say at what stage in the asylum process individuals have reached at the time of their removal, including whether their claim has failed at that point.

The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK and on persons refused entry to the United Kingdom within Immigration Statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to fulfil their agreement in the August 2015 Joint Ministerial Declaration (Managing Migratory Flows in Calais) properly to protect children in refugee camps in Calais.

Lord Bates

The management of the camp – both in terms of humanitarian aspects and maintaining law and order – is the responsibility of the French Government and operational needs may require for them to restrict access under certain circumstances. Aid is not restricted as a matter of course, and we work with the French to ensure those who need help are able to receive it.

To help protect vulnerable people (including children and other potential victims of trafficking) the Home Secretary and French Interior Minister agreed in the UK-France Joint Declaration in August 2015 to set up a project to identify and direct vulnerable individuals to existing protection, support and advice within France. The UK has contributed €750,000 (£530,000) to fund the project which formally launched in December 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 15 March (HL6859), how many take-charge notices issued by French authorities have been accepted by British authorities.

Lord Keen of Elie

Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is not currently available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to co-operate with voluntary organisations in bringing unaccompanied minors to the UK from refugee camps in Europe.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.

The legislation is clear that consultation with local authorities is needed before any figure is set. We are working closely with local authorities and consulting NGOs, the UNHCR, UNICEF and relevant Member States to establish suitable processes to im-plement this initiative.

We are committed to act as quickly as we can but we must take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to resettle and support those who are resettled.

We must also ensure that we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK. We will be working closely with local authorities to find suitable placements within the UK. Statutory agencies at a local level are best placed to understand and meet the needs of all children and will continue to make decisions about the right accommodation and support services for those who are looked after. Unaccompanied children will be eligible for foster care if it is considered that that this placement type will provide appropriate support and best meet their individual needs.

The UK has well-established and effective safeguarding procedures to ensure the safety of children who come to the UK. All children brought to the UK will be given the care, support and education they require.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they provide to refugees before they are settled in the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The UN High Commission for Refugees counsels refugees before they are resettled to the UK.

Additional advice is provided through cultural orientation sessions with practical information about life in the UK and rights and responsibilities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure the co-operation of voluntary organisations that are ready to assist in welcoming child refugees.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

UK Government officials have confirmed that the Citizens UK list has been passed to the French authorities, who are primarily responsible for migrants on French territory.

We continue to work with the French authorities and others to speed up exist-ing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary. We will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe; over 70 of these are from France.

It is important that the due processes under the Dublin Regulation are followed. This position was recently confirmed in a Court of Appeal judgement (“ZAT and others”). Families are only contacted once a transfer request has been made and a family link has been established. When we accept a request to transfer an unaccompanied minor we liaise with Local Authorities and the child’s family.

A new scheme to allow community groups to directly sponsor a refugee family was launched by the Home Secretary and Archbishop of Canterbury on 19 July. The Full Community Sponsorship scheme enables community groups including charities, faith groups, churches and businesses, to take on the role of supporting resettled refugees in the UK. A ‘Help Refugees in the UK’ web-page has also been developed on GOV.UK to make it easier for the public to support refugees in the UK and allow local authorities to focus support on the goods and services that refugees need.