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 whether they plan to establish a working group of voluntary organisations and officials to help the 20,000 Syrian refugees to settle successfully in the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Refugee Resettlement Programme has established a strategic engagement group consisting of representatives from the programme, NGOs, the Syrian diaspora and service providers for resettled refugees. The group meets quarterly and has a number of objectives including providing targeted expertise that will help inform policy and operational delivery of the UK’s resettlement routes and promoting a better understanding of the factors that contribute to successful resettlement. The group is chaired jointly by the Resettlement Programme and the Refugee Council.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to reunite with their families the 387 child refugees in Calais camps identified by Citizens UK who are eligible to come to the UK.

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 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider increasing the weekly Azure card allowance to include the costs of travel.

Lord Bates

There are no plans to increase the allowance provided on the Azure card. Travel assistance is provided separately and information on how to apply for it is published on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what emergency arrangements are in place to care for those who are affected by bombings in Syria.

Earl of Courtown

The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

We continue to closely monitor the humanitarian impact of airstrikes in Syria. DFID’s partners are activating their own contingency plans and have scaled up their interventions to meet the evolving needs of the population. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold all provisions of International Humanitarian Law.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many asylum seekers facing deportation committed self harm or suicide in the past year.

Lord Bates

The number of cases where individuals facing deportation have committed self harm or suicide cannot be extracted without incurring disproportionate cost. Figures therefore cannot be provided.

The Home Office is committed to ensuring adequate safeguards are in place for those where there are concerns about self harm or suicide. Guidance has been provided to immigration case workers, and there is a requirement to share concerns with other officers involved in the case by noting such concerns on the Department’s case information database (CID).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average cost of deporting a person deemed to be an illegal immigrant.

Lord Bates

The Home Office has published information on the average cost of detention and removal but this is not broken down by initial application type, and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/costs-involved-in-detaining-and-removing-illegal-migrants

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in the light of the report by Help Refugees in March that 129 unaccompanied children are unaccounted for in the Calais refugee camp.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government is working closely with the French Government to ensure that unaccompanied children in Calais and Dunkirk quickly receive the support and protection they need.

The UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015 committed the two governments to establishing a permanent official contact group focused on ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively, including the provisions on family unity.

As a result a Home Office official has recently been seconded to the Interior Ministry’s Dublin Unit in Paris in part to assist with the identification of potential requests for the UK to take charge of asylum seeking children in France and to bring them into the Dublin Regulation procedure without delay.

In order to receive the proper support they need and to be eligible under Dublin, children must first make an asylum for application in France.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what process they plan to follow to identify eligible unaccompanied minors and bring them 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 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to ensure that EU law relating to traffic will continue to be enforced when the UK leaves the EU.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU, including future arrangements for existing legislation. Until we leave the EU, EU law continues to apply, so we continue to comply with the requirements relating to traffic.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied young asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in the past 12 months; and where they have been sent.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Annual Figures on the number of claims for asylum from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), including by country of nationality, are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics April to June 2016, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016.

The Government is committed to ensuring that there is a more equitable distribution of UASC across the country and that no one authority has to care for more UASC than they are able to. That is why we introduced the voluntary National Transfer Scheme and have consulted with every region in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on their capacity. In order to continue the success of the voluntary scheme more local authorities will need to participate and offer places for unaccompanied children from councils which are caring for disproportionately high numbers.