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 what is their programme and timetable for the reception of 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

We continue to work with local authorities and International Partners to deliver the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament. We are on track to do this. The number resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the availability of suitable accommodation and support in the UK. Progress on resettlement is indicated in quarterly immigration statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have agreed to accept Syrian refugees.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

More than 170 local authorities have provided firm offers of places and many more have pledged to resettle refugees under this scheme. We continue to work with them all in order to meet our commitment. Progress on resettlement is reported in quarterly immigration statistics, including the local authorities participating in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and how many refugees have been resettled in each area.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they will give to the concerns of landlords raised in the Home Office’s recent review of Right to Rent that the scheme has the potential for discrimination.

Lord Bates

The Government has always been clear that the Right to Rent scheme would be rolled out across the country after phase one in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton. The Prime Minister committed to do so in May this year. Home Office Science has carried out an evaluation of phase one. The findings of the evaluation have now been published and are informing implementation of the roll out of the scheme.

The evaluation was overseen by an expert panel consisting of representatives from landlords and letting agents associations, housing charities, local authorities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to enable concerns about the operation of the scheme to be taken into account.

The Home Office evaluation reported on mystery shopping research, conducted by independent contractors. This found that there were no major differences in prospective tenants’ access to accommodation between the Right to Rent phase one area and comparator areas, where the scheme was not running.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive, in order to enable the welcoming of the maximum number of refugees.

Lord Bates

The UK Government is discussing and engaging closely with the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that each is able to welcome refugees who will be resettled under the Syrian resettlement programme. We are also represented on the task forces in each of the devolved administrations.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provision is made to enable young asylum seekers to have legal support and advice on reaching the age of 18.

Lord Bates

Unaccompanied asylum seeking children are placed into the care of local authorities and are provided with specialised legal advice and support. If they have an outstanding asylum claim on reaching the age of 18, legal advice will continue to be provided and their social worker will help them to access that support.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the suitability of conditions at immigration detention units at airports in the UK.

Lord Bates

The regulation of safety arrangements in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) is through the Detention Centre Rules 2001, the Operating Standards for IRCs, Detention Services Orders relating to security arrangements and the relevant sections of the contracts and service level agreements relating to security. Each IRC has a Home Office Immigration Enforcement Manager to monitor ongoing service provision.

Independent scrutiny is an important part of assurance that our removal centres are safe, secure and humane. Assessments of IRCs and holding rooms are published by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) and in the annual reports of Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB).

Home Office service improvement plans contribute to delivering continuing improvement of services in response to independent recommendations. Service improvement plans in response to HMCIP inspection reports have been publicly available on the HMCIP website for all reports published after 1 April 2015.

On 9 February 2015 my Right Honourable Friend, the Home Secretary, announced an independent review of the welfare in detention of vulnerable persons by Stephen Shaw, which included consideration of the conditions at IRCs and airport holding rooms. The Government’s position on the review was set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 14 January 2016.

Current policy is clear that a number of groups of individuals, including pregnant women, the elderly, victims of torture and the mentally ill, should be detained only in very exceptional circumstances. The Government accepts Stephen Shaw’s recommendations that there should be a wider definition of those at risk, and will introduce a new “adult at risk” concept into decision-making on immigration detention, with a clear presumption that people who are at risk should not be detained, building on the existing legal framework.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-03-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of non-EU citizens who face being deported after 6 April because they earn less than £35,000.

Lord Keen of Elie

No migrant workers will be deported from April 2016 as a result of the £35,000 settlement threshold.

The threshold only applies to those who entered Tier 2 (General), the skilled work route, from 6 April 2011. Tier 2 workers sponsored in shortage or PhD-level occupations are exempt. Skilled workers may remain in Tier 2 (General) for up to six years in total, after which they are expected to meet the settlement criteria or leave. For those who entered in April 2011, the six year maximum period of stay will expire in April 2017.

Those who are paid below the threshold may apply to switch into any other routes for which they are eligible. Those workers who cannot extend their stay will be expected to leave the UK voluntarily when their visa expires. The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to establish social services and psychosocial support for unaccompanied minors brought 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 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.