Tag: Sarah Teather

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to make a decision on the request to authorise water cannon for use by the police in England and Wales; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the advice and business case she has received on the use of water cannon in mainland UK.

Damian Green

I refer my Hon. Friend to my answer of 12 May 2014, Official Report, column
412W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Investigation into the Establishment of the Performance and Compliance Unit, published in May 2013, what steps have been taken in response to recommendation 1 of that report.

James Brokenshire

Following the reorganisations which flowed from the decision to bring the
functions of the UK Border Agency back into direct ministerial control, the
Performance and Compliance Unit no longer exists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection into the Handling of Asylum Applications made by Unaccompanied Children, published in October 2013, what steps have been taken in response to recommendations 1, 3, 4 and 8 of that report.

James Brokenshire

In response to recommendation 1, a clear and consistent approach has been
adopted. A pilot was run shortly after the inspection that led to the adoption
of a new screening process for unaccompanied children; this has led to
increased consistency between the Home Office and local authorities. All
initial screenings take place within five days of initial claim. Local
Authorities are clearly responsible for facilitating the access to legal advice
and responsible adults prior to the screening interview.

In response to recommendation 3, this guidance and policy has been reinforced
locally. The Asylum Casework Directorate has implemented new structures that
offer better technical support for promoting and monitoring family tracing.
This guidance has been reinforced locally in all teams through the creation of
specialised family and minors teams in each regional location. Work is
ongoing with the Foreign Office on new family tracing arrangements for volume
UASC nationalities (Albanian and Afghan) that should help to expedite the
tracing process in these countries. The practicality of specialised teams
will be reviewed once all decision units are fully staffed.

In response to recommendation 4, the move to a single national directorate has
led to greater consistency and control of asylum case work. This has helped to
address the consistency of operations and outcomes in each of the seven
casework locations. Customer service standards have been reviewed with the
expectation that straightforward claims can expect to receive their decision
within six months. Unaccompanied children should receive their decisions
quicker than that.

In response to recommendation 8, as part of the ongoing continuous improvement
programme decision letters have been reviewed and changed. Templates are now
clearer, more concise and customer friendly. This new approach to producing
more concise grant letters and minutes has been implemented whilst a pilot
regarding refusal letters is underway.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection of the UK Border Agency’s handling of legacy asylum and migration cases, published in November 2012, what steps have been taken in response to recommendation 1 of that report.

Karen Bradley

The Older Live Cases Unit routinely and regularly matches asylum and migration
legacy cases against the Police National Computer (PNC) and Warnings Index (WI)
records, until the point at which cases are finally concluded. The checks are
undertaken on a rolling three monthly basis. Results are recorded on a bespoke
database which informs the decision making process within the Older Live Cases
Unit.

Compliance with the recommendation was acknowledged by the Independent Chief
Inspector of Borders and Immigration in his report, An investigation into the
progress made on legacy asylum and migration cases January – March 2013,
published in June 2013, where he stated, "security checks had been completed
in each of the cases we sampled (144), indicating that the Agency had
implemented our earlier recommendation to routinely and regularly
match legacy cases against the PNC and WI until finally concluded."

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been referred to her Department by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement in the UK through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme to date.

James Brokenshire

As of 31 December 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 260 people for consideration under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons
Relocation (VPR) scheme. This data has not previously been published, is based on management information only, and has not therefore been subject to the detailed checks that apply to National Statistics publications.

In the same period to 31 December, as already published through the quarterly release of Home Office statistics, 143 people had arrived in the UK under the VPR scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who used the Assisted Voluntary Returns scheme (a) submitted their first asylum claim after being detained in an immigration removal and (b) had their asylum case decided within the Detained Fast Track in each of the last five years for which records are available.

James Brokenshire

The information requested is shown in the following table:

The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, as such it should be treated as provisional and subject to change.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the ability for individuals detained for immigration purposes at HM Prison The Verne to access (a) legal and (b) health services.

Jeremy Wright

HM Prison The Verne started taking immigration detainees from 24 March 2014 as scheduled . The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will retain The Verne as a prison in the short term.

While The Verne retains its designation as a prison it will be governed by Prison Rules rather than Detention Centre Rules. Detainees held at The Verne are treated in the same way as other detainees held within the prison estate. As such they have access to appropriate heath care and legal advice. Independent immigration advice is provided on site by Migrant Help. In addition, detainees are able to telephone Detention Action, and BID (Bail for Immigration detainees).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold an inquiry into trends in the number of deaths of individuals detained in immigration detention.

James Brokenshire

Any death in immigration detention is a tragic event and each death is subject
to independent investigation, as appropriate, by the police, the Coroner and
the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Any recommendations made by the investigating authorities are thoroughly
examined to see how they can be used to help prevent further tragedies across
the detention estate and action plans are drawn up to monitor their
implementation.

For example, firm written reminders were issued to all suppliers on the
requirements of the current Detention Services Order on use of handcuffs, which
was followed up by a workshop on their appropriate use and the importance of
proper risk assessments. Recommendations relevant to medical care for detainees
have been shared with NHS England to inform their commissioning of healthcare
services from 1 September 2014.