Written questions by Ribeiro-Addy.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the lessons learned from international examples of the use of limited humanitarian visas to allow people to apply for asylum from their country of origin.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our existing global resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Alongside these schemes, we operate specific schemes for those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan, and an immigration route for British National (overseas) status holders from Hong Kong.There are additional safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work or study.

If she will consider the potential merits of establishing a safeguarding process to protect child refugees who are being mistakenly routed through the adult asylum system.

It is Home Office policy that an individual claiming to be a child will only be treated as an adult, if two Home Office members of staff independently determine that the individual's physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age. The lawfulness of this process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.Where there remains doubt about the individual’s age, they will be transferred to a local authority for further consideration of their age, usually in the form of a holistic social worker assessment of age, referred to as a ‘Merton’ age assessment.We continue to work with local authorities and our asylum accommodation providers to ensure appropriate processes for individuals claiming to be children. For example, we have already improved information sharing with local authorities so that we are more routinely sharing reports for initial decisions on age, when required, as well as reviewing the initial decisions on age training rolled out to Home Office staff at the Western Jet Foil in Kent. We are also exploring new methods of scientific and technological age assessment, including Facial Age Estimation.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) the age of refugee children is accurately assessed at the port of entry and (b) they are not inappropriately placed in adult (i) accommodation and (ii) detention settings.

It is Home Office policy that an individual claiming to be a child will only be treated as an adult, if two Home Office members of staff independently determine that the individual's physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age. The lawfulness of this process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.Where there remains doubt about the individual’s age, they will be transferred to a local authority for further consideration of their age, usually in the form of a holistic social worker assessment of age, referred to as a ‘Merton’ age assessment.We continue to work with local authorities and our asylum accommodation providers to ensure appropriate processes for individuals claiming to be children. For example, we have already improved information sharing with local authorities so that we are more routinely sharing reports for initial decisions on age, when required, as well as reviewing the initial decisions on age training rolled out to Home Office staff at the Western Jet Foil in Kent. We are also exploring new methods of scientific and technological age assessment, including Facial Age Estimation.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the National Police Chiefs’ Council's guidance entitled Practice Advice on Child Death Investigation, published in February 2025, on (a) bereaved families and (b) trust in maternity services.

Guidance to support operational policing in discharging their duties is a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 50209 on British Nationality: Children, what the reason was of the increase in administrative cost for child citizenship applications since 2021-22.

The published administrative cost of processing immigration and nationality applications reflects the full financial cost of providing the relevant service which includes direct costs, relevant local and central overheads, (e.g. accommodation, HR, Finance and IT), depreciation, cost of capital employed, and other factors that are in connection to immigration and nationality. The Home Office keeps the cost of processing applications under review and where costs associated with processing applications change, published fee tables will be updated accordingly.The cost base that is apportioned to setting the unit cost has increased year on year. This is due to factors such as inflation.

When she plans to extend the permanent settlement wait time from five to ten years.

We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and further details on the proposed scheme will be provided at that time.

If she will review the National Police Chiefs' Council's guidance on investigating stillbirths.

Guidance to support operational policing in discharging their duties is a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Whether she has consulted (a) medical professionals and (b) women’s rights organisations on the potential impact of the National Police Chiefs’ Council's guidance entitled Practice Advice on Child Death Investigation, published in February 2025, on (i) Black women, (ii) migrant women and (iii) other marginalised groups.

Guidance to support operational policing in discharging their duties is a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Whether she plans to retrospectively move people on the five-year settlement route to the ten-year settlement route.

We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and further details on the proposed scheme will be provided at that time.

How many people will qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the five-year Settlement Route in the next 12 months.

The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

What estimate she has made of the number of Commonwealth citizens who are on the five-year settlement route.

The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Whether her Department has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of only charging administrative costs for child citizenship applications.

No such estimate has been made. However, fees for immigration and nationality applications are kept under review, and this includes consideration of the financial impacts that may arise were fee levels to be changed.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the no recourse to public funds condition on internationally educated nursing staff.

The proposals set out in the Immigration White Paper were discussed with all government departments in the normal way.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, on (a) attracting and (b) retaining healthcare workers.

The proposals set out in the Immigration White Paper were discussed with all government departments in the normal way.

How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their Asylum Accommodation Services contract.

I refer the Hon Member to the Answer she received on the 16 May 2025 to UIN 50918.

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2025 to Question 30270 on British Nationality: Fees and Charges; for what reason she does not collate information on the reasons for rejecting fee waivers.

The reasons for rejecting a fee waiver are recorded on each case, but collating this data for the purposes of answering the relevant parliamentary question would have required a manual review of each case.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the cost of citizenship applications for children on (a) parents, (b) carers and (c) children.

Where changes to fee legislation are made, Impact Assessments are produced which identify potential impacts resulting from the changes. Although fees for child citizenship applicants were not increased as part of the recent fee changes that came into effect on 09 April 2025, the published Equalities Impact Assessment includes discussion of the impacts of nationality fees on child applicants and can be found at the following link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/363/pdfs/uksiod_20250363_en_001.pdf.

What recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of Serco's performance against the key performance indicators in their Asylum Accommodation Services contract.

The Home Office monitors the performance of its Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract (AASC) providers including Serco through a robust performance management framework. Performance data is published periodically and includes performance against key contractual obligations and key performance indicators. Information on key performance indicators is published every quarter and can be found here: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts - GOV.UK.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of children entitled to citizenship and not registered.

We do not hold estimates on the number of children or adults who may be entitled to British citizenship and have not yet registered or applied for naturalisation.

What the administrative cost to her Department is for child citizenship application processing.

The Home Office publishes the fees charged and the estimated unit cost of processing immigration and nationality applications on GOV.UK. This can be reviewed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data.