Every parliamentary written question tabled by Chris Philp this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 81–97 of 97 · Home Office
What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on returning Syrians (a) seeking and (b) granted asylum if that country becomes safe.
The Home Office acted swiftly to pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation. We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.
Whether she has identified alternative accommodation to enable a reduction in the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
This Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims processed. We remain committed to reducing the costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time, and we will set out further details of our progress towards those objectives in the normal way in due course.
How many and what proportion of Foreign National Offenders challenged deportation in each of the last five years for which data is available; and how many and what proportion of those challenges were (a) successful and (b) based upon the European Convention on Human Rights.
I refer the Right Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 26 November to Question UIN 14746.
Whether she has written to Chief Constables setting out her priorities for policing.
The Home Secretary spoke with all Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners within her first days of office, on 7th July. In that same week on 11th July, the Home Secretary attended meetings of both the NPCC and APCC to set out this Government’s Safer Streets mission and priorities for policing.She discussed her priorities for policing with sector leaders at the National Policing Board on 23rd October and, on 19th November, set out more detail of her plans to all Chief Constables and PCCs at the National Police Chiefs Council and Association of Police Crime Commissioners Summit.The Home Secretary wrote to all Chief Constables and Police Crime Commissioners (PCCs) on 5th December on the Government’s Plan for Change and the ambition to restore neighbourhood policing.
How many people have been arrested as a result of investigations by the Grooming Gangs Taskforce since 5 July 2024.
The Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce (or ‘Grooming Gangs Taskforce’) provides practical, expert, on the ground support for local forces investigating complex, group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation, with a focus on grooming gangs. It supports force-led investigations rather than running its own investigations.Data is collected and reported quarterly. Arrest data is currently available from 34 out of the 44 forces that the Taskforce collects data from. In the most recent data collection – which is for Quarter 3 of 2024 (1 July – 30 September) - those 34 forces recorded 222 arrests for group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation offences. ‘Group-based’ offending in this context includes any offence with two or more perpetrators. This will include – but is not limited to – ‘grooming gang’ type offending; other ‘group-based’ offending includes intra-familial and peer-on-peer abuse, for example.
If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of allowing Sri Lankans based on Diego Garcia to the UK on the number of people who will begin to attempt to reach the UK via Diego Garcia; and whether any of the 60 Tamil migrants recently arrived have made applications for family to join them.
Diego Garcia has never been a suitable long-term location for the migrants who have arrived there and this Government has worked hard to find a solution that protects both their welfare and the integrity of British territorial borders. We have now closed down any risk of opening a new route, with any future arrivals to Diego Garcia to be relocated to St Helena until Mauritius takes responsibility for the island. Following this, we have temporarily relocated a small number of migrants, including children and their families, to the UK due to their acute welfare needs, and the lack of any suitable amenities on the island, including healthcare, to address those needs. In line with normal practice, we will not comment further on those individual cases.
With reference to paragraph 6.37 of the 5th Annual Report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, published on 28 November 2024, whether her Department is taking steps to implement the recommendation to introduce facial recognition for all arrivals at Western Jet Foil.
The Government published its response to the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s 5th Annual Report on 28 November 2024 here: Response to the 2022 annual report on the operation of the terrorism acts by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)The Government is committed to exploring how it can improve and accelerate processes for identifying individuals of potential security concern, including continuing to improve its facial recognition capabilities.
How many migrants entering the country illegally claimed to be children since 5 July 2024; how many and what proportion of those migrants were subsequently assessed to be (a) under and (b) over 18; and whether those migrants were assessed using scientific age assessments.
The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Quarterly data on detected irregular arrivals by age group is published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’. The latest data is up to the end of September 2024, with data up to December 2024 to be published on 27 February 2025. The Home Office also publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on age disputes raised and resolved is published in table Asy_D05 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to year ending June 2024. Accurately assessing an individual's age remains an incredibly complex and difficult task, and current methods and procedures for doing so are set out in detail in the Home Office's Assessing Age guidance, which is publicly available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672e169e4f7608e424ffdab1/Assessing+age.pdf(opens in a new tab).The effectiveness of these and other potential methods and procedures for age assessment are kept under regular review, and any future changes will be updated in the usual way. On the issue of scientific age assessments, I will write to the Rt Hon Member to address in more detail the question he has raised.
With reference to her Oral Statement of 22 July 2024 on Border Security and Asylum, Official Report, columns 384-387, if she will publish a breakdown of the £700 million.
I refer the Honourable Member to my answer of 25th November to question UIN 15092.
Pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2024 to Question 13777 on Police: Mental Health Services, if she will publish the updates received by her Department from police forces on implementation of the Right Care, Right Person model.
I remain grateful for the Right Honourable Member’s continued commitment to the successful implementation of the Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) approach and I will be happy to provide him with regular updates on its implementation when there is relevant progress to update.
How many foreign national offenders (a) are currently in (i) prison and (ii) the community and (b) have been deported since 5 July 2024.
The number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) in prison in England and Wales is published quarterly in table 1_Q_9 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 September 2024) available from: prison-population-30-Sept-2024.ods.Any FNO convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is referred to the Home Office for deportation consideration following sentencing. We are focussing resources on those cases currently serving custodial sentences and maximising removals directly from prison.We will pursue deportation action against individuals living in the community rigorously, actively monitoring and managing cases through the legal process and negotiating barriers to removal.Between 5 July and 28 October 2024, there were 1,520 enforced and voluntary returns of FNOs, this is an increase of 14% compared to 1,330 FNO returns in the same period of 2023. Further information can be found here: Returns from the UK between July and October 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The Home Office publishes the quarterly statistics on the returns of FNOs by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
How many people were returned to their home countries between (a) 5 July and 31 October 2023 and (b) 5 July and 31 October 2024; and how many and what proportion of those returned since 5 July 2024 (i) left voluntarily, (ii) were forced to return, (iii) were foreign national offenders, (iv) had arrived by small boat, broken down by nationality.
The Home Office published an ad-hoc release containing information about the total number of enforced and voluntary returns from the UK between 5 July and 28 October 2024 and the same period in 2023, on 4 November this year.The number of returns between July and September 2024 will be published in the Immigration system statistics release on 28 November, with data for the period October to December 2024 published in the release on 27 February 2025. Data in Ret_D01 of the returns detailed tables accompanying the report provide quarterly data broken down by return type (enforced/voluntary/port), nationality and return destination group (Home/EU member state/Other safe country).The Home Office publishes information about those who by small boat in the Irregular Migration to the UK quarterly release. Quarterly data on enforced and voluntary returns are given by return date in table Irr_02e of the irregular migration to the UK summary tables accompanying the release.
How many (a) asylum hotels were open and (b) asylum seekers were housed in hotels as of (i) 30 June and (ii) 31 October 2024; and what was the daily cost of the asylum hotels during this period.
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release. The data can also be broken down by local authority: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).The Home Office does not publish data on daily numbers or cost of hotels in use. The Government inherited an asylum system which is under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of cases in the asylum backlog and a range of challenges across the system.
If she will publish the schedule of implementation for the Right Care, Right Person model for all the police forces in England and Wales.
It is a matter for each chief constable to determine how much of the Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) approach they wish to adopt.I know the Rt Hon Member was strongly committed in his past role to the adoption of Right Care, Right Person approach, and I welcome his continued interest in the subject.Although he will be aware that there is no national implementation schedule for RCRP, and timing is ultimately a matter for each chief constable, it is recognised best practice for the police to work in close consultation with local partners to understand local issues and gaps, to be clear on who will respond to what, and to agree a timeline for implementing the different phases of RCRP in their force area.The Home Office continues to receive regular updates from police forces across England and Wales on the status of their implementation, and I am pleased to report that work is progressing well across the country.
With reference to the Answer of 21 October 2024 to Question 9189 on Police: Technology, and paragraph 5.6 of the Spring Budget 2024, published on 6 March 2024, HC 560, how much and what proportion of the £230 million funding for new police technology she plans to spend in the 2024-25 financial year.
I refer Hon Gentlemen to the answer I gave him on 21st October 2024 (UIN 9189).
With reference to paragraph 5.6 of the Spring Budget 2024, published on 6 March 2024, HC 560, how much and what proportion of the £230 million funding for new police technology is being spent in the 2024-25 financial year.
Final figures for the amount spent on police technology in the 2024 financial year from the £234m announced at the Spring Budget will be available to publish at the end of that financial year.
With reference to The Immigration (Age Assessments) Regulations 2024, whether those Regulations have been implemented; and whether scientific age assessments are taking place.
The Immigration (Age Assessments) Regulations 2024 came into force in January of this year. We are committed to strengthening our age assessment process. We are taking a holistic approach to prevent adults claiming to be children or children being wrongly treated as adults – as both present serious safeguarding risks to children.