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21 July 2009 : Column 1476W—continued
Asylum
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which benefits in (a) cash and (b) kind his Department provides for asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their case who are (i) single, (ii) accompanied by their spouse or partner, (iii) have a partner and one child, (iv) have a partner and two children and (v) have a partner and three children. [283597]
Mr. Woolas: Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 asylum seekers and their dependants are not permitted to access the mainstream system of welfare benefits.
Asylum seekers and their dependants who need support to avoid destitution are given it by the UK Border Agency from the time they arrive in the UK until their claim is fully determined. Support takes the form of subsistence, accommodation or both.
Accommodation is fully furnished and includes all utilities and council tax payment. It is provided through a series of target contracts which the UK Border Agency has entered into with both public and private sector accommodation providers.
From 6 July 2009, levels of subsistence support will be per week £35.13 for a single asylum seeker aged 18 to 24 or £42.16 for a single asylum seeker aged over 25; £69.57 for an asylum seeker accompanied by a spouse or partner; £120.38 for an asylum seeker with a partner and one child under 16; £171.19 for an asylum seeker with a partner and two children under 16; £222.00 for an asylum seeker with a partner and three children under 16.
From 5 October 2009, all new single applicants without children will receive £35.13 a week regardless of age.
The regulations updating asylum support rates were laid before Parliament on 11 June 2009.
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of legacy asylum applications which will be decided by the 2011 target date. [287778]
Mr. Woolas: The previous Home Secretary informed Parliament in July 2006 of
"the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's case load of around 400,000 to 450,000 electronic and paper records, which as hon. Members also know, are riddled with duplication and errors, and include cases of individuals who have since died or left the country, or are now EU citizens."
She committed to tackling this case load in five years or less. The Case Resolution Directorate as made good progress and remain committed and on track to conclude these cases by summer 2011.
Asylum Seekers: Detention of Children
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of stay of a child aged 16 years or under in an immigration removal centre was in each of the last four years. [288513]
Alan Johnson: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only by checking individual records over the period requested at a disproportionate cost.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children aged 16 years and under were detained in each asylum and immigration centre in each month in each of the last two years. [288555]
Alan Johnson: Statistics on persons (including children) entering detention held solely under Immigration Act powers in the first two quarters of 2009 will be published for the first time in August 2009 in the Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom-Q2 2009 and on a quarterly basis thereafter. Copies of this bulletin will be available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Information outside this time period is not available.
Asylum: Bahrain
Mr. Purchase: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Bahrain nationals have been granted asylum in the UK. [267846]
Mr. Woolas: It is not possible to provide information on people currently receiving asylum in the UK. People who have previously applied for or been granted asylum may not now currently reside in the UK. The number of Bahrain nationals who have applied for asylum in the UK between 2001 and 2008 was 10 principal applicants. The number who have been granted asylum at initial decision between 2001 and 2008 was five. Initial decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period.
Information on main asylum nationalities is published annually and quarterly. The latest quarterly statistics were published on 24 February 2009 and are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
Asylum: Families
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the merits of granting children who have remained in their country of origin while their parents have claimed asylum in the UK the right to join their parents in circumstances in which their parents are unable to return to their country of origin; and if he will make a statement. [286938]
Mr. Woolas: There are no provisions under the immigrations rules which allow the family members of an asylum seeker to apply for entry clearance to join an individual here in the United Kingdom (UK) while an asylum claim is pending.
The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) recognises that families become fragmented because of the speed and manner in which a person seeking asylum has fled to the UK, therefore we allow dependants arriving at a later date to be added to a main applicants asylum claim, providing an initial decision has not yet been made on the asylum claim.
Where an individual's claim for asylum has been successful, their minor children may apply for immediate family reunion under paragraph 352D of the immigration rules.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the merits of extending the right to automatic family reunion to people claiming asylum from persecution who are granted the right to live in the UK under the Legacy programme; and if he will make a statement. [286939]
Mr. Woolas: From 30 August 2005 individuals qualifying for asylum, including those qualifying under the Legacy programme, are normally granted five years limited leave to remain (LTR). Individuals who qualified for asylum prior to this date were granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
The family reunion provisions contained in paragraph 352A-FI of the immigration rules, allows individuals granted asylum (either five years LTR or ILR) and those benefiting from a grant of five years humanitarian protection (HP) to sponsor an application for family reunion immediately, upon their grant of leave.
The right to sponsor an application under family reunion provisions will fall away once the sponsor has obtained their British citizenship and family members will be expected to apply under the general settlement rules, laid out in part 8 of the immigration rules.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the merits of granting children who have remained in their country of origin and who have reached the age of 18 years in the period during which their parents have been seeking asylum in the UK, the right to join their parents in the UK on the settlement of their parents' asylum claim if they turn 18 during the period in which the claim is being settled; and if he will make a statement. [286940]
Mr. Woolas: Family reunion is intended to allow family members (that is, those who formed the part of the family unit prior to the time that the sponsor fled to seek protection) to reunite with their sponsors who are recognised refugees or are benefiting from humanitarian protection (post 30 August 2005) in the UK.
Only pre-existing families are eligible for family reunion under the provisions of the immigration rules, paragraph 352A-FI, that is the spouse, civil partner, unmarried/same sex partner and minor children who formed part of the family unit at the time the sponsor fled to seek asylum.
Family members who do not meet the requirements of the family reunion provisions may still be considered for family reunion if compassionate and compelling circumstances exist. Each case is considered on its individual merits.
British Nationality
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were granted UK citizenship in each of the last four quarters for which figures are available. [288009]
Mr. Woolas: The latest quarterly figures were published in Table 4b in the 'Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom-First Quarter 2009' available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
| Table 4b: Grants of British citizenship in the United Kingdom by basis of grant and refusal, Q4 2006 to Q1 2009 | ||||||
| Grants by basis of grant | ||||||
| Total grants | Residence | Marriage | Minor Children | Other | Total refusals | |
Data for quarter two are scheduled for publication on 27th August 2009 and will be available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website
British Nationality
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have had their British citizenship revoked by his Department since 19 February 2001; and how many such individuals have been (a) removed, (b) deported and (c) excluded from the UK. [283819]
Mr. Woolas: Three individuals have been deprived of their British citizen status since 2001. A fourth has had a deprivation order served but the deprivation has not yet come into effect. None of these four have been removed or deported because two, who are overseas, have been excluded following deprivation. One of these has appealed against the deprivation decision. There is no right of appeal against exclusion.
Community Relations
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2009, Official Report, column 1482W, on community relations: finance, what the title is of each of the 33 projects aimed at disrupting violent extremism. [271522]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 28 April 2009]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 July 2009, Official Report, columns 906-07W.
Crime: West Yorkshire Police Force
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the crime detection rate for West Yorkshire police force was in each year since 1996-97. [288659]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is given in the tables.
It should be noted that non-sanction detections that contribute to the percentage change in total detection rates have fallen in recent years reflecting a significant shift by many police forces away from recording detections of crime where no further action is taken. For this reason overall detection rates over time are not fully comparable. From 1 April 2007 the rules governing recording of non-sanction detections were revised to reduce the scope within which they can be claimed to a very limited set of circumstance.
There are other changes affecting trends in detection rates that are discussed in section 3.5 of Volume 2 of 'Crime in England Wales 2008/09' which has been deposited in the Library of the House.
| Table 1: Detection rates in West Yorkshire | |
| Detection rate (percentage) | |
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