The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 23rd May 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government whether there have been any changes to asylum screening interviews since 7 March.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con, Home Office): There have been no changes to the asylum screening interview template since 7 March.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about the proposed Illegal Migration Bill”On 10th May 2023, the House of Lords debated the Illegal Migration Bill in its first reading. The Bishop of Durham spoke in the debate, pointing out risks to child safeguarding and potential breaches of the refugee convention if the bill was enacted as written:
The Lord Bishop of Durham: I declare my interests as a member of the RAMP project and a trustee of Reset.
When looking to engage with a Bill, Members decide whether to focus on the detail or address the underlying principles behind the proposed legislation. This Bill leaves me with no choice but to start with the latter, as it asks fundamental questions about who we are as a nation. In order to supposedly reduce channel crossings, are we really prepared to consent to “extinguishing”, as the UNHCR puts it, the right to claim asylum and withholding support for victims of trafficking, and indefinitely detaining thousands of asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women? We have been left to consider the Bill’s provisions without an impact assessment, but these consequences will potentially lead to an unjustified intolerable level of harm which does not reflect who we are as a nation.
Continue reading “Illegal Migration Bill: Bishop of Durham highlights threats to safeguarding and potential breaching of the refugee convention”The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answers on 27th March 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost of using and converting (1) RAF Scampton, (2) MDP Wethersfield, (3) the Northeye site, and (4) the Bibby Stockholm barge for asylum-seeker accommodation; and what assessment they have made of the value of the contracts to the agencies managing these sites.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con, Home Office): The United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with accommodation and other support whilst their claim for asylum is being considered.
Continue reading “Bishop of Leicester asks about management of the UK asylum system”The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 17th April 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government how many individuals have been granted temporary protection since the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into force; and what proportion of such individuals were under the age of 18.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con): The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.uk. Data on initial decisions on asylum applications, by age, can be found in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’ on GOV.uk. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending December 2022. Data for the year ending March 2023 will be published on 25 May 2023.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about asylum decisions by the UK government”The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 28th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government:
The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 22nd February 2022:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to trial an Emergency Resettlement Mechanism that is wider than existing schemes as originally proposed in the New Plan for Immigration, published on 24 March 2021.
Lord Murray of Blidworth: An Emergency Resettlement Mechanism would allow the government to provide urgent protection in exceptional circumstances to refugees referred by UNHCR as being in need of rapid emergency resettlement. The UK already works alongside the UNHCR to resettle refugees through its existing resettlement schemes; these include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about emergency resettlement scheme”The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 21st Febrary 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the asylum application waiting list of the requirement to reassess refugees with Group 2 status every 30 months.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con): The Home Office will publish further details in due course on the process for Group 2 refugees applying for further temporary refugee permission to stay after 30-months.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about conditions for asylum seekers”On 6th February 2023, the Bishop of Durham spoke in a debate on the Government’s use of a Memorandum of Understanding rather than a treaty as the vehicle for the agreement with Rwanda on the transfer of asylum seekers, highlighting the stance of the House of Bishops against the policy and the government’s responsibility towards children and the vulnerable:
The Lord Bishop of Durham: I declare my interest in RAMP as laid out in the register. The Lords Spiritual as a whole chose to speak out against the transfer of asylum seekers to Rwanda. We did not do this lightly, knowing the privileged role we hold in the life of our nation, but the memorandum of understanding brings into question fundamental issues about individual rights, our commitment to international law and our moral standing as a nation. It is because of these deep and important questions that I believe the use of an MoU was highly inappropriate.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham speaks in debate on transfer of asylum seekers to Rwanda”On 24th January 2023, the Bishop of Durham asked a question on what forecast the government have made on numbers of people seeking asylum in the UK via safe routes in 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Durham: To ask His Majesty’s Government what forecast they have made of the number of people from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, and Sudan who will travel to the United Kingdom via a safe route in order to seek asylum in 2023.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con): The United Kingdom welcomes vulnerable people in need of protection through our relocation and resettlement schemes. The number of people coming to the UK via safe and legal routes depends on many factors, including local authorities’ capacity to support them and the extent to which community sponsorship continues to thrive. There is no explicit provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel here to seek asylum or temporary refuge.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about safe routes for people seeking asylum”The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 9th January 2022:
The Lord Bishop of Durham: To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 24 October (HL2407), what estimate they have made of the number of people with British children who have applied for a change to their asylum status from a status with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) over the last five years.
Continue reading “Bishop of Durham asks about finances for those with no recourse to public funds”
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