Contributions
2,215 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Unaccompanied Minors Seeking AsylumI will in a moment. I know the hon. Lady feels passionately about ensuring that individuals are housed decently and compassionately, so the best thing that she and her colleagues…10 Jan 2023HANSARD Unaccompanied Minors Seeking AsylumI am grateful to the hon. Member for Lanark and Hamilton East (Angela Crawley) for securing the debate, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton (Giles Watling) for his…10 Jan 2023HANSARD Unaccompanied Minors Seeking AsylumI will come on in a moment to answer the hon. Lady’s questions about age verification, but I disagree that sending individuals to Rwanda, which has now been declared a safe…10 Jan 2023HANSARD Unaccompanied Minors Seeking AsylumWe are looking at all models; I hope that hon. Members can see from the plans set out by the Prime Minister that this will be a campaign on several fronts. We are looking at every…10 Jan 2023HANSARD Unaccompanied Minors Seeking AsylumCould we come back? The hon. Lady had a number of points I should address.10 Jan 2023HANSARDAsylum BacklogLast week we set out plans to clear the initial decision backlog of asylum legacy cases by the end of next year. Over the summer and autumn, the Home Office reduced the number of…19 Dec 2022HANSARDAsylum Seekers: SupportThe hon. Lady and I have met to discuss this issue, and I am grateful to her for her thoughts and for the good work that has been done in York. We do not agree that those awaiting…19 Dec 2022HANSARDAsylum Seekers: SupportAs ever, my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Those claiming asylum should do so in the first safe country they pass through, and France is demonstrably a safe country. The…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is disgraceful that millions of pounds are being spent on housing asylum seekers in hotels. We want to end that as quickly as possible and…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend and I have worked together with respect to some accommodation in her constituency. We have now implemented far better engagement criteria with the Home Office,…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsYes, I would be happy to.19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsAs a result of the good work undertaken by the Home Office in recent weeks to ensure that the Manston site in Kent is operating appropriately, we have now been able to implement…19 Dec 2022HANSARDImmigration Policies: Impact on ScotlandNo, I do not, because we want to ensure that deterrence is diffused throughout our asylum system. That means making the UK a significantly less attractive destination for asylum…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsI appreciate the concerns that my right hon. Friend has raised. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary will set out in more detail the Government’s response to the…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend has been an eloquent and knowledgeable campaigner on this issue. She has spoken to me about how we can better ensure that young people who are exploited by criminal…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out last week that we will redesign and speed up the asylum decision-making process. There will be a particular focus on those…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are almost as many hotels in use in Stoke-on-Trent as in the whole of Scotland, bar the city of Glasgow. Fair and equitable distribution…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am always happy to take up cases for right hon. and hon. Members. I would just say, however, that the Home Office’s standards for visa applications are now back in line with its…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. The point of the Rwanda scheme is to provide a significant deterrent, so that those coming here illegally never find a route to life here in…19 Dec 2022HANSARDTopical QuestionsThe hon. Gentleman is right to raise that point, because concerns that need to be allayed have recently been raised in some quarters. There will be no checks at the border between…19 Dec 2022