The Government has confirmed that the specified number under section 67(1) of the Immigration Act 2016 will not include cases transferred to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation.

The development of the Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration is seen as a significant opportunity for a truly global response to such an important area.

Our approach should be seen as part of a full government approach developed in line with the Prime Minister’s three global migration principles as stated at the last UN General Assembly (September 2016). As lead Department on migration and asylum policy, the Home Office is ensuring that the development of the Global Compact meets practical and legal policy requirements throughout the consultation formation of the Global Compact.

The agricultural sector is important to the United Kingdom and we take concerns of labour shortages seriously.

For the time being the United Kingdom remains part of the European Union and freedom of movement continues. The latest labour market statistics, for the year ending December 2016, show that there were 190,000 more EU workers in the UK workforce than a year earlier.

I refer the honourable member to my response to PQ 47658, submitted to Parliament on 19 October 2016.

The Home Office consulted extensively with local authorities on their capacity to host unaccompanied children to arrive at the number of additional children they could take under section 67. Over 400 local authority representatives attended events in England, Scotland and Wales. On 8 September 2016, the Minister for Immigration wrote to local authorities to ask them to confirm their capacity to host all unaccompanied asylum seeking children, regardless of how they reached the UK. Local authorities told us they had the capacity to support 480 unaccompanied children. This capacity was in addition to the more than 4,000 unaccompanied children already in local authority care.

The migration crisis has shown that pull factors, such as policy changes and political messaging, can influence the movements of migrants. Approximately two thirds of asylum-seekers in the EU last year chose to travel to Germany and Sweden after passing through many safe countries en route. Whether it is push or pull factors that motivate children to come to Europe, it is always in the child’s best interest to enable them to come before they need to make dangerous journeys to Europe and before they become unaccompanied. That is why the Government’s strategy is to resettle the most vulnerable refugees directly from the regions; this is how we stop traffickers and smugglers from exploiting vulnerable people and children affected by conflict. In 2016, we resettled more than 5,000 people under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme.

The Home Office has no record of any general representations from community representatives or Fijian nationals enlisted as regulars in the British Army or with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), having experienced difficulties at the UK border.

There are no current plans for a charter flight returns operation to Iraq.

Whilst we can provide data on the current addresses of asylum claimants, data on the place of residence at the time of initial decision could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Data on asylum claim outcomes for the whole of the UK can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2016/list-of-tables#asylum

We are doing our utmost to provide assistance to all those in need in the region. The UK has now allocated £2.3 billion since 2012 to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable people in Syria and of refugees in the region making it one of the largest donors. Since summer 2014, we have committed £169.5 million in humanitarian assistance to help those affected by Daesh in Iraq.

In addition, the UK operates four resettlement schemes (Gateway, Mandate, the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR) Scheme and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS), working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on each to identify those most in need of resettlement, prioritising the most vulnerable.

The UK works according to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality which means that we do not take into consideration the ethno-religious origins of people requiring assistance as we assist solely on the basis of needs, identified by UNHCR.

All asylum claims lodged in the UK, including claims based on religious persecution, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our obligations under the Refugee Convention. Those who demonstrate a well founded fear on return to their country are normally granted protection.

The number of enforced returns by country of nationality is published in table rt_02 (returns data tables) in ‘Immigration Statistics, October - December 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593031/returns1-q4-2016-tables.ods.

The term 'deportations' refers to a legal definition of a specific set of returns. Deportations are a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked. Published information on those deported is not separately available. As such, the question has been interpreted as referring to enforced returns. In an enforced return, it has been established that a person has breached UK immigration laws and / or has no valid leave to remain in the UK. They have declined to leave voluntarily and the Home Office enforces their departure from the UK.

At present we do not publish data on cases covered by the Dublin Regulation. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, regularly publishes Member State figures, which can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Dublin_statistics_on_countries_responsible_for_asylum_application

The Home Office has no record of any recent general representations or reports from members of the Army who have faced difficulties entering the UK at an airport.

Military personnel are checked at the UK border in line with the Border Force Operating Mandate but are exempt from immigration control if they fall under section 8 of the Immigration Act 1971 provided they can prove that they are a serving member of the British Army.

The information requested is recorded on electronic and paper files. Therefore the specific data requested is not aggregated in national reporting systems. To provide the information would require a disproportionately expensive manual case search.

In 2016, over 900 unaccompanied asylum seeking children were transferred to the UK from Europe. Over 750 were transferred from France, including over 200 under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

In the joint Written Ministerial Statement of 8 November, the Government committed to publishing regular updates on the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children transferred to the UK. The Government is considering options for publishing this information.

Statistics on transfers under the Dublin Regulation are already available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Dublin_statistics_on_countries_responsible_for_asylum_application

Asylum statistics are published quarterly in the Home Office Immigration Statistics release, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2016/asylum

(a) Immigration Enforcement (IE) and (b) UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) were formed in April 2013. From June 2014, IE and UKVI figures are published quarterly on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/search?q=Border+and+immigration+cross+cutting+data

(c) Border Force figures for 2012/13 to 2015/16 were given in response to the answer given to the Hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, UIN 60627.

The cross-system Detention Gatekeeper has now been introduced to scrutinise all proposed detentions independently of an arresting team. Individuals can now only enter immigration detention with the authority of the Detention Gatekeeper, who will ensure that there is no evidence of vulnerability which would be exacerbated by detention, that return will occur within a reasonable timeframe and check that any proposed detention is lawful.

Separately, Case Progression Panels have been introduced to review all cases within immigration detention by a peer-led panel. These panels focus on ensuring that there is progression toward return for all individuals detained, and that detention remains lawful.

The number of people who have been resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme is published in the quarterly Home Office immigration statistics. Since the scheme began in January 2014 a total of 5,706 people have been resettled in the UK to the end of December 2016. The figure includes those Syrians resettled with a community sponsor during this period.

We have seen considerable interest in the scheme from across the UK and are working with a number of groups as they develop their plans. Supporting a vulnerable resettled family is a significant responsibility and it is only right that we carefully assess every sponsoring organisation. We will, therefore, not be providing a running commentary on numbers that have been resettled with a community sponsor or how many community groups have signed up to the scheme.

EU nationals have a right to reside in the UK for more than three months if they are workers, self-employed, jobseekers, self-sufficient persons or students, are a family member of an EU national or have acquired a right of permanent residence in EU law. Under EU law, self-sufficient persons and students are required to hold comprehensive sickness insurance. The Home Office does not hold any information on the number of citizens from other EU Member states who do not have comprehensive sickness insurance.

Under Regulation 18(3) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, non-EEA nationals who make a valid application for EEA documentation are already issued with a certificate of application.

The Department’s plans for immigration enforcement will be communicated in due course.