Asylum-seeking children in hotels; ILR applications under Appendix FM; Border controls in France; Country information on Afghanistan and China
Four new reports were published last week by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI).
Image credit: UK GovernmentUnaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels
Drawing the most attention was the 60-page An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children - March – May 2022. You can download it here.
The report looks at the Home Office's use of hotels to accommodate unaccompanied young people seeking asylum, with particular reference to the Home Office's duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the UK.
David Neal, the Independent Chief Inspector, said the Home Office is effectively operating unregistered children's homes, and this clearly not a space the Home Office wants, or should be operating in.
The ICIBI inspection found areas of significant concern, including two cases of staff who were residing at hotels despite having not been Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked. More generally, the inspection found meals at nearly all of the hotels were provided in take-away boxes, educational provision was limited to informal English classes run by care workers, and nurses were unable to prescribe even basic medication such as paracetamol.
Access to legal advice at the hotels had been limited and was now non-existent.
The report states: "Young people were not provided with access to legal advice as their asylum claims were on hold for the duration of their stay. The Refugee Council, which had been providing some support to young people, withdrew this service in January 2022. In early April 2022, the Refugee Council recommenced their delivery of rights and entitlement briefings to young people at the hotels under their wider contract with the Home Office."
The report continued: "The Home Office considered that, as no immigration work was undertaken at the hotels, and the young person's asylum claim was effectively on hold for the duration of their stay in hotels, access to legal advice was best provided at placement. However, this 'one size fits all' approach ignores both the needs of young people who spent longer in the hotels and the impact of remote working which enables legal representatives to provide advice regardless of location."
Inspectors also found limited evidence of progress on a concrete exit strategy from the use of hotels.
Neal stated: "I see clear parallels for the Home Office with this report, with my recent small boats inspection and our return inspection of Napier Barracks. The key issue in all 3 areas is moving beyond the initial crisis response and bringing the provision of services into 'core'. Nine months after the hotels first opened, the Home Office must assess the needs of the young people and mature an operation which can keep them safe and promote their wellbeing. There is an urgent need for the Home Office to consider how this requirement will be delivered."
On the positive side, the inspection has found that all young people reported feeling safe and happy in the hotels.
In related news, the Guardian reported last week that immigration minister Tom Pursglove revealed in a Parliamentary answer that 222 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children or young people have gone missing from hotels since last year. All were aged 15, 16 or 17 when they went missing.
The Guardian said in an editorial yesterday that this revelation should shame the Government and, above all, the Home Office. "Disgracefully, there is little sign that police or local authorities are even looking for them," the editorial added.
Processing of family visas
The ICIBI's 84-page An inspection of the Home Office's processing of family visas - September 2021 – February 2022 can be downloaded here.
It looks at the Home Office's processing of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) applications on the family visa route under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, with a focus on those submitted via the 'settlement marriage' (SET(M)) form.
The report highlights that applications for ILR under the routes contained in Appendix FM are complex, time consuming and expensive. "Pledges by the Home Office to simplify the application process and make it more accessible have yet to yield results for applicants," David Neal said.
Neal added: "This was a positive inspection and my inspectors found that decision makers were employing evidential flexibility rather than automatically refusing applications. This demonstrates a team that is taking steps to see the 'face behind the case' and is encouraging to see in the post-Windrush era. However, clearer and more readily accessible guidance on how to submit an application and the evidence required, with updates on application progress from the Home Office, would represent better 'value for money' for the applicant. I hope that the focus on Customer Services as part of the transformation of the Home Office ('One Home Office') will go some way to address the complexity of the application process. Home Office data indicates that the vast majority of applications that reach the ILR stage are granted, so delay, complexity and barriers to full integration into our society seem unnecessary."
UK Border Force juxtaposed controls in France
The 64-page An inspection of juxtaposed controls: May - June 2022 is available to download here.
For the report, the ICIBI inspection team visited the UK Border Force juxtaposed controls in France at Paris Gare du Nord and Coquelles.
Summing up the findings, David Neal said: "Overall, this inspection found that staff were generally doing an effective job and that decision making was generally conducted in line with guidance, policy and the Immigration Rules, though this was caveated by the fact that poor record keeping sometimes made it difficult to tell whether a decision was correct. I was particularly pleased to see that the principles of the 'ethical decision-making model' were being applied."
Notably, the inspection found that Romanians attempting to travel to the UK were subject to greater levels of scrutiny by Border Force. Inspectors were not given sufficient evidence to explain how, or whether, this was justified.
The report states: "Inspectors reviewed the quarterly immigration statistics for further examination at the border at all juxtaposed ports. The data showed that Romanian nationals were consistently subject to further examination more than any other nationality. In the first 3 quarters of 2021, Romanian nationals were subject to further examination at the juxtaposed controls at a rate of 10 times that of the second highest nationality."
On the problems found with poor record keeping and incomplete or inaccurate data entry, David Neal said: "This echoes findings from previous inspections and internal Border Force assurance reports. This meant that our conclusions on the quality of decisions were often caveated, even when inspectors may have agreed with the outcome based on the information that was available to them. This also points to wider issues regarding the Home Office's assurance mechanisms. If my inspectors were unable to understand how or whether a decision was justified, I am not convinced that Border Force would be able to assure themselves of the quality of its decision making either."
Country information on Afghanistan and China
Finally, the comprehensive 146-page Inspection Report on Country of Origin Information, Afghanistan and China is available here and reviews numerous individual Home Office Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) and Country of Origin Information Requests (COIRs).
The two countries were selected for review in light of significant recent developments in Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, and in China, where the application of a new National Security Law in Hong Kong and accounts of repression in the western province of Xinjiang have given rise to heightened human rights concerns.
The Home Office's responses to all four of the ICIBI's report can be found here.