Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
First Report - Channel crossings, migration and asylum
Home Affairs Committee
HC 199
Published 18 July 2022
Recommendations
4
Accepted
Accept UNHCR support to improve asylum system and prioritise unaccompanied children's claims processing.
Recommendation
The Government should accept the UNHCR’s support for the challenge of rebuilding an efficient and fair asylum system in the UK, and its practical suggestions for operational improvement. The Government should work with the UNHCR to assess the feasibility of …
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Government Response Summary
The government stated it already has a long-standing partnership with the UNHCR for improving asylum processes, including screening and triage, and is continuing to work with local authorities and recruit decision-makers to speed up processing for children's asylum claims.
Home Office
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6
Accepted
Continue prioritising close, collaborative working with French authorities to disrupt organised criminal gangs.
Recommendation
We recommend that the UK Government continue to prioritise close, collaborative working with the French authorities, including provision of equipment and intelligence that may help disrupt organised criminal gangs that profit from the misery and desperation of migrants. An intelligence-led …
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Government Response Summary
The government stated it continues to prioritise close, collaborative working with French authorities, including operational and intelligence cooperation, and intends to conclude a package of measures with the French government by Autumn.
Home Office
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13
Rejected
Para 48
Delay announcing new channel crossings policy until sufficient detailed planning is complete.
Recommendation
There is a worrying trend in Home Office policy announcements being made before detailed policy has been worked through, tested and even agreed between Government Departments, as exemplified by early announcement both of military control of channel operations and the …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that policy announcements related to channel crossings are made following extensive inter-departmental discussions and agreements, contrary to the committee's suggestion.
Home Office
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14
Acknowledged
Para 55
Press for enhanced information-sharing and joint maritime patrols with European governments.
Recommendation
We note that the Government no longer intends to pursue a policy of pushing boats back to European countries. We urge the UK Government to continue instead to press the case for enhanced information-sharing and close co-operation with European governments …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it already works closely with European countries on border security and intends to deepen this work, including in areas like information sharing and cooperation, with discussions underway.
Home Office
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19
Acknowledged
Pursue agreement with EU on responsibility for asylum seekers arriving from Europe.
Recommendation
Following the Minister’s admission that from January to November 2021 the UK returned only five people who had arrived on small boats, it is clear that the UK’s arrangements for the return of failed or inadmissible asylum seekers to Europe …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it remains committed to securing effective returns arrangements either bilaterally with EU Member States or at the EU-level, and continues to press the EU to work with the UK on shared solutions.
Home Office
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20
Accepted
Para 94
Begin routinely collecting information on reasons migrants seek to journey to the UK.
Recommendation
It is surprising that the Home Office does not routinely collect information on why asylum seekers and other migrants seek to journey to the UK. We recommend that it begin to do so, to form a sound evidence basis for future policy-making.
Government Response Summary
The government states that while asylum claimants are asked why they chose the UK, a project is underway to automate the extraction of this information from transcripts to enable future quantitative analysis for policy-making.
Home Office
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21
Accepted
Para 96
Consult authorities and organisations on effective support and communication for migrants in France.
Recommendation
We welcome the Government’s investment in migrant support centres across France, which may help to assure migrants that there are safe and accessible asylum options for them in mainland Europe. We urge the Government to consult authorities and organisations working …
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Government Response Summary
The Home Office is conducting research with charities and NGOs to understand the most effective channels for communicating safe and legal asylum options to migrants in Europe.
Home Office
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22
Rejected
Work with French authorities on child protection investment and restore family reunion rights for minors.
Recommendation
The Government should work with the French authorities to consider the feasibility of a programme of investment in trained child protection workers to work with vulnerable child migrants along the French coast. In line with our own previous recommendation from …
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Government Response Summary
The government does not accept the recommendation to restore pre-EU exit family reunion rights for unaccompanied minors, stating its 'single global approach' is fairer and does not encourage dangerous journeys. It also largely deflects responsibility to France for investing in child protection workers along the French coast.
Home Office
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24
Acknowledged
Para 114
Commission independent end-to-end review of the asylum system's impact on children.
Recommendation
The Government should also commission an independent end-to-end review of the asylum system as it is applied to, and experienced by, children. The report of this review should be published no later than 15 December 2022.
Government Response Summary
The government will commit to looking at current projects and research to determine their suitability in fulfilling the request for an independent end-to-end review of the asylum system for children, rather than committing to commission a new review.
Home Office
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25
Accepted
Para 119
Confirm safeguarding responsibility for children in hotel accommodation and explain measures addressing disappearances.
Recommendation
The disappearance of separated children from hotels, and a continuing absence of clarity over who is responsible for safeguarding in hotels, is extremely concerning. Channel crossings, migration and asylum 47 The Government must immediately and clearly confirm where responsibility lies …
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Government Response Summary
The government describes the existing multi-agency wrap-around care for children in hotels, including professional care workers and robust missing persons protocols, and clarifies that the Home Office does not have the power to detain children.
Home Office
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28
Rejected
Para 127
Ensure independent legal guardianship is available for all separated asylum children and young people.
Recommendation
Every young asylum seeker should be provided with a trusted and independent adult who is qualified to support their interactions with immigration and asylum processes and who can where appropriate help them to settle in the UK. We welcome the …
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Government Response Summary
The government states there is 'no intention to expand the scope' of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service to include all young asylum-seeking children in England and Wales, citing its specialist nature, while outlining existing support for UASC.
Home Office
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29
Accepted
Para 137
Ensure sufficient capacity for migrant processing, checks, and transfers at Dover.
Recommendation
The Government must ensure that there is enough physical and staff capacity to conduct necessary searches, fingerprinting, identity and initial vulnerability checks consistently on all migrants arriving at Dover before they are transferred to Yarl’s Wood or other Home Office …
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Government Response Summary
The government has implemented a two-site processing model at Dover, increased staffing at Western Jetfoil and Manston by 86% in three months, and aims to almost triple staff numbers by year-end to ensure consistent checks on migrants.
Home Office
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31
Deferred
Para 140
Report outcomes of screening process review and actions taken on identified failures.
Recommendation
We invite the Government to report the outcomes of the review undertaken in response to the ICIBI’s recommendation on screening and induction processes, and its progress with actions arising from that review, in its response to this report. The Government …
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Government Response Summary
The government refers the committee to an already published response regarding the ICIBI's report on screening and induction processes, and states it will report 'in due course' on progress against other ICIBI and HMIP recommendations.
Home Office
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32
Deferred
Explain measures improving communication on migrant capacity and agree minimum notice periods.
Recommendation
The Government must also explain what measures have been put in place to improve communication between Border Force and short-term holding facilities about their capacity to receive migrants. The Home Office should agree minimum notice periods for different numbers of …
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Government Response Summary
The government describes a transformed two-site operational model and increased staffing at facilities, but does not explicitly explain specific measures to improve communication between Border Force and holding facilities about capacity, or commit to agreeing minimum notice periods.
Home Office
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34
Accepted
Redouble efforts for international cooperation and prioritise safe, legal routes to the UK.
Recommendation
We urge the Government to show leadership through redoubling efforts to engage and co-operate with international partners. The provision of safe and legal routes to the UK should be a key part of the Government’s strategy to counter the criminal …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the assertion that it has not paid sufficient attention to the problem, stating it continues to pursue bilateral and multilateral solutions with international partners. It highlights its existing provision of various safe and legal routes as evidence that this is already a key part of its strategy.
Home Office
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Conclusions (19)
1
Conclusion
Accepted
Migration, including irregular migration across the English Channel, is an issue on which no magical single solution is possible and on which detailed, evidence- driven, properly costed and fully tested policy initiatives are by far most likely to achieve sustainable incremental change. (Paragraph 2) Management of the asylum system
Government Response Summary
The government agrees there is no silver bullet for illegal migration, stating it has repeatedly warned of this and is already pursuing a multi-faceted approach, including the Rwanda partnership and Nationality and Borders Act.
2
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 14
While we agree with the Home Secretary that the asylum system is broken, we invite her to make it clear, given the long-term and growing pressures on the system, that it was not migrants crossing the Channel who broke it.
Government Response Summary
The government did not accept the recommendation, instead reiterating that the high number of migrants making illegal and dangerous journeys across the Channel places intense pressure on and increases costs within the asylum system.
3
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 17
Addressing the asylum ‘work in progress’ caseload must be the Department’s highest priority within asylum operations. Doing that would unlock substantial resources, reduce current pressures on contingency and institutional accommodation and enable wider system reform including communities’ capacity to welcome—even sponsor— refugees.
Government Response Summary
The government explicitly rejected making the asylum caseload its highest priority, stating its primary focus is to deter and reduce illegal migration, while simultaneously working to speed up decision-making and reduce caseloads through various ongoing measures.
5
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 21
The visibility of small boat crossings of the English Channel should not prevent our remembering that migrants also use ferries, planes, trains and vehicles to enter the United Kingdom irregularly and by clandestine means. The rapid increase in the proportion of people making the dangerous journey across the Channel may …
Government Response Summary
The government stated it already closely monitors all forms of illegal migration and is alert to potential displacement across different entry types, adding that its preventative activities are threat-agnostic and capabilities are adaptable.
7
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 32
The greatest deterrent to perilous crossings of the channel on unseaworthy vessels with actively dangerous ‘life-jackets’ would be to prevent such crossings ever leaving France. Alternatively the French authorities with or without British assistance could intercept the boats once in French territorial waters and return them to French land whence …
Government Response Summary
The government states it continues close working with France and other partners to prevent channel crossings and break smuggling models, aiming to conclude a package of measures this Autumn and agree to collective action with international partners.
8
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 33
We therefore recommend that the Government enter into discussion with the French Government on providing UK asylum assessment facilities within France, enabling juxtaposed consideration of claims in the same way that juxtaposed checks of passports and customs are carried out for Eurostar and Eurotunnel crossings or for ferries to and …
Government Response Summary
The government rejected the recommendation to discuss providing UK asylum assessment facilities in France, stating it could not consider claims from large numbers overseas and that those needing protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.
9
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 38
The National Crime Agency should continue to pursue national and international operations to identify and prosecute smugglers and participate in global initiatives to crack down on the use of social media and international communications by smugglers.
Government Response Summary
The government stated the National Crime Agency already continues to prioritise national and international operations to tackle organised immigration crime, including investigating and disrupting groups using the online environment.
10
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 40
The Home Office should urgently review lessons learned from the response to migrant crossings since January 2018. The review should focus on intelligence collection, risk assessment and how information is reported to Ministers and used to inform policy. The Home Office should report in its formal response to this Report …
Government Response Summary
The government states it keeps its operational plan for small boat crossings under constant review and applies learnings, but is reluctant to publish comprehensive operational details.
11
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We welcome the joint action plan between the National Crime Agency and major social media companies to hinder organised immigration crime and urge the Government to persuade more social media providers to participate in action aimed at preventing trafficking and saving lives, though given the previous experience of the Committee …
Government Response Summary
The government highlights that the NCA is working closely with social media companies and has removed over 1,600 posts related to organised immigration crime, committing to further increasing its impact.
12
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 47
Further clarity is required on precisely what difference the assumption of operational responsibility for migrant crossings in the Channel by the Royal Navy (rather than Channel crossings, migration and asylum 45 Border Force) is intended to achieve and what measure of success will be applied when these arrangements are reviewed …
Government Response Summary
The government explains that the Ministry of Defence's operational primacy in the Channel has strengthened planning, coordination, and delivery, providing additional resources and allowing Border Force to build capacity. They state that a number of factors will be considered when reviewing arrangements towards the end of 2022.
15
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 56
Given widely expressed concerns about the practicality and safety of a pushback policy, we think it right that the policy has been dropped: it is hard to see how the benefit of such a manoeuvre as an active deterrent could outweigh its potential costs in the form of risk to …
Government Response Summary
The government states it already works closely with a variety of European countries on border security and intends to deepen this work, with discussions currently underway with a range of partners.
16
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 65
The Government’s stated purpose of the Migration and Economic Development Programme with Rwanda is to deter people from seeking to arrive in the UK by irregular means. It is not clear as yet whether it will have that effect. We invite the Government to set out its evidence base for …
Government Response Summary
The government states that as a new policy, the deterrent effect of the Rwanda partnership cannot be quantified with certainty yet, but suggests it stands to reason it will deter and cites Australia's experience, promising to provide more details in due course.
17
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 66
The Home Office must provide more detailed costings for its Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, including estimates of the likely cost within the current financial year of relocations and probable costs of relocations during the full five years of the programme.
Government Response Summary
The government commits to providing an updated Accounting Officer Note with more detailed costings for the Rwanda partnership ahead of the next financial year, the summary of which will be published.
18
Conclusion
Accepted
The Home Office must also set out what steps it is taking to ensure that the mental and physical wellbeing of those who are relocated to Rwanda is secured for the long term. The agreement with Rwanda implies that the UK will have no responsibility for people relocated once they …
Government Response Summary
The government details that relocated individuals will receive a generous support package and that a dedicated Monitoring Committee will provide ongoing independent assessment of accommodation, health, and educational provisions, with its terms of reference published.
23
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 113
The Government has a statutory safeguarding responsibility for the welfare of children in the asylum system: these concerns must be addressed as a priority, and there remains clear discrepancies in procedures about whether the Home Office or local authority takes lead responsibility for the safeguarding of minors and how the …
Government Response Summary
The government is establishing a National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) comprising expert social workers, seeking scientific advice on age assessment methods, and introducing a statutory right of appeal to improve decision-making and safeguarding for minors.
26
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 120
Although the Home Secretary stated that changes to the National Transfer Scheme would ensure hotel accommodation for children “will only need to be in place for the shortest period possible” it has now been in operation for more than nine months. This is not acceptable.
Government Response Summary
The government has mandated the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) and implemented changes, including increasing local authority thresholds, halving transfer deadlines, and providing additional funding for quick transfers, to reduce the time unaccompanied asylum-seeking children spend in hotels.
27
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 126
We have recommended that the Government commission an independent review of children’s experiences of the asylum system. This review should include examination of the support needs for young asylum seekers, including failed asylum seekers, and refugees up to the age of 25 and should assess the cost of providing those …
Government Response Summary
The government has no current plans to mandate the use of independent Youth Welfare Officers in England by local authorities, stating that social workers are best placed to provide support, and broadly refers to existing commitments regarding asylum seeker welfare.
30
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 138
Fulfilment of this recommendation is likely to require investment in internet connectivity and/or other equipment and resources. Such investment would deliver greater effectiveness in managing safeguarding obligations and support improved communications between staff processing migrants in different units and reduce casework delays later in the decision-making process.
Government Response Summary
The government states it has transformed arrangements over the last 12 months, moving to a two-site operational model and increasing staffing at Western Jetfoil and Manston by 86%, with a goal to almost triple staff numbers by year-end.
33
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 145
We recognise that this crisis has been building over many years. But this Government’s response, characterised first by inattention and then by poor decision-making, has exacerbated these problems and undermined public confidence in the asylum system and in the management of the border. The issue has not been helped by …
Government Response Summary
The government rejected the committee's criticism of inattention and poor decision-making, asserting that it has been actively pursuing bilateral/multilateral solutions and has comprehensive monitoring in place for its multi-faceted approach to illegal migration, including existing safe and legal routes.