Grants of Asylum Year Ending March 2017
In the year ending March 2017, there were 9,634 grants of asylum or an alternative form of protection to main applicants and their dependants, and an additional 6,245 people newly provided with protection and support under a resettlement scheme the UK. Asylum applications in the UK from main applicants decreased by 17% to 28,891 in the year ending March 2017.
There were 3,680 asylum applications from Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) in the year ending March 2017, a 9% increase compared to the previous year (3,389). Overall, UASC applications represented 13% of all main applications for asylum. Of the 1,747 initial decisions relating to UASC made in the year ending March 2017, 38% were grants of asylum or another form of protection, and 40% were grants of temporary leave (UASC leave). UASC applicants that are refused will include those from countries where it is safe to return children to their families, as well as some applicants who were determined to be over 18 following an age assessment.
Of the 24,293 initial decisions on asylum applications from main applicants, 33% were grants of asylum or an alternative form of protection, compared to 40% in the previous year. A separate Home Office analysis shows that for the years 2012 to 2014, on average 36% of decisions were granted initially, but this proportion rose to 49% after appeal. There were 1,507 grants of asylum or an alternative form of protection to Syrian nationals at initial decision in the year ending March 2017 and an additional 5,453 Syrian nationals were granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS). Since this scheme began in 2014, a total of 7,307 people have been resettled.
Three of the top 5 nationalities applying for asylum in the year ending March 2010 were still present in the top 5 in the year ending March 2017 (Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan). Zimbabwe was ranked first for asylum applications in the year ending March 2010, but fell to 21st in the year ending March 2017. Iraq is now ranked third for asylum applications, up from the series low of 18th in the years ending March 2012 and 2013.
At the end of March 2017, a total of 39,365 people were receiving a cash allowance, somewhere to live, or both, in the UK (under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999). This number has increased from 35,683 at the end of March 2016. The total figure remains considerably below that for the end of 2003 (the start of the published data series), when there were 80,123 people in receipt of Section 95 support. Separately, at the end of March 2017, there were 3,821 people receiving support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
In addition to those asylum seekers who apply in the UK, resettlement schemes are offered to those who have been referred to the Home Office by The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). On 7 September 2015, an expansion to the existing Syrian VPRS was announced. Through this expansion, it was proposed that 20,000 Syrians in need of protection be resettled in the UK by 2020. A total of 7,307 people have been granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian VPRS since the scheme began, and in the year ending March 2017, 5,453 people were resettled under the Syrian VPRS across 235 different local authorities. Half (50%) of those resettled under the Syrian VPRS were under 18 years old (2,726), and around half (47%) were female (2,571).
Including dependants, the total number of asylum applications to the EU in the year ending March 2017 was an estimated 1,062,000, a decrease of 25% compared to the year ending March 2016 (1,410,000).
This is a Home Office Release: Published 25/05/2017, http://tiny.cc/tivdly
Hunger Strikes Across the Detention Estate January/February/March 2017
On Average there were three hunger strikes a day in January and February, this rose to four a day in March.
Tinsley House IRC, was closed in Q1 2017, which has kept the number of recorded Hunger Strikes down.
|
|
|
Q1 2017 |
January |
February |
March |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Brook House |
|
|
207 |
53 |
69 |
85 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Campsfield |
|
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Colnbrook |
|
|
9 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dungavel |
|
|
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Harmondsworth |
|
11 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Morton Hall |
|
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Verne |
|
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tinsley House |
|
|
Closed |
Closed |
Closed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yarl's Wood |
|
85 |
22 |
25 |
38 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
329 |
94 |
100 |
135 |
|
Detention – January to March 2017
The number of people entering detention in year ending March 2017 decreased by 10% to 28,980 from 32,164 in the previous year. Over the same period there was an 11% decrease in those people leaving detention (from 32,640 to 28,897).
As at the end of March 2017, 2,930 people were in detention, similar to the number recorded at the end of March 2016 (2,925). As at 3 April 2017, there were 337 detainees held in prison establishments in England and Wales solely under immigration powers as set out in the Immigration Act 1971 or UK Borders Act 2007.
| Top 15 Nationalities Q1 2017 in Detention |
| India |
316 |
| Pakistan |
256 |
| Bangladesh |
221 |
| Nigeria |
202 |
| Poland |
136 |
| Albania |
127 |
| China |
111 |
| Afghanistan |
105 |
| Jamaica |
105 |
| Iraq |
118 |
| Vietnam |
109 |
| Ghana |
74 |
| Romania |
60 |
| Somalia |
59 |
| Sri Lanka |
54 |
| Self Harm in Immigration Detention - January 2017 to December 2017 - |
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|
Number of incidents of Self-Harm requiring medical treatment 2017
1st Quarter January/February/March |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
January |
February |
March |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Brook House |
16 |
|
3 |
10 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Campsfield House |
5 |
|
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Colnbrook |
|
21 |
|
13 |
3 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dungavel |
|
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Harmondsworth |
16 |
|
9 |
2 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Morton Hall |
|
29 |
|
7 |
13 |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Verne |
|
12 |
|
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tinsley House |
|
0 |
|
Closed |
Closed |
Closed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yarl's Wood |
|
33 |
|
6 |
12 |
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Larne |
|
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Pennine House |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subtotal |
132 |
|
42 |
46 |
44 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Individuals on Formal Self-Harm at Risk in Immigration Detention 2017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
January |
February |
March |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Brook House |
113 |
|
30 |
43 |
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Campsfield House |
35 |
|
10 |
13 |
12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Colnbrook |
|
59 |
|
25 |
17 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dungavel |
|
40 |
|
8 |
12 |
20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Harmondsworth |
65 |
|
20 |
10 |
35 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Morton Hall |
|
85 |
|
30 |
27 |
28 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Verne |
|
62 |
|
19 |
22 |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tinsley House |
|
0 |
|
Closed |
Closed |
Closed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yarl's Wood |
|
33 |
|
6 |
12 |
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Larne |
|
5 |
|
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Pennine House |
3 |
|
0 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subtotal |
500 |
|
149 |
161 |
190 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deportation – January to March 2017
The proportion of detainees being returned or voluntarily departing the UK on leaving detention increased from 45% in year ending March 2016 to 48% in year ending March 2017.
The total number of enforced returns from the UK, including those not directly from detention, decreased by 4% to 12,666 in the year ending March 2017 compared with 13,248 in the previous year. This includes 10,969 enforced removals and 1,697 other returns from detention. In the same period, there were 24,786 voluntary returns (excluding returns from detention).
Of the 12,666 enforced returns in year ending March 2017, there were 2,352 enforced returns of people who had previously sought asylum, down 26% from the previous year (3,169).
In the year ending March 2017, provisional data show that 6,171 Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) were returned compared to 5,810 in the previous year (up 6%). This is the highest number since the series began in 2009 and reflects increasing use of other forms of FNO returns, including those where an offence was committed outside the UK.
| Top 15 Countries Q1 2017 for Forced Removals – 9 of them European |
| Romania |
496 |
| Poland |
342 |
| Albania |
339 |
| Lithuania |
203 |
| Pakistan |
197 |
| India |
194 |
| Nigeria |
107 |
| China |
95 |
| Germany |
85 |
| Italy |
84 |
| Bangladesh |
79 |
| Latvia |
70 |
| Jamaica |
64 |
| France |
56 |
| Slovakia |
40 |
| A total of 2,451 of which 1,715 were to European Countries |
Charter Flights Q1/January/February/March 2017
You asked for information regarding charter flights during January/February/March 2017. The answers to your questions fall to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
1. Number of males removed - 475
2. Number of females removed - 27
3. Number of escorts - 1,077
4. Number of flights in total - 12
5. Number flights to each country / number removed to each country
6. No children were returned
7 Number flights to each country / number removed to each country
Albania 4 200
*Germany 2 43
Jamaica 1 32
Nigeria/Ghana 2 95
Pakistan 3 132
*(returned under the Dublin Convention)
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