Make and explore Freedom of Information requests
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid for FOI purposes (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this requestAct on what you've learnt
Similar requests
Housing Asylum Seekers
To Portsmouth City Council by James Haggar 9 March 2012
Agreements between Portsmouth City Council and the Border Agency to take in Asylum Seekers
To UK Border Agency by James Haggar 20 March 2012
Grants made for provisions for Asylum seekers and Immigrants
To Home Office by James Haggar 10 December 2011
Agreements between Portsmouth City Council and the Border Agency to take in Asylum Seekers
To Portsmouth City Council by James Haggar 20 March 2012
Asylum Seekers Provision of Housing and Government Grants for such
To Portsmouth City Council by James Haggar 31 October 2011
Asylum Seeker Statistics for Greater Manchester
To UK Border Agency by Amy Conlock 27 January 2012
LGA UASC Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children 29 05 09
To Local Government Association by Cassidy, J 29 May 2009
UASC Steering Group and sub-groups 29 05 09
To Local Government Association by Cassidy, J 29 May 2009
doubts regarding Asylum Seekers or Failed Asylum Seekers Nationalities !
To UK Border Agency by S AZIZ 8 August 2011
Payments to Asylum Seekers
To Portsmouth City Council by J Ryan 18 June 2011
Asylum Seekers allocated to Portsmouth and grants from Central Government for such
James Haggar made this Freedom of Information request to UK Border Agency
The request was successful.
From: James Haggar
9 January 2012
Dear UK Border Agency,
Please provide information on the number of Asylum Seekers
allocated to Portsmouth City Council for the periods 2003-2007 and
2007-2011. Please also provide details on a year by year basis of
any grants allocated to Portsmouth City Council to support these
allocated Asylum Seekers, if any, also on a year by year basis from
2003-2011
Yours faithfully,
James Haggar
From: Freedom Of Information Team ( IND )
UK Border Agency
10 January 2012
Dear James Haggar
Re: Asylum Seekers allocated to Portsmouth and grants from Central Government for such (99745)
Thank you for your recent e mail concerning the above matter. We are currently dealing with your enquiry and will respond shortly.
Kind Regards
UKBA
FOI Team
show quoted sections
From: Freedom Of Information Team ( IND )
UK Border Agency
23 January 2012
Dear James Haggar,
Further to your below request.
Unfortunately I am still unclear what information you require as I do not understand what you mean by allocated: the Agency does not allocate asylum seekers to Local Authorities. I wrote to you on the 05 January to clarify your earlier request and explained that we did not provide grant to Portsmouth City Council and provided a link to the UK Border Agency website which provides information on asylum support.
However, I have provided further information on the process and a link to the published statistics relating to the number of asylum seekers supported under Section 95 of the 1999 Act in Portsmouth since 2003, which I hope addresses your request but please contact me again if this isn't the information you require.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication...
The below explain how the dispersal process works:
When asylum seekers make applications for asylum in the UK, they are dispersed between six UK Border Agency regions according to an agreed percentage split. The ratio varies between regions based on factors affecting each region. This includes those who have access to their own accommodation and those who require accommodation provided by the UK Border Agency.
The UK Border Agency provides accommodation under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”) to destitute asylum seekers. When providing accommodation the UK Border Agency endeavours to provide accommodation in areas in which there is a ready supply. The number of applicants who require accommodation being routed to a region will be adjusted to accommodate the number of applicants who have found their own accommodation in that area.
Asylum support accommodation is provided through specific third party accommodation providers pursuant to contractual arrangements entered into for this purpose (‘Target Contracts’). The target contracts ensure that facilities provided to asylum seekers comply with specified standards; related services are provided by the accommodation providers; and facilities and services provided are cost-effective for UK Border Agency and the UK taxpayer.
Under the Target Contracts accommodation providers are contractually obliged to maintain effective ongoing consultation and liaison with key corporate partners in their area of responsibility, including housing, health and education authorities, and prior to accommodating asylum seekers, consider factors such as availability of accommodation, provision of health/education services, absence of social tension incidents, and the risk of increased community disharmony if the number of asylum seekers in a particular area is increased. This obligation is supported by a Procurement Consultation Process that was developed jointly by Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the UK Border Agency and in conjunction with corporate partners in 2006.
Each UK Border Agency region has established arrangements for working with their respective Local Authorities and has well developed strategy groups (which accommodation providers also attend), which consider dispersal patterns and overall future dispersal numbers. To support planning by health and education authorities, upon dispersal the UK Border Agency sends notifications to the applicable Local Health Board and Local Education Authority containing the asylum seeker’s name and accommodation details.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Act Policy Team
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
23 January 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
I thank you for your response which does not answer my question. It
would seem that you are delberately prevaricating providing me with
the information I requested, which is against the law. I will also
point out to you that it is required within the Freedom of
Information Act that Public Authorities help people requesting FOI
information to provide the information requested. The data you have
provided is irrelevant to my request which I refer you back to, and
repeat to calrify:
1. How many Asylum Seekers have been allocated to Portsmouth by
Central Government, on a year by year basis since 2003 to date.
2. How much money has been allocated by Central Government for this
purpose on a year by year basis to facilitate this.
20 days further to answer this request is entirely unsatisfactory
with regards to your prevarication to date. please answer by
return.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: James Haggar
9 February 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
When am I going to get a reply to my last communication?
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: Freedom Of Information Team ( IND )
UK Border Agency
17 February 2012
Dear James Haggar,
I apologise for the delay in responding to your request but I have needed to seek advice from colleagues to try and understand what information you require. As I have already explained, the UK Border Agency does not provide grants to Portsmouth City Council and we do not allocate asylum-seekers. I have provided guidance on how asylum supported is provided.
The link I provided contain figures for supported asylum-seekers by local authority, which includes Portsmouth and I believe answers your request. However, I realise that the link provides tables for all published statistics and you may have missed the relevant table that addresses your request. The table you need to refer to is 1.6q when you open the table you will see a filter button above the box entitled Local Authority using it will allow you to sort the data by Local Authority.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Act Policy Team
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
20 February 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
Thank you for pointing me to the information which I have now
accessed. As I suspected, and the main reason for this request, it
is now confirmed that Portsmouth City Council has received over one
quarter of The Asylum Seekers allocated to the entire Southeast of
England since 2003 to date, by the Border Agency through it's
Procurement Partner. I would now like you to provide me, under this
Freedom of Information request, with information about the monies
that have accompanied these allocations, however and through
whomsoever they were made to facilitate them. Regardless of the
route that these monies have passed through, they would have
originally been authorised by your Department and therefore you
must hold the information. Please provide this information under
this FOI request. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: James Haggar
1 March 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
You are almost a month late in providing the information requested
by this FOI request, and therefore in breach of the law. Although
you have provided information on numbers of Asylum seekers,
contracted for by Portsmouth City Council from the Home Office, you
have not provided the information on monies provided from central
government from 2003-2011, for this purpose. You may or may not be
aware that this FOI request has gone viral on the internet as it
has exposed what went on between a few Local Authorities, and the
Home Office, in what would appear to be a deliberate immigration
policy by the last government. Please provide the information
requested without delay.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: Feakins Paul
UK Border Agency
5 March 2012
Dear James Haggar,
Thank you for your below email.
Your request is under consideration, however, I would be grateful if you
would provide some background information or a link to the issue your are
referring to as it may assist me in the handling of your request.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Act Policy team
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
5 March 2012
Dear Feakins Paul,
Your communication is unintelligible. I will not provide a link as
I wish to communicate through this website. You can check with the
ICO that there is precedent for this as he has already made a
ruling against a public Authority not wishing to communicate with
this website. You are now well out of time for providing this
information and therefore in breach of the law.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: Freedom Of Information Team ( IND )
UK Border Agency
5 March 2012
Dear James Haggar,
I am happy to communicate through this website and I was not requesting an alternative address to contact you through.
I was in fact trying to understand what monies/payments you were referring to in order to answer your request. I am sorry that I was not clearer.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Act Policy team
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
5 March 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
Portsmouth City Council have received more than 25% of asylum
seekers for the south of England, more than any other city. Monies
from central government must have been paid to them to facilitate
this. Whether the money they have been paid is a grant, incentive
or any other nomenclature (I do not wish to get into a debate about
the semantics of this), how much was it in total for the period
2003-2011 for this intake of asylum seekers, and if the money was
not paid by the Home Office (Border Agency), who paid it?
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: James Haggar
6 March 2012
Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),
This request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, you
should have responded by now.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: James Haggar
8 March 2012
Dear UK Border Agency,
I request an internal review of this Freedom of Information
request. The information, legally requested, is long overdue and
therefore you are in breach of the law. It would appear that you
are prevaricating. If you are not please provide the information by
return, otherwise, conduct an internal review as to why you will
not provide the information requested.
Yours faithfully,
James Haggar
From: Freedom Of Information Team ( IND )
UK Border Agency
9 March 2012
Dear James Haggar,
The target date for your request is the 19 March and therefore it is not possible to request an internal review until yet. Unfortunately, it has not been clear what information you required and therefore it was necessary for us to seek clarification.
The UK Border Agency receive many requests for information under the Act and given the tight deadlines we work to it is not in our interest to prevaricate nor is it in the public interest for us to attempt to answer requests, which we are unclear about.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Act Policy Team
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
20 March 2012
Dear UK Border Agency,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of UK Border Agency's
handling of my FOI request 'Asylum Seekers allocated to Portsmouth
and grants from Central Government for such'.
Even though the information about monies paid to Portsmouth City
Council for taking in asylum seekers was part of my original
request and is now long overdue. By your own calculation that a
response is required by 19 March 2012, it is now overdue. I
therefore request an internal review of the failure to provide me
with the information requested, which is of course against the
Freedom of Information Act 2005.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/as...
Yours faithfully,
James Haggar
From: Performance Services
UK Border Agency
27 March 2012
Dear Mr Haggar,
Please find the response to your enquiry attached. Please accept my
apologies for the delay in responding to you.
Kind regards,
Mohammed Yar
Performance Services
Immigration Group
UK Border Agency
Web: [1]www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
show quoted sections
From: James Haggar
27 March 2012
Dear Performance Services,
Many thanks for the information.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
From: James Haggar
27 March 2012
Dear Performance Services,
No need now for the Internal Review. I am happy with the
information received. Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
James Haggar
Harvey Simpkins left an annotation ( 8 April 2012)
Mr Haggar, thank you for your hard work with these matters. Would you have any idea, does this include associated 'on' costs?
Regards
James Haggar left an annotation ( 8 April 2012)
Dear Mr Simpkins. I believe this is a one off payment to the Local Authority for taking in the asylum seekers. On costs are paid for by central Government either to the housing Authority that houses them or directly to the asylum seekers as benefits. Medical, schooling costs etc are paid for by the relevant central Government department.
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Angus.Ross left an annotation (21 February 2012)
Link to this