Asylum Seekers allocated to Portsmouth and grants from Central Government for such

The request was successful.

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

Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ), UK Border Agency

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

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Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ), UK Border Agency

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

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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

Dear Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ),

When am I going to get a reply to my last communication?

Yours sincerely,

James Haggar

Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ), UK Border Agency

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

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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

Angus.Ross left an annotation ()

Very interesting James Haggar.... The Home Office Excel Table is a bit difficult to deal with (You have to select Row 27(as16g) from the full table). Portsmouth has taken 26% over the 8 years, Southampton 11%, Brighton 5%, Reading 4%, Bournemouth 1% and Winchester basically NIL. There has to be a reason for all of this - doubtless somebody is raking in money hand over fist.

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

Feakins Paul, UK Border Agency

 

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

 

 

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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

Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ), UK Border Agency

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

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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

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

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

Freedom Of Information Team ( IND ), UK Border Agency

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

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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

Performance Services, UK Border Agency

1 Attachment

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

 

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Dear Performance Services,

Many thanks for the information.

Yours sincerely,

James Haggar

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 ()

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 ()

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.