§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial assistance his Department will make available to Essex County Country Social Services Department to help them meet the costs arising from bogus asylum seekers from(a) Kosovo, (b) Somalia and (c) Sri Lanka who enter the United Kingdom at ports of entry in Essex. [55764]
§ Mr. BoatengPeople who claim asylum at a port of entry into the country are entitled to receive social security benefits, whilst those who claim asylum once in the country are not thus entitled. There are three grants against which local authorities may submit claims for reimbursement to help them meet the costs of supporting asylum-seekers who claim asylum whilst in the country: the Asylum Seeking Adults Grant, the Persons From Abroad Children's Grant and the Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children's Grant. We will set out the72W terms of the grants later this year. These grants are not payable in respect of those who have been refused asylum, and have exhausted their right to appeal.
We have set out our plans to change the cumbersome immigration and asylum process we inherited from the previous Government in the White Paper "Fairer, Faster and Firmer—A Modern Approach to Immigration and Asylum". These proposals will speed up the process, while ensuring greater fairness, so that genuine asylum seekers will receive a speedy and humane response, and those not entitled to asylum will be removed from the country more quickly. The support grants, and the White Paper proposals apply equally to all asylum seekers, regardless of country of origin.