Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54430 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, how many people arriving in small boats have been found to have (a) convictions, (b) pending prosecutions and (c) wanted or missing reports since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
In line with the Refugee Convention, we will deny the benefits of protection status to those who commit particularly serious crimes and are a danger to the community or those who are a threat to national security.
Anyone convicted of a particularly serious crime resulting in a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, and are considered a danger to the UK, will be denied asylum and will be considered for removal from the UK. Those refused protection status who cannot be removed will be subject to regular review until they can be removed at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54430 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, how many and what proportion of people arriving by small boat undergo further checks on criminality.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
In line with the Refugee Convention, we will deny the benefits of protection status to those who commit particularly serious crimes and are a danger to the community or those who are a threat to national security.
Anyone convicted of a particularly serious crime resulting in a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, and are considered a danger to the UK, will be denied asylum and will be considered for removal from the UK. Those refused protection status who cannot be removed will be subject to regular review until they can be removed at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54430 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, what steps her Department is taking to remove small boat arrivals who fail criminality checks.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office conducts mandatory identity and security checks on all small boat arrivals.
In line with the Refugee Convention, we will deny the benefits of protection status to those who commit particularly serious crimes and are a danger to the community or those who are a threat to national security.
Anyone convicted of a particularly serious crime resulting in a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, and are considered a danger to the UK, will be denied asylum and will be considered for removal from the UK. Those refused protection status who cannot be removed will be subject to regular review until they can be removed at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who arrived in the UK by small boat in the last 12 months have criminal records in their countries of origin.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Security and identity checks are carried out in respect of all small boat arrivals including criminality checks on UK databases for, amongst other things, convictions, pending prosecutions and wanted or missing reports. Further checks on criminality depend on the circumstances of each case.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the use of (a) electric bikes and (b) e-scooters by youth gangs involved in (i) drug dealing, (ii) theft and (iii) anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour including street racing, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.
On 28 May, the Government launched a 6-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially from 14 days to 48 hours. Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and illegally by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs and breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade. This includes funding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC), to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the (a) cultural and (b) religious backgrounds of grooming gang offenders.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Earlier this year, the Home Secretary commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to undertake a national audit into the nature, scale and characteristics of this type of offending, including considering the cultural and societal drivers for this offending. I will ensure the Hon Member receives a copy of Baroness Casey's report when it is published in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help end the use of (a) vape shops, (b) barbers and (c) other high street businesses by organised crime groups.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are a range of powers available to deal with criminal use and exploitation of high street properties. Authorities can use closure powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to close quickly premises which are being used, or are likely to be used, to commit nuisance or disorder. Courts may in turn grant a Closure Order where a person has engaged in criminal behaviour on the premises. This power is designed specifically to protect victims and communities by enabling swift action where premises are creating harm.
Law enforcement agencies are taking robust action to deal with criminal use of high street properties wherever they see it. For example, in March the National Economic Crime Centre, part of the National Crime Agency, coordinated Operation Machinize, a three-week crackdown against cash-intensive businesses linked to serious and organised crime across England and Wales.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who arrived in the UK illegally were granted leave to remain in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on outcomes of asylum claims from small boat arrivals is published by arrival date in table Irr_D03 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, and by initial decision date in table Asy_02c of the ‘asylum summary tables’, with the latest data up to the end of March 2025. Data on asylum outcomes for people who arrived irregularly by other routes is not published.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to (a) bring forward legislative proposals and (b) strengthen enforcement on fast food delivery companies to ensure they are not employing illegal immigrants.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes.
Through the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the Government is introducing tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working, including in the food delivery sector. This means that for the very first time, employment checks will be extended to cover businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like food delivery.
The Government is also already working closely with all major food delivery platforms to ensure they understand their responsibilities in terms of preventing illegal working. As a result, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat are now undertaking employment checks on all of their workers, including registered substitutes.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of deportation orders issued to foreign criminals in the last five years have been enforced.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government pledged to deliver the highest rate of removals since 2018 and this has been surpassed, with a surge in returns activity since the election leading to almost 30,000 people with no right to be in the UK being removed.
Of the total returns since 5 July 2024, 4,436 were of FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 3,879 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.