Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Home Office holds data on whether small boat migrants have been charged or convicted of any criminal offence.

A breakdown by the number of charges and convictions for all criminal offences is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Security checks are undertaken for all those arriving through illegal migration routes and law enforcement have the powers to deal with them appropriately. All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks. These checks are critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system. These system and security database checks are completed during the asylum screening process and before a decision is made.

We continually assess potential threats in the UK. The Home Office works closely with other government departments as well as relevant agencies and law enforcement.