Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that asylum seekers convicted of sexual offences are not granted indefinite right to remain in the UK.

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 strengthened existing legislation to provide that 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 can be considered for removal from the UK.

Settlement is a privilege, not an automatic right, and if a refugee has engaged in criminality, it is appropriate that they are denied the benefits of settlement.