Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to clause 20 of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed exceptional circumstances to deportation on the number of foreign criminals that would otherwise be removed from the UK in each of the five years following the entering into force of this measure.

We have published an impact assessment of the Immigration and Asylum Bill. We anticipate the measures within clause 20 will result in a reduction in the proportion of Article 8 decisions overturned following an appeal; a strengthened public interest test that operates compatibly with Article 8 ECHR and which places greater weight on the public interest in deportation; and greater consistency in deportation decision making by the courts.