Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Indian nationals have come forward via the voluntary return scheme in connection to voluntary return surgeries at (a) Gurdwaras, (b) Sikh community organisations and (c) charities.

• We do not hold the information you have requested. We do not hold information on every contact or engagement with a faith group, charity or community group. [18552]

• Immigration Enforcement work with faith and community groups at both a local and national level, with a focus on delivering a support mechanism for people who wish to engage with the Home Office to regularise their stay or to return home with some financial support. All engagement is purely of a voluntary nature. [18553]

• Immigration Enforcement engage across all communities where there is a demand, ensuring actions are proportionate, respectful and with the direct approval and support of the organisation. [18553]

• The total amount of Home Office payments to Indian or Sikh organisations that assisted with voluntary returns messaging for the last five financial years is as follows:

2016/17: £45,000

2017/18: £50,714.48

2018/19: £42,993.83

2019/20: £22,211.27

2020/21: £0

• The amounts paid in a financial year may also include accruals for payments that were due at the previous financial year. [18554]

* The 2016/17 -2018/19 figures provided are held on an archived Home Office management information system and therefore this information has been taken from offline records and should be treated as provisional.

• We do not hold the information you have requested. There are multiple avenues for individuals to access assistance to return home, this includes calling the voluntary returns service, completing an online form and speaking to immigration officials. It is, therefore, not possible for us to confirm how many people have come forward to the voluntary return service via an immigration surgery. [18555]