Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of deportation or removal cases in which claims made under Articles 2, 3 or 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights have delayed or prevented removal action in each of the last five years; what assessment she has made of the impact of those cases on public confidence in the immigration system; and whether she plans to review the role of domestic courts and tribunals in immigration and asylum proceedings.

We are committed to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, to retain public confidence in our policies on irregular migration, asylum and criminal justice, the European Convention on Human Rights and other instruments must evolve to face modern challenges.

We are grateful for the vital work undertaken by the FTT-IAC and the Government continues to invest in its capacity through funding additional sitting days and judicial recruitment. However, the scale and nature of the current immigration and asylum appeals caseload cannot be sustainably managed within its existing limits. As previously announced, the Government will establish a new independent appeals body which will offer increased capacity and an enhanced ability to prioritise cases in the public interest.

The information requested on numbers of deportation or removal cases is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.