Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 June (HL7632), whether breaching a deportation order constitutes a specific criminal offence; and if so, on what basis the provision of information on the number of such breaches meets the criterion for disproportionate costs.

It is a criminal offence under section 24(A1) of the Immigration Act 1971 to knowingly enter the United Kingdom in breach of a deportation order. The offence attracts a maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment.

When assessing breaches of the disproportionate cost threshold, consideration is given to the volume of case records that would need to be reviewed and the time it would take to review those cases which is calculated at a flat rate of £25 per hour.