Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings she has had with a) National Asylum Stakeholder Forum and b) the Strategic Engagement Group in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Asylum Stakeholder Forum and the Asylum Strategic Engagement Group both meet four times a year.
The Home Secretary has not attended these meetings in the past 12 months. Home Office officials attend on her behalf.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 84090: Asylum, whether those charities are consulted on the development of immigration policy.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office maintains regular engagement with a wide range of stakeholders on asylum and immigration matters. Their input is valued; however, external advice is considered advisory and does not determine policy.
Ministers are responsible for setting Home Office policy.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Asylum Stakeholder Forum is consulted on the development of immigration and asylum policy.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office maintains regular engagement with a wide range of stakeholders on asylum and immigration matters. Their input is valued; however, external advice is considered advisory and does not determine policy.
Ministers are responsible for setting Home Office policy.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 December 2025 to Question 99417 on Undocumented Migrants, what steps she is taking to recover individuals who go out of contact with her Department.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a dedicated tracing capability that works in partnership with the police, other government agencies, and commercial companies to help identify information on a person. Where tracing checks are successful, we will consider the most appropriate intervention, including whether to task an enforcement team to conduct a visit or to set up a suitable immigration reporting regime.
Tracing is just one of the ways in which contact can be re-established. Individuals are also encountered through routine Immigration Enforcement and police activity. In all cases we will consider the most appropriate action, including arrest and detention and possible removal from the United Kingdom. Many individuals who are out of contact may also re-engage with the department voluntarily or decide to leave the UK.
We are committed to improving data quality for illegal migrants to ensure that we restore order and control to our borders. We have already set up teams to review existing areas to streamline processes, improve training and ensure join-up across systems across illegal migration to get the data right first time.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant of Answer of 22 December 2025 to Question 99417: Undocumented Migrants, what steps she is taking to improve the quality of absconder data.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a dedicated tracing capability that works in partnership with the police, other government agencies, and commercial companies to help identify information on a person. Where tracing checks are successful, we will consider the most appropriate intervention, including whether to task an enforcement team to conduct a visit or to set up a suitable immigration reporting regime.
Tracing is just one of the ways in which contact can be re-established. Individuals are also encountered through routine Immigration Enforcement and police activity. In all cases we will consider the most appropriate action, including arrest and detention and possible removal from the United Kingdom. Many individuals who are out of contact may also re-engage with the department voluntarily or decide to leave the UK.
We are committed to improving data quality for illegal migrants to ensure that we restore order and control to our borders. We have already set up teams to review existing areas to streamline processes, improve training and ensure join-up across systems across illegal migration to get the data right first time.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant of Answer of 22 December 2025 to Question 99417: Undocumented Migrants, what steps she is taking to strengthen sanctions against illegal migrants once they have been relocated and detained.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Where an absconder is located, they may be arrested and detained for the purposes of removal. It is generally in the public interest to pursue the removal of those with no permission to be in the UK.
Where detention is not appropriate, a person may be released on immigration bail as an alternative to detention, allowing the Home Office to maintain contact with those who require permission to be in the UK but do not have it whilst a decision is made on their case or pending their removal or deportation.
A person who is subject to immigration bail is required to comply with one or more bail conditions. Conditions may include a requirement to report regularly to the Home Office, to reside at a specific location, to be electronically monitored and a restriction on work. The number and type of immigration bail conditions imposed will vary depending on the circumstances of the individual case. A person who has previously absconded is likely to have more stringent bail conditions imposed.
Where someone fails to comply with their bail conditions, they may be arrested, detained, have their bail conditions varied to be more stringent, or they can be arrested for the criminal offence, which is punishable by a fine or term of imprisonment.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her department holds an estimate of the number of criminals in the UK that arrived in the country by irregular means.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested regarding the number of foreign criminals in the UK who arrived by irregular means is not available from published statistics.
However, foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
The latest published information shows that in the year-ending October 2025, 5,430 foreign national offenders (FNOs) were returned, which is an increase of 12% compared to the number of FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story entitled UK-France treaty targeting illegal crossings comes into force, published on 4 August 2025, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the one in, one out scheme to date.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are continuously monitoring and evaluating the agreement with France to ensure its effectiveness. There will be a full evaluation at the end of the pilot period.
Any individual who re-enters the UK illegally may be detained and, where appropriate, we will seek to expedite removal.
The system is working: two individuals who returned to the UK having already been removed were detected, detained, and their cases were expedited for return. We continue to work closely with our French counterparts to ensure that those who are returned under the agreement do not re-enter the UK illegally.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the reciprocal agreement with France in deterring repeat illegal entry attempts.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are continuously monitoring and evaluating the agreement with France to ensure its effectiveness. There will be a full evaluation at the end of the pilot period.
Any individual who re-enters the UK illegally may be detained and, where appropriate, we will seek to expedite removal.
The system is working: two individuals who returned to the UK having already been removed were detected, detained, and their cases were expedited for return. We continue to work closely with our French counterparts to ensure that those who are returned under the agreement do not re-enter the UK illegally.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of individuals returned to France under the reciprocal agreement are assessed as being at risk of attempting to re-enter the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are continuously monitoring and evaluating the agreement with France to ensure its effectiveness. There will be a full evaluation at the end of the pilot period.
Any individual who re-enters the UK illegally may be detained and, where appropriate, we will seek to expedite removal.
The system is working: two individuals who returned to the UK having already been removed were detected, detained, and their cases were expedited for return. We continue to work closely with our French counterparts to ensure that those who are returned under the agreement do not re-enter the UK illegally.