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Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
Thursday 5th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of people who are in the UK who crossed the Channel into Britain illegally during the last ten years, and applied for and were refused asylum.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes statistics on detected small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ statistics release on gov.uk. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals and initial decisions on these applications (including refusals) is published in tables Irr_D02 and Irr_D03 respectively of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’. The latest data covers January 2018 to June 2024.


Written Question
Home Office: Convictions
Thursday 2nd May 2024

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people employed by the Home Office have been convicted of abuse of public office and given custodial sentences in each of the past 20 years; and how many of those individuals have subsequently been re-employed in the Home Office or other departments or agencies in central government.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

In the last twenty years there have been 24 Home Office officials who have been convicted of Misconduct in Public Office. All received a custodial sentence, and all were convicted before 2015. Since then, the Crown Prosecution Service have moved towards using more specific charges such as theft, assisting unlawful immigration and bribery.

A breakdown for each year is provided below:

Year

Convicted of abuse of position

Custodial sentence received

2006

1

1

2007

1

1

2008

3

3

2009

2

2

2010

5

5

2011

5

5

2012

3

3

2013

1

1

2014

1

1

2015

2

2

The Home Office conducts robust pre-appointment checks in accordance with the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standards prior to employment being offered. The Home Office also carries out National Security Vetting on all its employees, which considers both spent and unspent convictions for this and all other offences.


Written Question
Asylum: Rwanda
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how Rwanda compares in population density with (1) China, (2) Russia, (3) the USA, (4) Australia, (5) Libya, (6) France, (7) Spain, (8) Germany, (9) the UK, and (10) Greece; and how relevant they regard that measure in their policy for transporting migrants from the UK to Rwanda.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The table below shows the estimated population density (the number of people per square kilometre) of the countries listed based on UN statistics published in October 20231. The countries are ordered as in the question plus Rwanda at 11:

Country

Population density

1

China2

148.5

2

Russia

8.8

3

United States of America

37.0

4

Australia

3.4

5

Libya

4.1

6

France

117.2

7

Spain

94.7

8

Germany

239.2

9

United Kingdom

278.1

10

Greece

79.4

11

Rwanda

569.1

1 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ‘Statistical Yearbook 2023, Sixty-sixth issue’ (pages 15 to 35), October 2023

2 For statistical purposes, the UN data for China do not include the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan

Population was one of a range of factors that was considered when entering into the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda.


Written Question
Home Office: Staff
Monday 15th May 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 1 June 2018 (HL7992), how many members of Home Office staff have been convicted in connection with their official activities since 1 June 2018; and in each case, what was (1) the date, (2) the nature of the offence, and (3) the sentence received.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Since 1 June 2018 the Home Office has secured two convictions and two cautions of staff in connection with their official activities. All the officers were subject to appropriate disciplinary procedures.

The following table below shows the breakdown including the dates of those convictions.

Charges

Conviction Date

Sentence

Bribery

11/04/2019

3 years, 9 months

Computer Misuse

17/06/2022

Police Caution

Conspiracy to Assist Unlawful Immigration

03/04/2023

Awaiting sentence

Computer Misuse

26/04/2023

Police Caution


Written Question
Development Aid
Tuesday 28th March 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) was spent on (1) responding to emergencies and other unpredictable events, (2) illegal immigration into the UK, and (3) payments to the government of France for measures to prevent or reduce illegal migration across the English Channel, in each of the last three years.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)

The Statistics on International Development (SID) National Statistics provides an overview of all UK spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA).

UK ODA spent on Humanitarian Aid activities, which includes Humanitarian Emergency Response ODA, for 2019, 2020 and 2021 (the latest three years available) are outlined in the SID Statistics. The proportions have been reported in respect to total bilateral UK ODA (otherwise known as earmarked ODA). The figures do not include the UK’s core contributions to humanitarian focused multilaterals, for instance the UK’s core funding to Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in 2021 was £63.5m.

The Home Office does not have any ODA spend in relation to illegal migration or any payments to France (which is not an ODA eligible country).


Written Question
Home Office: Conduct
Monday 20th February 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Home Office officials have been convicted of abuse of public office in each of the last 10 years; and how many of those have been given custodial sentences.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Note: We have interpreted this question as referring to ‘Misconduct in Public Office’ (‘abuse of public office’ is not a criminal offence).

In the last ten years there have been seven Home Office officials who have been convicted of Misconduct in Public Office. All received a custodial sentence and all were convicted before 2015. Since then, the Crown Prosecution Service have moved towards using more specific charges such as theft, assisting unlawful immigration and bribery.

A breakdown for each year is provided below:

Year

Convicted of abuse of position

Custodial sentence received

2012

3

3

2013

1

1

2014

1

1

2015

2

2


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations
Monday 13th February 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which bodies are currently proscribed as terrorist organisations.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The list of proscribed organisations is publicly available at the following link: Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Roads: Cameras
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether recordings from road traffic cameras can be used by the police in investigating all types of crime.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, evidence from a road traffic enforcement device is obtained for certain motoring offences and used in court proceedings without the need for other corroborative evidence. Therefore, the use of road traffic cameras does not extend to all crime types.


Written Question
Asylum: Hotels
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many hotels in England are under contract to provide accommodation for immigrants whose right to enter and remain in the UK are being assessed; and what is the total number of people who are currently accommodated in this way.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)

On the 30 September 2022 there were 252 hotels used to accommodate 34,900 asylum seekers in receipt of asylum support in England.


Written Question
Asylum: Housing
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation they undertake with (1) district councils, and (2) parish councils, in whose area it is proposed to house immigrants awaiting assessment on their right to enter and remain in the UK.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)

The record number of people that have crossed the Channel in small boats in recent years has placed the Home Office’s asylum support infrastructure and accommodation services under immense pressure. Under the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide asylum seekers, who would otherwise be destitute, with accommodation and support whilst their claim is under consideration. Eligible asylum seekers are ordinarily placed in housing accommodation; however, the unprecedented number of small boat arrivals has forced the Home Office to consider alternative accommodation options to ensure that we meet our statutory obligations, which has resulted in the temporary use of hotels.

The use of hotels is a short term solution and we are working hard with Local Authorities and our accommodation providers to find more appropriate accommodation.

We have taken immediate steps to improve levels of engagement with key stakeholders including district and parish councils, around hotel accommodation sites to ensure colleagues are kept updated and better informed and to ensure we understand and act on any concerns appropriately and swiftly. These minimum standards will be reviewed regularly and, where possible, we will take steps to improve these standards.

We work closely with local authorities on full asylum dispersal to create a fairer distribution across the UK.

We do not routinely engage with members of the public regarding utilising hotels.