Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have been (1) prosecuted, and (2) convicted, for offences of people smuggling under the Immigration Act 1971, for each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton
The Immigration Act 1971 contains offences (including those created by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022) for assisting and facilitating unlawful immigration into the United Kingdom.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants in England and Wales charged with, prosecuted and convicted for people smuggling offences created by the Immigration Act 1971.
However, management information for England and Wales is held showing the number of offences charged by way of S25 (Assisting unlawful immigration to member State or the United Kingdom), S25A (Helping an asylum-seeker to enter United Kingdom) and S25B (Assisting entry to United Kingdom in breach of deportation or exclusion order) of the Immigration Act 1971 in which a prosecution commenced in each of the last five years. The table below shows the number of these offences to the latest available year, 2022, in England and Wales.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Immigration Act 1971 {25} | 309 | 291 | 139 | 249 | 155 |
Immigration Act 1971 {25A} | 8 | 5 | 2 | 134 | 6 |
Immigration Act 1971 {25B} | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
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The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government, how many people have been (1) prosecuted, and (2) convicted, for offences of human trafficking in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, for each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds no data showing the number of convictions for human trafficking offences in England and Wales under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
However, data is held showing the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted where the human trafficking monitoring flag has been applied to case records. The table below shows the number of prosecutions and convictions for defendants during each of the last five years in England and Wales.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Prosecuted | 294 | 349 | 267 | 466 | 405 |
Convicted | 191 | 251 | 197 | 332 | 282 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | |||||
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State (Minister for Immigration) at the Home Office on (1) 28 March (HC Deb col 961), and (2) 29 March (HC Deb col 308WH), what evidence they are using for the abuse of the modern slavery system.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
On 7 March 2023 the Government published research and analysis on modern slavery referrals for people detained for return after arriving in the UK on small boats. That report can be found at: Modern slavery referrals for people detained for return after arriving in the UK on small boats - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Home Office reports also show that NRM referrals from detention and prison have increased. In 2020, 27% (1,005) of people detained within the UK following immigration offences were referred as potential victims of modern slavery.
Almost everyone referred from detention into the NRM was subsequently released from detention (99.5%, for detentions between Jan 2019 and Sep 2022).
The NRM referral rate for people arriving in the UK on small boats and being detained for return has risen from 6% (50) of detentions ending in 2019 to 73% (294) in 2021.
It is right that the Government has a proactive approach to addressing instances in which the system is not being used as intended.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the causes of obesity; in particular, (1) food addiction, (2) genetics, and (3) other factors.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Obesity is a complex problem, and the causes are multi-factorial, including biological; physiological; psycho-social; behavioural; and environmental factors. There are no plans to collect data on the causes of obesity and no specific assessment has been made on the causes of obesity.
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Eatwell Guide shows the proportions in which different types of foods should be consumed to have a healthy balanced diet, including average calorie intakes for men and women. The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the National Health Service website, Government social marketing campaigns, and guidance on healthier catering. For example, the Better Health campaign encourages adults to introduce changes that will help them work towards a healthier weight, including guidance on healthier food choices, calorie intake and portion control.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to promote personal calorie control as one of the main mechanisms for preventing obesity.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Obesity is a complex problem, and the causes are multi-factorial, including biological; physiological; psycho-social; behavioural; and environmental factors. There are no plans to collect data on the causes of obesity and no specific assessment has been made on the causes of obesity.
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Eatwell Guide shows the proportions in which different types of foods should be consumed to have a healthy balanced diet, including average calorie intakes for men and women. The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the National Health Service website, Government social marketing campaigns, and guidance on healthier catering. For example, the Better Health campaign encourages adults to introduce changes that will help them work towards a healthier weight, including guidance on healthier food choices, calorie intake and portion control.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to collect data on the causes of obesity; and if so, when this will start.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Obesity is a complex problem, and the causes are multi-factorial, including biological; physiological; psycho-social; behavioural; and environmental factors. There are no plans to collect data on the causes of obesity and no specific assessment has been made on the causes of obesity.
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Eatwell Guide shows the proportions in which different types of foods should be consumed to have a healthy balanced diet, including average calorie intakes for men and women. The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the National Health Service website, Government social marketing campaigns, and guidance on healthier catering. For example, the Better Health campaign encourages adults to introduce changes that will help them work towards a healthier weight, including guidance on healthier food choices, calorie intake and portion control.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to adopt the definition of "wholegrain" developed by the Whole Grain Initiative.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
There are no immediate plans to adopt a definition of wholegrain into law. Work to consider a definition for wholegrain has been added as part of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) future work programme. Existing food labelling legislation ensures that the labelling and marketing of food does not mislead consumers.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people entered the National Referral Mechanism in January and February of (1) 2022, and (2) 2023; and of those, how many received reasonable grounds decisions.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the (NRM). The 2022 statistics can be found here;
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139171/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2022.ods Data for Q1 2023 is due for publication on 04/05/2023. The data shows the number of NRM referrals received each quarter and the number of reasonable grounds decisions made each quarter regardless of when the referral was received.
Further disaggregated data is published via the UK Data Service.
The disaggregated data shows the year and quarter in which an NRM referral was received and the year and quarter in which a reasonable grounds decision was made.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals arrived in the UK across the English channel in small boats and entered the National Referral Mechanism between 2018 and 2022; and what was the breakdown of these individuals by (1) gender, (2) age, (3) nationality, and (4) location of claimed exploitation, where such a claim was made.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK statistics’ report on GOV.uk. Data on NRM referrals from small boat arrivals are published in the ‘Potential victims of modern slavery’ section of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ publication. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ on GOV.uk
The Home Office does not publish data on NRM referrals from small boat arrivals by gender, age, nationality, or location of claimed exploitation. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average wait for a person entering the National Referral Mechanism to receive a reasonable grounds decision (1) before the updated statutory guidance came into effect on 30 January, and (2) since the introduction of that updated guidance.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Reasonable Grounds decisions will be made as soon as possible following referral. Statistics on the timescales of Reasonable Grounds decisions for victims of modern slavery are not currently published