Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Home Office holds data on whether small boat migrants have been charged or convicted of any criminal offence.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

A breakdown by the number of charges and convictions for all criminal offences is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Security checks are undertaken for all those arriving through illegal migration routes and law enforcement have the powers to deal with them appropriately. All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks. These checks are critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system. These system and security database checks are completed during the asylum screening process and before a decision is made.

We continually assess potential threats in the UK. The Home Office works closely with other government departments as well as relevant agencies and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a schedule of charges and convictions for criminal offences against small boat migrants.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

A breakdown by the number of charges and convictions for all criminal offences is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Security checks are undertaken for all those arriving through illegal migration routes and law enforcement have the powers to deal with them appropriately. All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks. These checks are critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system. These system and security database checks are completed during the asylum screening process and before a decision is made.

We continually assess potential threats in the UK. The Home Office works closely with other government departments as well as relevant agencies and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she pans to answer named day written questions 12724, 12725, 12726 and 12727 tabled on 24 June.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Minister for Border Security and Asylum wrote to the Rt. Hon. gentleman on 13 and 23 July.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the new community sponsorship scheme will commence before the number of immigrants entering the country illegally has been reduced to zero.

Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

As set out in the Restoring Order and Control statement, arrivals under the new named sponsorship route will be capped. The number of arrivals will be carefully managed to align with the UK’s capacity to support refugees, and the Home Office will retain overall control on numbers.

Refugee status will be determined in partnership with the UNHCR, and all refugees will be subject to appropriate security, identity, and background checks before arrival in the UK.

Safe and legal routes offer an alternative to dangerous journeys for refugees genuinely fleeing war and persecution. The launch of the named sponsorship route will not depend on illegal entry reaching zero.

The government will set out further details on the schemes, including eligibility requirements, in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria migrants applying under the new community sponsorship scheme will have to meet.

Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

As set out in the Restoring Order and Control statement, arrivals under the new named sponsorship route will be capped. The number of arrivals will be carefully managed to align with the UK’s capacity to support refugees, and the Home Office will retain overall control on numbers.

Refugee status will be determined in partnership with the UNHCR, and all refugees will be subject to appropriate security, identity, and background checks before arrival in the UK.

Safe and legal routes offer an alternative to dangerous journeys for refugees genuinely fleeing war and persecution. The launch of the named sponsorship route will not depend on illegal entry reaching zero.

The government will set out further details on the schemes, including eligibility requirements, in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there is a cap on the number of people who can apply under the new community sponsorship scheme announced in June 2026.

Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

As set out in the Restoring Order and Control statement, arrivals under the new named sponsorship route will be capped. The number of arrivals will be carefully managed to align with the UK’s capacity to support refugees, and the Home Office will retain overall control on numbers.

Refugee status will be determined in partnership with the UNHCR, and all refugees will be subject to appropriate security, identity, and background checks before arrival in the UK.

Safe and legal routes offer an alternative to dangerous journeys for refugees genuinely fleeing war and persecution. The launch of the named sponsorship route will not depend on illegal entry reaching zero.

The government will set out further details on the schemes, including eligibility requirements, in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many “Red” days there have been each month since April 2025.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Met Office provides the Home Office with a daily assessment of the likelihood of at least one small boat crossing attempt which translates into Red, Amber and Green days. This assessment takes multiple factors into account - further detail on the methodology can be found in the previous Home Office publication at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/small-boat-arrivals-and-the-impact-of-crossing-conditions/small-boat-arrivals-and-the-impact-of-crossing-conditions.

The Home Office began receiving the Met Office assessment from September 2019, as such some of the data requested is unavailable. Available data on the number of red days is provided below up to 31 August 2026 – while this goes beyond the periods requested, it is provided in one place for completeness. This data shows that there have been more favourable crossing conditions so far this year than the same period in almost any year since 2020. Red days this year have already exceeded the 106 recorded in the whole of 2022, which saw a record 45,000 migrants arrive in small boats.

To provide additional context to the request, the average number of arrivals per red day per year (to date) has also been provided. This demonstrates a notable reduction in the average number of arrivals per red day in 2026 (to 31 August). The average number of migrants arriving on red days between January and August has fallen by 38% from 232 to 144 over the past year. This represents a 43% drop from the peak of 251 in 2022.

Table 1. Number of red days per month – September 2019 to August 2026

Table 2. Average number of small boat arrivals per red day per year to date (1 Jan - 31 Aug)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many “Red” days there were each month between January 2018 and April 2021.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Met Office provides the Home Office with a daily assessment of the likelihood of at least one small boat crossing attempt which translates into Red, Amber and Green days. This assessment takes multiple factors into account - further detail on the methodology can be found in the previous Home Office publication at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/small-boat-arrivals-and-the-impact-of-crossing-conditions/small-boat-arrivals-and-the-impact-of-crossing-conditions.

The Home Office began receiving the Met Office assessment from September 2019, as such some of the data requested is unavailable. Available data on the number of red days is provided below up to 31 August 2026 – while this goes beyond the periods requested, it is provided in one place for completeness. This data shows that there have been more favourable crossing conditions so far this year than the same period in almost any year since 2020. Red days this year have already exceeded the 106 recorded in the whole of 2022, which saw a record 45,000 migrants arrive in small boats.

To provide additional context to the request, the average number of arrivals per red day per year (to date) has also been provided. This demonstrates a notable reduction in the average number of arrivals per red day in 2026 (to 31 August). The average number of migrants arriving on red days between January and August has fallen by 38% from 232 to 144 over the past year. This represents a 43% drop from the peak of 251 in 2022.

Table 1. Number of red days per month – September 2019 to August 2026

Table 2. Average number of small boat arrivals per red day per year to date (1 Jan - 31 Aug)

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