Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders who volunteered under the Early Return Scheme have been removed for the UK since 1 April 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested on the longest time period to return a foreign national offender (FNO) under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) since 1 April 2024 is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNOs removed under ERS in the ad-hoc transparency release, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 July 2024 and 31 July 2026 - GOV.UK
FNOs are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. Time spent on remand means many prisoners will reach their ERS window immediately or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.
The Home Office has worked closely with HM Prisons and Probation (HMPPS) to ensure the ERS runs as efficiently as possible and in the last year (ending July 2026) delivered a record number of ERS returns, 3,141 which is a 20% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what has been the longest time period to return a foreign national offender who volunteered under the Early Return Scheme since 1 April 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested on the longest time period to return a foreign national offender (FNO) under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) since 1 April 2024 is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNOs removed under ERS in the ad-hoc transparency release, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 July 2024 and 31 July 2026 - GOV.UK
FNOs are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. Time spent on remand means many prisoners will reach their ERS window immediately or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.
The Home Office has worked closely with HM Prisons and Probation (HMPPS) to ensure the ERS runs as efficiently as possible and in the last year (ending July 2026) delivered a record number of ERS returns, 3,141 which is a 20% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to Question 101725 tabled by the hon. Member for Widnes and Halewood on 2 January 2026.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Hon Member received a response to PQ 101725 on 4th February 2026.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to her oral answer of 17 November 2025, Official Report column 524, what steps she will take to stop asylum seekers who have committed crimes and are deported making a new asylum application after deportation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We are committed to ensuring that any asylum seeker who commits a serious crime in the UK is not granted asylum and is removed or deported as quickly as possible. If deported, the person is prohibited from returning to the UK as long as the deportation order made against them remains in force. Anyone who is subject to a deportation order is liable to have their fingerprints retained beyond the standard 15-year retention period.
Once abroad, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel back to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge.
If someone returns to the UK and re-enters the further submissions process has to be followed. Due to our robust biometric checks, face and fingerprints, individuals who have re-entered in this way will be detected upon being encountered, have their further submissions heard quickly, and they will be removed as swiftly as possible if their further submissions are without merit. We will deny the benefits of protection status to those who commit serious crimes and are a danger to the community, or those who are a threat to national security.
We are clear that serious criminals are not welcome here.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many businesses were (a) fined and (b) prosecuted for employing illegal immigrants each year since 2015.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
In 2015, 2206 civil penalties were issued for illegal working. Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data and can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68a3015732d2c63f8693437d/immigration-enforcement-data-apr-jun-2025.ods on tab CP02.
The data reflects the total number of penalties issued, rather than the number of businesses affected, as fines have been imposed on both sole traders and limited companies.
The below table provides the number of convictions for employing illegal workers since 2015. Prosecution is targeted at the most persistent offenders.
Year | Individuals convicted for employing illegal workers |
2015 | 4 |
2016 | 8 |
2017 | 4 |
2024 | 1 |
Total | 17 |
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who have previously reached a another safe country before arriving in the UK have had their applications (a) approved and (b) rejected in each year since 2015.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Available data on third country refusals, where the claimant is believed to have reached a safe third country prior to claiming in the UK, is published in table Asy_D02 of the asylum detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to the year ending March 2025.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of classifying clinical engineers as healthcare professionals under the Health and Care Worker Visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra
The Home Office keeps all its immigration visa routes under regular review, which includes consulting the Department of Health and Social Care on which occupations should be eligible for the Health and Care Visa.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police officers recruited between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023 have since resigned in (a) Cheshire and (b) England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not collect information on the length of service of police officers leaving the police service.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officer leavers in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on the number of police officer leavers, by Police Force Area, between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2023, can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba76662059dc000d5d27c0/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods. The data does not include length of service to identify when the individual joined the police service.
Voluntary resignation rates in both Cheshire and England, at around 3%, are low compared to other sectors.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers in (a) Cheshire and (b) England have been assaulted in each year since 2016.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Data on the number of police officer assaults is collected and published by the Office for National Statistics as part of their quarterly ‘Crime in England and Wales’ police recorded crime series. This can be accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice.
Information on the number of police officers assaulted in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area, for the year ending 31 March 2013 onwards, can be found in police recorded crime open data table here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65afb470bc0de3000d187340/prc-pfa-mar2013-onwards-tables-250124.ods.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police offers in Cheshire who have taken sick leave have been diagnosed with a mental health condition in each year since 2016.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not collect information on how many and what proportion of police officers who have taken sick leave have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officers on long term absence, which includes sickness, as at 31 March each year, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on long term absences, by Police Force Area, and the reason for absence, between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2023, can be found in the ‘Absences Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba613a2059dc00125d2782/open-data-table-police-workforce-absence-260723.ods.
The data are broken down by absence type which includes sickness. However, the reason for sick absence is not collected and as such it is not possible to determine how many police officers on sick absence have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.