Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Independent Social Workers are recognised by the Tribunal system as qualified to provide independent reports in immigration cases.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is independent of government and act as impartial arbiters of the evidence presented by Appellants and the Home Office as Respondent to appeals. The Tribunal does not establish verification systems for any experts called by either party. Regulation of Social workers is overseen by Social Work England, Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
Similarly, the Tribunal does not commission reports from parties and accordingly bears no cost.
The information requested on reports produced for either party on an appeal is not held centrally. HMCTS does not hold data on the number of expert reports that may have been entered into evidence by a party, the classification of the expert, the conclusions of that expert or whether those conclusions contradict or support the conclusions of the Home Office.
Judges weigh the opinions of experts and make their decisions based on all of the collective evidence including any expert reports that may be provided, but they are not bound to accept conclusions in those reports.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reports were produced by Independent Social Workers for the immigration and asylum tribunals which recommended that a person liable to be removed from the UK should be allowed to stay in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is independent of government and act as impartial arbiters of the evidence presented by Appellants and the Home Office as Respondent to appeals. The Tribunal does not establish verification systems for any experts called by either party. Regulation of Social workers is overseen by Social Work England, Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
Similarly, the Tribunal does not commission reports from parties and accordingly bears no cost.
The information requested on reports produced for either party on an appeal is not held centrally. HMCTS does not hold data on the number of expert reports that may have been entered into evidence by a party, the classification of the expert, the conclusions of that expert or whether those conclusions contradict or support the conclusions of the Home Office.
Judges weigh the opinions of experts and make their decisions based on all of the collective evidence including any expert reports that may be provided, but they are not bound to accept conclusions in those reports.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the asylum and immigration tribunal system was of commissioning reports from Independent Social Workers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is independent of government and act as impartial arbiters of the evidence presented by Appellants and the Home Office as Respondent to appeals. The Tribunal does not establish verification systems for any experts called by either party. Regulation of Social workers is overseen by Social Work England, Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
Similarly, the Tribunal does not commission reports from parties and accordingly bears no cost.
The information requested on reports produced for either party on an appeal is not held centrally. HMCTS does not hold data on the number of expert reports that may have been entered into evidence by a party, the classification of the expert, the conclusions of that expert or whether those conclusions contradict or support the conclusions of the Home Office.
Judges weigh the opinions of experts and make their decisions based on all of the collective evidence including any expert reports that may be provided, but they are not bound to accept conclusions in those reports.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reports were produced by Independent Social Workers for the immigration and asylum tribunals in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is independent of government and act as impartial arbiters of the evidence presented by Appellants and the Home Office as Respondent to appeals. The Tribunal does not establish verification systems for any experts called by either party. Regulation of Social workers is overseen by Social Work England, Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
Similarly, the Tribunal does not commission reports from parties and accordingly bears no cost.
The information requested on reports produced for either party on an appeal is not held centrally. HMCTS does not hold data on the number of expert reports that may have been entered into evidence by a party, the classification of the expert, the conclusions of that expert or whether those conclusions contradict or support the conclusions of the Home Office.
Judges weigh the opinions of experts and make their decisions based on all of the collective evidence including any expert reports that may be provided, but they are not bound to accept conclusions in those reports.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12200 on Reoffenders: Foreign Nationals, if she will publish a breakdown of the offences committed by reoffending foreign nationals by main offence group.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer the honourable Member to the response I gave on 11 November 2024 to PQ 13567.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners released under Standard Determinate Sentence 40 legislation have been recalled to prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Recall remains, as intended, a tool Probation can use to protect the public.
Data on SDS40 recalls forms a subset of data intended for future publication, but our initial operational insights suggest there has not been a significant change to the use and application of recall since implementation of the SDS change.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2024 to Question 8672 on Immigration: Appeals, for what reason she has no plans to legislate to change the current arrangements on publication of decisions of the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
I am satisfied that the question of whether, and in what form, to publish judgments is properly a judicial function. The judge is best placed to determine these matters in individual cases.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6948 on Offenders: Foreign Nationals, if she will publish a breakdown of foreign national offenders by detailed offence type.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We recently provided information on the offence group of foreign national offenders (FNOs) in prison on 30 June 2024, in answer to PQ 6948. This can be found in the attached table.
The Department currently has no plans to publish a breakdown of foreign national offenders by detailed offence type.
The removal of FNOs is an important priority of this Government. FNOs who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. We are exploring the ways that we can accelerate that further, including working with the Home Office to make the early removal scheme for foreign offenders more effective.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure decisions of the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber are published on the same basis as decisions of the Upper Tribunal.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 10 October 2024 to Question 7538: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.
Decisions on publishing judgments, including those judgments of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, are a judicial function.
We have no plans to legislate to change the current arrangements.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether there are circumstances where a victim cannot call for a foreign national offender to be deported in a victim impact statement.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Whether a deportation order for a foreign national offender is made is ultimately a decision for the Home Secretary. Any foreign national offender convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is referred to the Home Office at the earliest opportunity for deportation consideration following sentencing. There is no formal mechanism to seek Victim Personal Statements to support deportation decisions. However, decision makers may take account of evidence such as the judge’s sentencing remarks, to consider the impact on the victim.
Judges may recommend deportation when passing a sentence, and will take into account, so far as they consider appropriate, a Victim Personal Statement when determining a sentence.
Victim Personal Statements allow victims to explain in their own words how a crime has affected them. However, they should not include opinions on how offenders should be sentenced, including calling for a foreign national offender to be deported, as the appropriate sentence is rightly a matter for the court to determine.