Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of bank accounts incorrectly closed as a result of the hostile environment immigration policy between January 2016 and January 2018.

The Immigration Act 2016 banking measures, which provide for the power to close existing bank accounts of known immigration offenders, came into force on 30 October 2017. However, banks and building societies had until 31 March 2018 to conduct their initial checks on all personal current accounts against Home Office disqualified persons data.

Under the 2016 Act, no bank accounts were closed between January 2016 and January 2018.