Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases are known to (a) Ministers and (b) officials of her Department of people who have been wrongfully (i) deported and (ii) detained.

The Department has been carrying out a review of all cases of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who have been removed and/or detained by the Home Office since 2002 (when the Casework Information Database (CID) was available across the immigration system) and sought to identify any individuals where there was an indication in the record that the individual could have been in the UK before 1973.

The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 21st August to provide an update on this work. This letter outlined that, so far, this review has found eighteen people of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who told the Home Office they came to the UK before 1 January 1973 and stayed here permanently and who have been removed and / or detained. Eleven of these left the UK voluntarily and seven were detained.

These are the people we consider are most likely to have suffered detriment because their right to be in the UK was not recognised and where the Department is most likely to have acted wrongfully in removing and / or detaining them. Letters of apology are being sent from the Home Secretary.

A copy of this letter has been deposited in the House Library. This work is ongoing and the Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on progress.