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.

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.