Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recording Police Service of Northern Ireland email referrals to the Home Office’s enforcement unit so cases involving victims of crime can be readily identified.

Police Officers make real time (telephone) referrals to the Immigration Enforcement National Command and Control Unit (NCCU). Since April 2020 NCCU specifically captures information about victims of crime referred by the police by telephone, it cannot presently do so for referrals by email. NCCU records the information that it receives from forces in the same way – it does not differentiate between forces and has no intention of doing so.

The referral of information about a migrant victim enables Immigration Enforcement to provide information on Home Office systems to assist police and other authorities to establish the potential vulnerabilities and safeguarding needs of those who are being referred.

The Home Office is committed to supporting the reporting of crime including by people who are without immigration status. Current data sharing practices between the police and the Home Office are essential in protecting those most vulnerable and in enforcing the UK’s immigration laws.

The National Command and Control Unit is in the process of commissioning a new management information system which will enable email referrals from all forces to be reported in future.