Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Stephen Shaw's report entitled Assessment of Government progress in implementing the report on the welfare in detention of vulnerable persons, published in July 2018, what public comment other than his statement of 24 July 2018 he has made on Stephen Shaw's finding that it is disproportionate to deport foreign national offenders who were last resident in their country of origin when very young; and if he will make a statement.

Since the Home Secretary’s statement to Parliament on 24 July, he has made no further public statement about this finding.

As set out in the Immigration Act 2014, Parliament has stated that the deportation of foreign criminals is in the public interest. The more serious the offence committed by a foreign criminal the greater the public interest in a deportation. However, this is subject to the UK’s obligations under the ECHR and the Refugee Convention.

In the case of a foreign national sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least four years, where the public interest requires deportation unless there are very compelling circumstances, the length of time a person has lived in the UK as well as the strength of their social, cultural and family ties to the UK are all relevant factors taken into account when considering an Article 8 claim.

The Government has no plans to amend the Article 8 public interest considerations approved by Parliament during the passage of the Immigration Act 2014.