Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the impact of her Department's policies on the number of convictions for (a) people smuggling and (b) related crimes since July 2024.

Backed by £150 million funding, the Border Security Command (BSC) has a strategic cross-government remit and convening authority over the border security system, with its early focus on delivering operational capacity and new powers to support agencies across the Border Security system to dismantle criminal gangs quickly and effectively.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) leads the law enforcement response to the organised criminality involved in the trafficking and smuggling of people to the UK; it investigates and brings organised immigration crime offenders to justice. The NCA assesses their activity is having an impact here and overseas –Their operational results are demonstrated in the form of arrests, prosecutions and seizures, and they have continued to disrupt a large number of networks involved in this type of criminality since July 2024.

From 4^th July 2024 through 12^th December 2024, 17 people were convicted and sentenced across 7 OIC operations thanks to NCA’s actions. 15 of those sentenced received a total of over 107 years in custody, with a further 2 people receiving suspended sentences for their OIC crimes.

The NCA has over 70 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime - several of these sit right at the top of the NCA’s priority list.