Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what test will be applied in determining whether the effect of a person’s deportation on their partner or child would be "unduly harsh" under section 117C of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, as amended by clause 20 of the Immigration and Asylum Bill.

In respect of offenders sentenced to less than four years, the current Article 8 regime allows a deportation decision to be made with consideration to only the impact on the criminal or their family. Clause 20 changes this so that account must be taken of the wider public interest in deportation. The actual test in relation to unduly harsh will reflect current case law requiring the need to demonstrate a significant interference with family life.

However, the new s117C framework will thereafter allow a person’s criminal and immigration history to be considered before a person’s deportation can be deemed disproportionate.