Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of people deported to (1) Nigeria, and (2) Ghana, raised their LGBT status as a factor in their applications to remain in the UK, since 2 October 2012.

Answer:

While the information relating to sexual orientation and gender identification of foreign nationals subject to removal from the UK is not routinely recorded, the Home Office remains committed to publishing information on the number of people claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation.

A report, based on experimental statistics and covering the period between July 2015 and March 2017, has been published in November 2017. The full report can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/663468/asylum-claims-basis-sexual-orientation.pdf

The department does not hold pre-July 2015 data in a reportable format.

The overall numbers of people removed from the UK to Nigeria and Ghana are available on the Immigration Statistics website and the latest release can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2017/list-of-tables#returns