Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which safe countries individuals have been returned to when they have been removed due to an inadmissibility decision on their asylum application.

We are clear that those who fear persecution should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and not put their lives at risk by making unnecessary and dangerous journeys to the UK. Controlled resettlement via safe and legal routes is the best way to protect such people and disrupt the organised crime groups that exploit migrants and refugees.

Inadmissibility is a longstanding process, intended to support the first safe country principle and is an established part of international asylum procedures. Those who choose to travel from a safe third country and then claim asylum in the UK may find their asylum claim treated as inadmissible to the asylum process. That means that the UK will not consider the substance of the person’s claim and will seek their return to a safe third country.

Since 1 January 2021 returns have been made to Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Information on the return of those who claims are deemed inadmissible is routinely published and can be found online at: How many people do we grant protection to? - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).