Source · Select Committees · Human Rights (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 1
1
Rejected
We are concerned that the breadth of these precursor offences poses a risk of unintended...
Recommendation
We are concerned that the breadth of these precursor offences poses a risk of unintended harms to those who are most vulnerable. To mitigate this risk, we consider that the precursor offences would benefit from greater circumscription and more robust safeguards and propose various amendments (below). (Conclusion, Paragraph 38)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's concern about precursor offences and the aim to protect vulnerable groups, but it defends the current offences as proportionate and effective, indicating that the proposed amendments would undermine their effectiveness.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
We would start by reaffirming the intention of these new offences to enable earlier, faster disruption of organised immigration crime. This criminality puts vulnerable people, the very groups to which the report refers, at risk of exploitation and harm. We recognise and support the sentiment behind the report’s recommendations to protect vulnerable groups and uphold the UK’s international commitments. We want to highlight that this is also the purpose of the new offences. By enabling faster, earlier disruption, the aim is to break the smuggling gangs’ business models and protect those they exploit, preventing the harm they cause. The offences have been specifically tailored to ensure an approach that is both proportionate and effective in achieving their aims. They will sit within wider criminal justice structures that are in place to account for the potential vulnerability of suspects. We set out in further detail below the risks that some of the recommendations would pose to their effectiveness.