Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
We asked the Department about the financial impact of providing public services to people who...
Conclusion
We asked the Department about the financial impact of providing public services to people who should not be receiving them. It could not provide a figure for this.13 We heard that the Department had no data on the harm suffered by people who were victims of organised immigration crime or the distinction between those victims and other immigration offenders.14 We asked when the Department would have meaningful and reliable indicators of the scale of harm in its four categories. The Department claimed it can measure the amount of harm that it prevents, for example by removing a foreign national offender, but acknowledged that it would be a long time before it could measure the total harm that arises from immigration crime.15 6 Qq 38–39, 42–43, 64 7 Q 46 8 Q 35 9 Qq 45, 46 10 Q 33 11 Q 40 12 Qq 33, 40; C&AG’s Report, para 19 13 Q 34 14 Q 36 15 Q 43 Immigration enforcement 11 2 Understanding the business and setting priorities Using information to manage the business effectively
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 The Home Office (the Department) has a significant programme of work underway to enhance its understanding of the illegal population within the UK. This includes the development of a database that brings together the detailed records of every visa overstayer, failed asylum seeker and Foreign National Offender (FNO) in the UK. This database will include the level of harm presented by each of these individuals, together with their level of vulnerability, as well as more conventional demographic details. Taken together with wider transformation of its immigration enforcement capabilities this will give the department more insight, and therefore strengthen its operational effectiveness, in tackling illegal migration and the harm it causes. The department, of course, prioritises risk to public safety in assessing harm, particularly in respect of FNOs who present a risk of recidivist offending. A key method that the department is also using to determine the level of harm caused by illegal migration is to assess the economic harm caused to the UK by their presence, in terms of the cost of labour displacement, the unlawful use of public services and enforcement activity. This economic assessment is at an advanced stage and the department is exploring publication in early 2021. The department is currently considering options for further work with other government departments, academics and interested groups, following the discussions held with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and other external academics reported in the report published on 21 June 2019.