Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
We asked the Department to account for the plummeting number of people it returns to...
Conclusion
We asked the Department to account for the plummeting number of people it returns to their countries of origin. The Department claimed that the fall in returns was because of greater compliance with immigration rules, changes to the legal framework and higher numbers of claims made on human rights, modern slavery, asylum or medical grounds.30 The Department asserted that most asylum claims in detention are designed to thwart the system, but it accepted it was struggling to see what it could do to prevent this.31 However, the NAO reported that the Department did not explore possible failings within Immigration Enforcement in its internal analysis on unsuccessful returns.32 We did not hear evidence of any analysis the Department had conducted on the impact of decreasing the financial package available for voluntary returns, its claimed success in returning foreign national offenders on charter flights during the COVID-19 pandemic or the percentage of people granted asylum after making a claim in detention.33
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 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.