6 Immigration Enforcement
The Migration Refusal Pool
60. The Migration Refusal Pool is a count of records
of refusal of leave where the Agency lacks evidence that the individual
concerned has departed from the UK or obtained a separate grant
of leave. Records enter the Migration Refusal Pool as applications
are refused or leave expires, and leave the pool as people leave
the UK, either forcibly or voluntarily, are granted leave, or
lodge an appeal or a new application.
61. In Q1 2012, the Migration Refusal Pool stood
at 161,538. Capita were contracted to address the backlog in MRP
in 2012. The Independent Chief Inspector of Immigration and Borders
report on Overstayers said that "The overall number of post-2008
records in the MRP had fallen by only 3.6% between April 2013
and April 2014, and there was no evidence that Capita's work had
increased the number of enforced removals that the Home Office
had been able to achieve."[80]
By Q3 2014 the Migration Refusal Pool stood at 173,562.
- At the end of Q3 2014, there were 173,514 cases
in the Migration Refusal Pool (MRP) down from 173,562 in the previous
quarter.
- By the end of Q3 2014, Capita has assessed
313,400 cases. Of these 65,300 (21%) cases were confirmed as departed.
- 167,400 (53%) cases were assessed as having
a barrier to removal and were passed back to the Home Office.
68,000 (22%) cases had the confirmed outcome that no contact can
be made. 12,700 (4%) are being worked upon by Capita.
SUSPENSION
Non-compliance notifications
The chart below shows the number of notifications
of potential sponsor non-compliance received.
- 23,450 notifications of potential non-compliance
were received in Q3 2014 for Tier 4, up from 14,332 in the previous
quarter.
- 7,453 notifications were received in Q3 2014
for Tiers 2 and 5, up from 5,316 in the previous quarter.
Non-compliance notifications followed up
- A total of 33,553 notifications of potential
non-compliance were followed up in Q3 2014, up from 22,865 in
the previous quarter.
- 160 Tier 2 sponsors had their licenses revoked
in Q3 2014 and 161 Tier 2 sponsors had their licenses suspended.
- 36 Tier 4 sponsors had their licenses revoked
in Q3 2014 and 49 Tier 4 sponsors had their licenses suspended.
- 7 Tier 5 sponsors had their licenses revoked
in Q3 2014 and 7 Tier 5 sponsors had their licenses suspended.
Immigration detention
RULE 35 REPORT
Rule 35 of the detention Centre Rules states that
medical practitioners are required to report to the Home Office
any detainee whose health is likely to be injuriously affected
by detention or any condition of detention and any detainee they
are concerned may be a victim of torture
The chart below shows the number of Rule 35 Reports
made to the Department since the beginning of 2012.
- 387 reports under Rule 35 were made in Q3 2014,
a decrease from 457 in the previous quarter. 14% of reports under
Rule 35 resulted in the individual being released.
CHILDREN IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION
The chart below shows the number of children leaving
immigration detention when they had been held for more than 3
days.
- In Q3 2014, 26 children entered immigration
detention, up from 19 in the previous quarter. 27 children left
immigration detention in Q3 2014, up from 20 in the previous quarter.
Foreign national offenders and
ex-foreign national offenders (FNOs)
Foreign National Offenders released from prison
and transferred to immigration detention
- In Q3 2014, 1,454 FNOs were released from prison
and transferred to immigration detention, up from 1,072 in the
previous quarter.
- In Q3 2014, 3 FNOs were released without consideration
for deportation.
Foreign National Offenders released into the community
- worse performance
- 385 ex-FNOs eligible for deportation were released
into the community in Q3 2014, 97% of their cases were outstanding,
i.e. the Home Office would still like to deport them.
Removing Foreign National Offenders
- In Q3 2014, there were 342 failed removal attempts.
- 38% of removals were carried out during the
Early Release Scheme in Q3 2014. 20% of removals were carried
out under the Facilitated Returns Scheme.
Removing Foreign National Offenders - improved
performance
- In Q3 2014, it took an average of 111 days
to deport an ex FNO, down from 133 days in the previous quarter.
Ex foreign national offenders living in the community
- worse performance
- In Q3 2014 there were 4,702 ex FNOs living
in the community, compared with 4,428 in the previous quarter.
- 62% had been living in the community for over
24 months.
62. Issues remain around the Home Office's work on
foreign national offenders (FNOs). The Home Office still have
challenges in identifying FNOs, detaining, deporting, or releasing
them into the community and keeping track of them. For example,
in Q1 2012, there were 3,900 Foreign National Offenders living
in the community,[81]
in Q3 2014 there were 4,702 ex FNOs living in the community, compared
with 4,428 in the previous quarter. 62% had been living in the
community for over 24 months.[82]
63. There are 760 foreign offenders somewhere in
the United Kingdom, including those guilty of crimes such as murder,
rape, and kidnapping. The absconder tracing team, set up to locate
these individuals, started with a caseload of over 600 in 2009.
Since then, the unit has received 1,280 referrals and closed 1,148
cases.[83] The result
is the 760 still in the community, some of which may still be
from the original 600 who absconded before 2009—so will
have been free for over five years. Mandie Campbell told us that
the Government continues to do more to locate these individuals,
such as data matching the details of individuals with that held
by other government departments.
64. We have made numerous recommendations relating
to how Immigration Enforcement address the issues of Foreign National
Offenders. Immigration Enforcement have put resources into addressing
the problem, but there improvements that could still be made,
particularly around securing agreements with other countries,
and implementing those agreements, to remove FNOs. We recommend
that our successor Committee in the new Parliament continue to
scrutinise the subject of Foreign National Offenders.
80 Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration,
An Inspection of Overstayers May-June 2014, Dec 2014 Back
81
Home Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2012-13, The work of the UK Border Agency (December 2011-March 2012),
HC 71 Back
82
Immigration Enforcement data, FNO_13 Back
83
Letter from Mandie Campbell to Keith Vaz, 26 November 2014 Back
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