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Illegal Immigrants

Volume 487: debated on Thursday 29 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) educational facilities and (b) health care facilities have been (i) raided on suspicion of and (ii) fined for providing a service to an illegal immigrant by the UK Border Agency and its predecessors since 2004; and what the (A) offence and (B) amount of the fine was in each case. (246236)

The UK Border Agency does not specifically conduct operational enforcement visits to educational or health care facilities that might be providing a service to an illegal immigrant nor has a fine been issued in such circumstances.

The UK Border Agency does conduct compliance visits to educational providers to ensure that they are a bona fide establishment and will act on any intelligence it receives that immigration offenders might be present at certain premises or that a business is employing illegal workers.

If an employer is found to be employing an illegal migrant worker, then they may be subject to a civil penalty of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker or, in more serious cases, criminal prosecution. If convicted on indictment, the employer may face an unlimited fine and, in some cases, imprisonment for up to two years.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many suspected illegal immigrants were discovered as lorry stowaways at motorway service areas, broken down by location, in each month since January 2005. (246243)

The information requested about how many illegal immigrants have registered at reception centres in (a) Liverpool and (b) Croydon following detection as lorry stowaways is not available from existing records.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal immigrants have registered at reception centres in (a) Liverpool and (b) Croydon following detection as lorry stowaways in each month since January 2005. (246271)

The UK Border Agency's National Operations Database (NOD) records the number of individuals arrested and referred to the Agency by the police broken down by office and not where the individual was discovered. The number of lorry stowaways arrested and referred to the UK Border Agency by the police since August 2005 to November 2008 broken down by office is as follows at Annex A.

This information has only been recorded since August 2005.

The figures provided do not constitute part of National Statistics as it is based on management information. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional.

Annex A: Lorry stowaways arrested by the police and referred to the UK Border Agency: 2005-06

2005

2006

Local enforcement office

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Total

24hr Duty Office Manchester

6

6

Becket House London

6

9

7

3

2

7

34

Bedford

13

16

10

17

4

10

22

8

100

Bristol

3

7

3

8

10

20

5

11

67

Cardiff

9

3

2

6

5

6

4

35

Communications House London

12

3

1

5

1

1

1

24

Croydon Enforcement Unit

10

2

7

3

2

3

27

Dallas Court Manchester

1

2

1

1

5

Dorset

1

1

East Midlands Enforcement

22

5

13

10

7

10

9

21

97

Eaton House Middlesex

40

57

46

30

22

30

10

34

269

Edinburgh

1

1

1

3

Felixstowe

2

2

4

11

6

25

Glasgow Enforcement Unit

2

1

2

5

Humberside

1

1

1

5

8

Leeds/Bradford

3

4

1

1

2

11

Liverpool

11

1

9

2

14

5

5

13

60

Mid Kent Enforcement Unit

16

2

2

3

5

28

Midlands Enforcement Unit

6

17

19

10

7

3

8

4

74

Norfolk Enforcement Office

2

1

1

3

3

10

North Shields

1

1

2

4

Plymouth

1

1

2

Portsmouth

2

1

4

4

4

7

5

1

28

South Yorkshire

1

1

1

1

1

5

Southampton

1

1

5

11

5

23

St. Ives

15

5

5

5

13

9

1

7

60

Stansted Enforcement Unit

15

4

21

8

20

5

6

2

81

Stoke

12

3

15

Swansea

1

1

Grand Total

184

154

148

122

127

130

105

138

1,108

Note:

These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Source:

Specific National Operations Database (NOD) Operational Activity Report (OAR)

Lorry stowaways arrested by the police and referred to the UK Border Agency: 2006-07

2006

2007

Local enforcement office

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Total

24hr Duty Office Manchester

1

2

1

4

6

2

3

1

20

Aberdeen

1

1

Becket House London

3

2

5

1

2

5

4

27

9

3

7

68

Bedford

10

2

12

1

1

3

11

4

7

21

26

16

114

Boston

8

9

17

Bristol

2

6

11

1

6

7

3

1

11

48

Cardiff

4

4

8

1

2

2

3

24

Communications House London

3

1

1

4

2

1

9

1

22

Croydon Enforcement Unit

16

3

5

7

2

10

6

49

Dallas Court Manchester

1

3

1

5

Dorset

1

2

1

11

1

16

East Midlands Enforcement

4

18

4

9

3

4

6

4

5

10

2

69

Eaton House Middlesex

34

27

30

38

21

45

59

44

39

10

20

17

384

Edinburgh

1

1

2

4

Felixstowe

8

9

1

7

6

3

9

43

Grantham

14

14

Humberside

3

1

1

5

Kent Arrest Team

1

3

4

Leeds/Bradford

7

9

4

20

Lincoln

1

3

4

Liverpool

4

7

1

1

1

1

5

20

Mid Kent Enforcement Unit

8

2

3

3

4

20

Midlands Enforcement Unit

14

19

10

7

7

7

18

8

5

6

1

34

136

Norfolk Enforcement Office

4

3

2

1

10

North Shields

1

2

2

2

1

8

Plymouth

1

1

2

Portsmouth

8

3

5

6

1

3

2

28

South Yorkshire

1

2

3

1

2

9

Southampton

7

5

4

1

17

St. Ives

8

14

23

6

11

9

8

14

5

2

12

4

116

Stansted Enforcement Unit

9

16

13

7

4

19

6

12

7

8

13

114

Stoke

1

1

2

4

Swansea

1

2

4

7

Teesside

1

3

5

1

10

Grand Total

118

115

162

75

92

99

172

113

134

118

105

129

1,432

Note:

These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Source:

Specific NOD OAR report.

Lorry stowaways arrested by the police and referred to the UK Border Agency: 2007-08

2007

2008

Local enforcement office

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Total

24hr Duty Office, Manchester

1

1

4

6

Aberdeen

1

3

4

ATLU, Anti Terrorist Liaison Unit

1

1

Becket House London

8

10

6

6

2

5

4

3

3

4

51

Bedford

11

16

7

4

17

27

21

43

17

47

37

31

278

Boston

2

6

1

8

14

20

51

Bristol

6

5

3

27

7

6

16

13

4

7

6

100

Cardiff

12

2

4

2

2

1

23

Communications House London

9

1

9

2

3

13

1

2

40

Croydon Enforcement Unit

4

10

5

17

7

22

9

29

18

6

127

Dallas Court Manchester

3

2

5

Dorset

13

6

4

1

1

10

1

1

37

E&R Dover

36

28

81

141

188

170

236

137

1,017

East Midlands Enforcement

15

14

3

8

10

29

20

17

9

125

Eaton House Middlesex

4

33

54

46

15

62

51

84

31

60

23

18

481

Edinburgh

1

1

2

4

Felixstowe

4

8

2

3

3

9

29

Glasgow Enforcement Unit

3

6

9

Humberside

1

2

1

1

2

2

9

LCCG London Command Crime Group

1

1

Leeds/Bradford

10

1

2

1

4

4

2

2

5

1

32

Lincoln

1

1

Liverpool

1

1

4

1

1

9

6

1

2

26

Mid Kent Enforcement Unit

2

3

1

1

1

8

Midlands Enforcement Unit

4

43

7

37

17

3

3

5

28

19

4

8

178

Norfolk Enforcement Office

1

3

1

8

1

1

11

26

North Shields

1

4

3

3

2

2

9

24

Plymouth

3

3

Portsmouth

5

6

7

8

11

6

17

10

6

10

6

92

South Yorkshire

5

1

1

2

3

4

4

4

3

9

2

38

St. Ives

7

9

5

12

19

10

10

36

19

14

141

Stansted Enforcement Unit

5

4

4

19

10

9

16

18

12

28

37

7

169

Stoke

4

3

3

2

12

Teesside

1

1

1

2

9

3

17

Grand Total

115

162

103

179

156

194

269

429

353

464

426

315

3,165

Note:

These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Source:

NOD OAR Report

Lorry stowaways arrested by the police and referred to the UK Border Agency: April to November 2008

Local Enforcement Office

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Total

24hr Duty Office, Manchester

3

6

9

Becket House London

12

21

2

1

5

4

4

49

Bedford

19

11

11

9

28

49

48

41

216

Boston

15

8

9

17

19

3

15

86

Bristol

1

5

6

1

7

1

21

42

Cardiff

4

7

5

8

3

27

Communications House London

2

8

1

2

4

17

Croydon Enforcement Unit

22

4

28

14

19

12

17

11

127

Dallas Court Manchester

1

1

2

Dorset

1

4

1

17

5

2

30

E&R Dover

136

92

114

109

154

196

183

180

1,164

East Midlands Enforcement

11

40

7

20

22

25

11

10

146

Eaton House Middlesex

50

58

48

62

65

126

154

133

696

Edinburgh

1

1

Felixstowe

3

1

5

5

2

25

8

49

Glasgow Enforcement Unit

1

5

6

Humberside

2

3

5

LCCG London Command Crime Group

1

1

Leeds/Bradford

2

1

3

1

2

9

Liverpool

1

3

4

Mid Kent Enforcement Unit

1

1

M M Enforcement Team

1

1

Midlands Enforcement Unit

6

2

17

20

18

11

41

115

Norfolk Enforcement Office

3

9

1

1

5

19

North Shields

2

8

1

1

1

9

22

Plymouth

1

1

Portsmouth

10

9

15

9

20

1

64

South Yorkshire

2

3

2

17

4

1

1

9

39

St. Ives

30

9

26

30

7

49

20

14

185

Stansted Enforcement Unit

12

10

28

19

10

13

31

26

149

Stoke

11

7

4

2

9

33

Teesside

1

1

Grand Total

322

270

331

350

391

569

549

534

3,316

Note:

These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Source:

NOD OAR Reports April to September 2008, October 2008 and November 2008.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) analysis has been commissioned and (b) research has been carried out by her Department on the likely number of illegal immigrants in the UK since her Department’s online report 58/04, “Sizing the Illegally Resident Population in the UK”. (250070)

[holding answer 22 January 2009]: No Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case.

Although it is impossible to determine accurately how many people are in the UK illegally, the Home Office published the report “Sizing the unauthorised (illegal) migrant population in the United Kingdom in 2001” in 2005 as Home Office Online Report 29/05. This was a follow-on report from Online Report 58/04, “Sizing the Illegally Resident Population in the UK”.

A copy of the report is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr2905.pdf