Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rupert Lowe this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1,401–1,420 of 2,377 · this parliament
What is the average waiting time for an immigration appeal to be heard.
General information on average waiting times for an immigration appeal in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024.
How many people have more than one active appeal within the immigration tribunal system.
The information requested is not held centrally. However, it should be noted that the case management powers of the Tribunal permit the joining together of appeals brought by an individual. The Tribunal will normally identify and link cases together to ensure effective use of time and final resolution of all matters, in one hearing.
What percentage of immigration appeals have been pending for more than 12 months.
The percentage of open appeals pending before the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) for more than 12 months, as at 31 December 2024 can be found in the table below:No. of cases pending more than 12 monthsOverall Open Caseload% of Overall Open Caseload14,55474,96919% This government inherited a broken justice system with record and rising court backlogs. The Lord Chancellor recently announced that for 2025-26, the Ministry of Justice will provide a total budget of £2,538 million. For the Immigration and Asylum Chamber this will mean funding to support 14,400 sitting days. We expect to be able to increase this substantially with additional funding from the Home Office, taking it to near maximum capacity and helping to speed up asylum claims. This builds on the Government’s work to restore order to the immigration system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operates efficiently.
What is the current backlog of outstanding cases before the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
The number of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) that have not been determined and remain outstanding, as at December 2024, is 75,000.Published statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024.This Government inherited a broken justice system with record and rising court backlogs. The Lord Chancellor recently announced that for 2025-26, the Ministry of Justice will provide a total budget of £2,538 million. For the Immigration and Asylum Chamber this will mean funding to support 14,400 sitting days. We expect to be able to increase this substantially with additional funding from the Home Office, taking it to near maximum capacity and helping to speed up asylum claims. This builds on the Government’s work to restore order to the immigration system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operates efficiently.
How many recipients of legal aid in immigration cases have been convicted of criminal offences.
The requested information is not centrally held.
What estimate her Department has made of the proportion of tribunal appeals that are submitted by people with previous failed asylum or deportation claims.
The First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber hears all appeals made against refusal decisions made by the Home Office on the basis of the application made to them. An asylum seeker or human rights claimant who has already appealed cannot appeal again unless they make further submissions which have not previously been considered and amount to a ‘fresh claim’.The Tribunal does not collate data on historic failed claims that do not form the basis of the appeal before it. Accordingly, the information requested is not centrally held.
What the estimated annual cost is of operating the immigration tribunal system, by (a) legal aid, (b) judges and (c) administrative support.
The final budgets relating to the work of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) tribunals in the 2024/25 financial year were:£54.2 million for legal aid;£53.5 million for the costs of the judiciary;£31.4 million for staffing and other administrative costs.
How many court hours have been spent on immigration-related cases involving people with no legal right to remain in the UK in the last 12 months.
The information requested is not held centrally by HMCTS. The Home Office collect and categorise data on the numbers of people with no legal right to remain in the UK.
What estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the immigration appeal backlog including (a) housing, (b) legal aid and (c) public services for people awaiting outcomes.
Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems managed by multiple teams across several Government departments and public authorities and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
What proportion of people who have entered the UK illegally lodge multiple appeals against their deportation; and what the average number of appeals is per person.
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
How many cases involving (a) failed asylum seekers and (b) people who have overstayed have reached the (i) Court of Appeal and (ii) Supreme Court since 2020.
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
If she will take steps to prevent (a) repeat and (b) last-minute appeals from delaying the removal of (i) failed asylum seekers and (ii) illegal entrants.
Any person, including an asylum seeker and or an illegal entrant, who does not have the right to remain in the United Kingdom and has already appealed a decision cannot appeal again against that decision unless they make further submissions which have not previously been considered and, taken together with the previously considered material, create a realistic prospect of success at appeal. Where this test is not met, the further submissions are rejected and this decision cannot be appealed.
What the average length of time taken is to conclude appeals brought by migrants who have entered the UK illegally against deportation orders.
The information requested is not held centrally. Data on the arrival status of people who go on to appeal Home Office decisions is recorded by the Home Office not the First tier Tribunal.General information on the average clearance time for an immigration appeal in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (IAC) is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024.
How many foreign nationals have absconded while awaiting deportation after lodging legal appeals in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing legal aid for people who entered the UK illegally.
Determinations of eligibility for legal aid are made in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and regulations made under that Act, passed under the previous government.Under the current regime, the UK has specific obligations under the UN Refugee Convention to provide access to justice for those seeking asylum. In addition, provision of legal aid for those seeking protection is important to maintain an effective asylum system, helping the Government to deliver commitments on reducing the asylum backlog and ending hotel use. In light of that, there are no current plans to abolish legal aid for those who may have entered the country illegally. In all cases, the application for legal aid would be subject to a means and, crucially, a merits test.
What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of immigration-related litigation on the capacity of the (a) family and (b) criminal courts.
The Lord Chancellor regularly reviews the discharge of her statutory obligations to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the system to support the carrying on of business in both the criminal courts and the family courts. This includes ongoing assessments on the sufficiency of court capacity, including funded sitting days, to meet incoming demand.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the planning system in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on chalk streams protection.
Cleaning up our waters, including chalk streams, is a government priority. Restoring them to better ecological health means fixing the systemic issues in the water system. Through the Water Environment Improvement Fund, the government is funding 45 projects this financial year (worth £2.5m of government investment) that improve chalk streams, each with the injection of private investment. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill establishes the Nature Restoration Fund which will create the opportunity for housing and infrastructure to do more to drive environmental recovery, including for chalk streams where these are covered by an Environmental Delivery Plan.
If her Department will provide sentencing data by (a) ethnicity and (b) nationality to the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth's private inquiry into grooming gangs.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of offenders sentenced, which can be filtered to specific offences and broken down by defendant ethnicity. This can be obtained in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.However, data held centrally does not include an offender’s nationality. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.Data held centrally includes details of sexual grooming offences but does not identify if this was gang related. Gang related sexual grooming offences are not identifiable separately as there is no single offence code to specifically cover offences related to gangs.
Whether his Department provides guidance to (a) Ministers and (b) officials on engagement with non-statutory inquiries.
The Cabinet Office provides advice and guidance to Ministers and officials on statutory and non statutory public inquiries. In response to the House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee’s Report on “Public Inquiries: Enhancing Public Trust”, the Government has committed to publishing the Cabinet Office Public Inquiries Practitioners Handbook. We will publish this in due course.
How many police officers were (a) removed, (b) reprimanded and (c) transferred after raising grooming-related failures between 1980 and 2010.
Our focus is to deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors of all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including grooming gangs. That means protecting more children, getting justice for victims, rooting out grooming gangs across the country, toughening up police action, and better understanding the current scale of offending.Today (08 April 2025) the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, MP made a statement to Parliament setting out a detailed update on Government action to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a progress update on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse undertaken by Professor Alexis Jay.I refer the Hon Member to the answer he was given on 8 April to question 44194. We are already taking swift action to tackle grooming gangs, including through stronger national backing for local inquiries and Baroness Casey’s audit on existing evidence of grooming gangs; therefore, we do not believe a further national inquiry is necessary.However, we are supportive of independent local-led inquiries. Local authorities, which are responsible for delivering local services, are best placed to commission local inquiries. The best practice framework we are developing, along with the £5m fund for local authorities to undertake independent inquiries or related activity, will help deliver meaningful change for victims and survivors.We have also taken the decision to implement the fund in a flexible way, in order to support both local authorities who want to launch full independent local inquiries; and those who want to take on more bespoke work, including in areas where inquiries have already taken place, for example through the establishment of local victims’ panels or conducting locally-led audits into the handling of historic cases.Furthermore, the police are independent of Government, and it is the responsibility of forces to consider requests for disclosure of their records in accordance with respective records management policies; and it would be a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council to consider whether to appoint a liaison officer to this inquiry. Additionally, the Home Office does not collect data on police officers that were dismissed, transferred or reprimanded after raising grooming-related failures.