Written question asked by Baroness Warsi (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord West of Spithead (Labour) on Tuesday, 14 July 2009.

Immigration

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were (a) arrested, and (b) convicted, in each of the past three years for assisting unlawful immigration.

Answer: Due to changes in the nature of the system used to record details of arrests made by the UK Border Agency, complete data are only available for the past two financial years. In 2007-08, a total of 73 individuals were arrested by UK Border Agency staff on suspicion of an offence relating to the facilitation of unlawful entry into the UK (including trafficking); in 2008-09, 127 individuals were arrested for the same reason. These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional and subject to change. With regards to actual convictions, the Home Office publishes statistics on persons proceeded against for offences under immigration Acts, including offences relating to the facilitation of unlawful entry, in England and Wales annually. These National Statistics on immigration and asylum are placed in the Library of the House and are available from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.

Secondary information