Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Monday, 22 March 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 March 1999. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Monday, 29 March 1999 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the number of persons seeking to obtain entry to the UK through the use of forged visas or entry clearance documents; and how many such forgeries were detected, in the last year for which figures are available. - Includes figures and fact that Govt have not attempted any assessment of the number of forged visas which are not not detected.

Answer: Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the number of persons seeking to obtain entry to the UK through the use of forged visas or entry clearance documents; and how many such forgeries were detected, in the last year for which figures are available. [78638] Mr. Mike O'Brien: During 1998, there were 6,338 recorded forgery detections at ports: these include the attempted use of forged or counterfeit documents, the use of fraudulently obtained documents and instances of attempted impersonation. There were 362 cases involving the use of a forged or counterfeit visa. We have not attempted any assessment of the number of forged visas which are not detected.

Secondary information