Immigration enforcement
Freedom of Information Act Request
Ref: FOI 20-21 30
Date issued: 1 April 2021
Subject: Immigration enforcement
Question(s):
1. How many referrals has the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority made to the police, UKVI, Home Office Immigration Enforcement or the shared point of contact for an ‘immigration crime’ each year from 2017 to 2021 inclusive until the time of receipt of this request? Please break this down by body referred to, year, and if possible the nature of the offence.
2. Please provide the (internal or external) policy, memorandum or regulation establishing when a referral should be made to the police, UKVI, Home Office Immigration Enforcement or the shared point of contact.
3. How many joint inspections with Home Office Immigration Enforcement has the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority carried out each year from 2017 to 2021 inclusive until the time of receipt of this request? Please break this down by year and if possible the nature/type of the inspection, and proportion of total inspections.
Response:
1. The GLAA does not report ‘Immigration Crime’, however it does refer ‘intelligence reports’ to HOIE Intel (SPOC) in circumstances where there is material that is considered relevant or may be of interest to HOIE. Once the information has been sent to the SPOC, the GLAA does not know where it is sent within HOIE.
2. The GLAA have the ability to share relevant information with partner agencies under Sec 19 of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act – as Amended by Immigration Act 2016. There is no requirement to do so. There is no internal regulation or policy dictating when or how such material should be shared as each case is a judgement call based on its merits.
3. Data held by the GLAA will include cases where there have been multiple agency representation at the time. Where HOIE has been recorded as one of those partners attending the breakdown is as follows:
• 2017 - 6
• 2018 - 5
• 2019 - 9
• 2020 - 13
Please note that this data is captured manually and may not include all instance where HOIE have been present, particularly if there have been multiple partners in attendance.
A pdf version of this page can be found by clicking the link below: