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| Home Office 'failed to deal' with foreign nationals refused leave to stay in UK | Home Office 'failed to deal' with foreign nationals refused leave to stay in UK |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The government failed to deal with a backlog of almost 174,000 foreign nationals who should have been removed from the UK, a report has said. | The government failed to deal with a backlog of almost 174,000 foreign nationals who should have been removed from the UK, a report has said. |
| The independent inspector of immigration said the Home Office must make significant improvements regarding "overstayers" - foreign nationals refused leave to stay in the country. | The independent inspector of immigration said the Home Office must make significant improvements regarding "overstayers" - foreign nationals refused leave to stay in the country. |
| John Vine said failure to do so could "undermine pubic confidence". | John Vine said failure to do so could "undermine pubic confidence". |
| Immigration minister James Brokenshire said there was room for improvement. | |
| The report suggests that the amount of "overstayers" in the UK is not increasing, and instead is remaining largely static. | |
| Wrongly recorded | |
| Mr Vine said the overall size of the "migration refusal pool" - the number of foreign nationals refused leave to stay in the UK after 2008 - was 173,562 in the three months to June this year, compared with 174,057 in the same period two years earlier. | Mr Vine said the overall size of the "migration refusal pool" - the number of foreign nationals refused leave to stay in the UK after 2008 - was 173,562 in the three months to June this year, compared with 174,057 in the same period two years earlier. |
| The Home Office signed a contract with private outsourcing group Capita to review, and where possible, close the records of migrants who had been refused leave to stay in the UK. | |
| But Mr Vine said there had been "significant inaccuracies" in Capita's classification of migration refusal records. | But Mr Vine said there had been "significant inaccuracies" in Capita's classification of migration refusal records. |
| The inspection found that of a sample of 57 records 16 had wrongly recorded the foreign national as having left the UK. | The inspection found that of a sample of 57 records 16 had wrongly recorded the foreign national as having left the UK. |
| As a result of this inaccuracy Mr Vine's inspection the number of "overstayers" thought to have departed may have been overestimated by as many as 1,140 in 2013-14. | As a result of this inaccuracy Mr Vine's inspection the number of "overstayers" thought to have departed may have been overestimated by as many as 1,140 in 2013-14. |
| Mr Vine said: "I was disappointed to find a high level of inaccuracy in the classification of migration refusal records, with more than a quarter of departures in my sample being incorrectly recorded. | Mr Vine said: "I was disappointed to find a high level of inaccuracy in the classification of migration refusal records, with more than a quarter of departures in my sample being incorrectly recorded. |
| "Considerable improvements in the Home Office's capability to monitor, progress, and prioritise the immigration enforcement caseload will be needed to deliver its strategy for reducing the level of irregular migration." | "Considerable improvements in the Home Office's capability to monitor, progress, and prioritise the immigration enforcement caseload will be needed to deliver its strategy for reducing the level of irregular migration." |
| He said inspectors had also identified a further 223,000 records of foreign nationals without permission to stay in the UK, whose cases dated to before 2008. | |
| James Brokenshire said the report's recommendations would be taken forward, but changes made by the government had been having a positive impact and needed to be judged over time. | |
| "The public can have confidence on the rigour that we are attaching to this issue," he said. |