Asylum support is for essential living needs and nothing more.

There is a strict no alcohol policy within accommodation sites where residents are required to comply with site rules.

Upon arrival asylum seekers are given an induction setting out acceptable and unacceptable behaviours, as well as their responsibilities as individuals.

The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The Home Office published the average number of full-time equivalent staff employed in Immigration Enforcement during 2024–25 in its Annual Report and Accounts, available at: Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025. This figure comprises a range of roles within Immigration Enforcement and is not limited to deployed Immigration Enforcement officers.

The way asylum, immigration enforcement, removals and foreign national offenders’ data is held is not specific to Northern Ireland. Immigration (including asylum) is a reserved matter. Whilst we have the ability to analyse data to drill down into specific geographical areas or locations, and have done so for supported asylum seekers, this is not the way that data is generally structured or recorded.

Obtaining the specific information requested in its entirety would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by various teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Since July 2024, the Home Office has focussed on the return of failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and immigration offenders whom the system was previously unable to progress. To support this work, the Home Office redeployed 1,000 full-time equivalent staff from across the department to establish a new returns and enforcement programme. This is focusing on delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to safe countries, through swift and fair decision making to remove people with no right to be in the UK, to ensure that asylum and immigration rules are respected and enforced.

The United Kingdom and France have signed an agreement to strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the United Kingdom with a significant increase in dedicated law enforcement, technological and intelligence resources. Under the previous funding arrangement, around 750 law enforcement personnel were deployed to French beaches. The actions of these personnel have contributed to 42,000 attempted crossings stopped since the election. French beaches will now see a 40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track down and stop illegal migrants boarding boats and bring people smugglers to justice.

The priority of these officers is to stop small boat crossings, and the nature of their deployment will be on the operational need and nature of the threat. It would be incorrect to strictly categorise the officers into coastal patrols, inland enforcement and intelligence-gathering activities.

This uplift in resource will be front-loaded. This includes five specialist police units who will be in place this summer, including a permanent riot squad to respond to escalating migrant violence. This deal will also provide enhanced surveillance, expanded French maritime tactics, and new detention capacity to increase removals from France. The new arrangement will increase the number of officers deployed daily up to nearly 1,100 by year 3 of the funding arrangement.

The additional personnel will be directly employed by the French government. The Home Office is not in possession of data on retention rates of personnel deployed under previous UK-funded border enforcement arrangements in France.

All of the additional units will be operational on a full-time basis. In addition, the Compagnie de Marche, a specialist unit with elite public order powers, will be surged during the summer months, historically the busiest time for small boat crossings.

The United Kingdom and France have signed an agreement to strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the United Kingdom with a significant increase in dedicated law enforcement, technological and intelligence resources. Under the previous funding arrangement, around 750 law enforcement personnel were deployed to French beaches. The actions of these personnel have contributed to 42,000 attempted crossings stopped since the election. French beaches will now see a 40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track down and stop illegal migrants boarding boats and bring people smugglers to justice.

The priority of these officers is to stop small boat crossings, and the nature of their deployment will be on the operational need and nature of the threat. It would be incorrect to strictly categorise the officers into coastal patrols, inland enforcement and intelligence-gathering activities.

This uplift in resource will be front-loaded. This includes five specialist police units who will be in place this summer, including a permanent riot squad to respond to escalating migrant violence. This deal will also provide enhanced surveillance, expanded French maritime tactics, and new detention capacity to increase removals from France. The new arrangement will increase the number of officers deployed daily up to nearly 1,100 by year 3 of the funding arrangement.

The additional personnel will be directly employed by the French government. The Home Office is not in possession of data on retention rates of personnel deployed under previous UK-funded border enforcement arrangements in France.

All of the additional units will be operational on a full-time basis. In addition, the Compagnie de Marche, a specialist unit with elite public order powers, will be surged during the summer months, historically the busiest time for small boat crossings.

We do not hold information related to enforcement operations and/ or compliance visits targeting foreign national offenders at risk of reoffending in Great Yarmouth.

The Home Office takes reports of immigration offences very seriously and encourages reporting via the public allegations form available at: https://www.imsallegations.homeoffice.gov.uk/start.

Any suggestion of sexual offences should be reported to the police immediately.

Immigration Enforcement operations can only be mounted where relevant, current information and / or intelligence suggests that individuals in breach of immigration law may be found at a particular location.

We work closely with Policing partners to use immigration powers to disrupt criminal activity including those who commit serious crimes including sexual offences.

Where Foreign National Offenders are required to report to police (as part of their strict immigration bail conditions) are identified as being removable from the United Kingdom we will take steps to detain and enforce their removal.

To intensify these efforts we have redeployed staff and expanded our detention estate to bolster our capacity for swift, firm and fair returns.

The latest published statistics for the removal of Foreign National Offenders and overall enforcement visits can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/illegal-working-and-enforcement-activity-to-the-end-of-september-2025

We do not hold information related to enforcement operations and/ or compliance visits targeting foreign national offenders at risk of reoffending in Great Yarmouth.

The Home Office takes reports of immigration offences very seriously and encourages reporting via the public allegations form available at: https://www.imsallegations.homeoffice.gov.uk/start.

Any suggestion of sexual offences should be reported to the police immediately.

Immigration Enforcement operations can only be mounted where relevant, current information and / or intelligence suggests that individuals in breach of immigration law may be found at a particular location.

We work closely with Policing partners to use immigration powers to disrupt criminal activity including those who commit serious crimes including sexual offences.

Where Foreign National Offenders are required to report to police (as part of their strict immigration bail conditions) are identified as being removable from the United Kingdom we will take steps to detain and enforce their removal.

To intensify these efforts we have redeployed staff and expanded our detention estate to bolster our capacity for swift, firm and fair returns.

The latest published statistics for the removal of Foreign National Offenders and overall enforcement visits can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/illegal-working-and-enforcement-activity-to-the-end-of-september-2025

We do not hold information related to enforcement operations and/ or compliance visits targeting foreign national offenders at risk of reoffending in Great Yarmouth.

The Home Office takes reports of immigration offences very seriously and encourages reporting via the public allegations form available at: https://www.imsallegations.homeoffice.gov.uk/start.

Any suggestion of sexual offences should be reported to the police immediately.

Immigration Enforcement operations can only be mounted where relevant, current information and / or intelligence suggests that individuals in breach of immigration law may be found at a particular location.

We work closely with Policing partners to use immigration powers to disrupt criminal activity including those who commit serious crimes including sexual offences.

Where Foreign National Offenders are required to report to police (as part of their strict immigration bail conditions) are identified as being removable from the United Kingdom we will take steps to detain and enforce their removal.

To intensify these efforts we have redeployed staff and expanded our detention estate to bolster our capacity for swift, firm and fair returns.

The latest published statistics for the removal of Foreign National Offenders and overall enforcement visits can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-and-illegal-working-activity-since-july-2024/illegal-working-and-enforcement-activity-to-the-end-of-september-2025

On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

The Home Office pro-actively engages with key international partners to maintain, strengthen and improve returns cooperation and supporting processes. The UK uses a range of returns agreements and operational arrangements to support removals. It would not be appropriate to comment on discussions with individual countries, as this could undermine ongoing negotiations.

All returns under the UK–Nigeria partnership are conducted in accordance with UK law and international obligations, with safeguarding considerations applied throughout the process. Existing protections for vulnerable individuals, including identification of potential victims of modern slavery, which includes women and children, continue to apply.

The partnership streamlines the returns process, reducing processing and detention time, which in turn reduces operational costs. No additional resources have been allocated to Immigration Enforcement as a result of the UK–Nigeria partnership. The agreement is focused on improving efficiency and delivery within existing resources.

The £5 million additional funding for Immigration Enforcement was provided to increase Illegal Working activity nationally and was not allocated regionally.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.

Our published data on enforcement visits is available at: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK

Information about enforcement visits in Lancashire is not currently available in our published data.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.

Information about enforcement visits in Northern Ireland specifically related to visa overstaying is not available in our published data.

Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK

All aspects of enforcement activity conducted by the Northern Ireland Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Team have significantly risen year on year. This includes increased illegal working operations and conducting more residential and compliance visits in conjunction with law enforcement partners to tackle abuse of the immigration system.

The Government takes illegal working and worker exploitation very seriously and is committed to tackling non-compliance in high-risk sectors, including car washes. Immigration Enforcement activity has intensified over the past year, with enforcement teams carrying out over 11,000 visits to businesses across all sectors suspected of using illegal workers, marking a 51% increase. These resulted in more than 8,000 arrests, a 63% increase on the same period 12 months prior.

These figures demonstrate that enforcement is having a significant impact in disrupting this illegal activity. However, challenges remain, including the informal nature of the sector. To strengthen outcomes, the forthcoming Fair Work Agency will bring a cross-government response to improve intelligence sharing to increase co-ordination across enforcement bodes.

The Government recognises that car washes can present a risk of being exploited for money laundering and other illicit financial activity. Recent enforcement activity led by the National Crime Agency (Operation MACHINIZE) has identified links between some car washes being used for money laundering and grey economy. As part of targeted enforcement, the National Crime Agency works closely with law enforcement partners, including immigration enforcement to disrupt these activities and strengthen compliance. This approach forms part of a wider strategy to tackle organised crime, protect vulnerable workers, and ensure the integrity of the financial system.

Civil penalties for illegal working remain the principal sanctions for tackling non-compliance and are designed to hold non-compliant employers to account and disrupt illegal working activity. The Home Office will actively pursue debt recovery action in every case. If the employer does not pay the penalty in full or by instalments when due, the penalty will be passed to our external specialist debt recovery agents, registered with the civil court, after which enforcement action will commence. This includes a pre-legal and legal debt recovery strategy where enforcement officers have the powers to apply a range of additional tools including Charging Orders, Attachment of Earnings, Third Party Debt Orders and Orders to Obtain Information.

The Home Office publishes online, on a quarterly basis, details of all employers who have been found liable for a civil penalty and have not paid or are not making regular payments towards the penalty.

Immigration Enforcement acts on intelligence and applies sanctions where immigration offences occur, including civil penalties up to £60,000 per illegal worker, criminal convictions with up to 5 years’ imprisonment, business closure, director disqualification, loss of sponsorship rights, and seizure of illegal earnings. We also work closely with the Insolvency Service to hold non-compliant directors to account and consider them for disqualification. Migrants working illegally face up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (England and Wales) or 6 months (Scotland and Northern Ireland) and/or a fine.

The Home Office does not hold centrally collated data on the number of car washes that have been permanently closed or the number of owners jailed for employing illegal workers in each year.

The Government takes illegal working and worker exploitation very seriously and is committed to tackling non-compliance in high-risk sectors, including car washes. Immigration Enforcement activity has intensified over the past year, with enforcement teams carrying out over 11,000 visits to businesses across all sectors suspected of using illegal workers, marking a 51% increase. These resulted in more than 8,000 arrests, a 63% increase on the same period 12 months prior.

These figures demonstrate that enforcement is having a significant impact in disrupting this illegal activity. However, challenges remain, including the informal nature of the sector. To strengthen outcomes, the forthcoming Fair Work Agency will bring a cross-government response to improve intelligence sharing to increase co-ordination across enforcement bodes.

The Government recognises that car washes can present a risk of being exploited for money laundering and other illicit financial activity. Recent enforcement activity led by the National Crime Agency (Operation MACHINIZE) has identified links between some car washes being used for money laundering and grey economy. As part of targeted enforcement, the National Crime Agency works closely with law enforcement partners, including immigration enforcement to disrupt these activities and strengthen compliance. This approach forms part of a wider strategy to tackle organised crime, protect vulnerable workers, and ensure the integrity of the financial system.

Civil penalties for illegal working remain the principal sanctions for tackling non-compliance and are designed to hold non-compliant employers to account and disrupt illegal working activity. The Home Office will actively pursue debt recovery action in every case. If the employer does not pay the penalty in full or by instalments when due, the penalty will be passed to our external specialist debt recovery agents, registered with the civil court, after which enforcement action will commence. This includes a pre-legal and legal debt recovery strategy where enforcement officers have the powers to apply a range of additional tools including Charging Orders, Attachment of Earnings, Third Party Debt Orders and Orders to Obtain Information.

The Home Office publishes online, on a quarterly basis, details of all employers who have been found liable for a civil penalty and have not paid or are not making regular payments towards the penalty.

Immigration Enforcement acts on intelligence and applies sanctions where immigration offences occur, including civil penalties up to £60,000 per illegal worker, criminal convictions with up to 5 years’ imprisonment, business closure, director disqualification, loss of sponsorship rights, and seizure of illegal earnings. We also work closely with the Insolvency Service to hold non-compliant directors to account and consider them for disqualification. Migrants working illegally face up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (England and Wales) or 6 months (Scotland and Northern Ireland) and/or a fine.

The Home Office does not hold centrally collated data on the number of car washes that have been permanently closed or the number of owners jailed for employing illegal workers in each year.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.

Our published data on illegal working visits is available as follows: Statistics relating to Illegal Migration - GOV.UK (January 2019 – March 2024) and Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK (October 2023 – September 2025).

Data prior to 2019 is not available.

We keep all data sharing systems and agreements between the Home Office and MoJ under review. We will be mindful of any recommendations or proposals for improvement that might flow from Dame Lynne Owens' review into the incident at Chelmsford and any wider learning on releases in error.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about how many Immigration Enforcement raids have taken place in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland is not available in our published data.

Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK

The relevant statistical figures can be accessed via the official government website at the following link: Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK

The government takes illegal working very seriously, and we are determined to clamp down on the employment of individuals with no right to work in the UK.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Department for Transport on this matter. The Department for Transport held a public consultation in 2020 and has been considering all the views expressed in response to the consultation and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. In the meantime, local authorities can make use of existing powers to restrict and enforce pavement parking.