Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks are made to determine whether an individual who is not a British citizen has committed any crimes in the UK on a previous occasion at the time of their entry to the UK from another EU country.

James Brokenshire

We take the issue of preventing criminals entering the UK extremely seriously, and we continue to strengthen our borders so that we can prevent crime and protect the public. We carry out 100% checks at passport control to identify persons of interest entering the UK. All passengers are checked against police, security and immigration watchlists and where we are aware of individuals who pose a risk, Border Force officers can – and do – refuse them entry. Checks are also carried out against the vast majority of passengers before they arrive in the UK and, where we can, we stop them from travelling in the first place.

Those required to obtain a visa to enter the UK are also checked against a range of police, security and immigration databases for details of any UK or overseas criminal record. All applicants are required to provide details of their criminal history. Where they fail to declare relevant offences/convictions, their application will be refused and they will be subject to a ten-year ban from applying to enter the UK.