Data undermines Jenrick’s claim about asylum seekers saying they are children | Immigration and asylum

A claim made in parliament by the immigration minister that up to a fifth of adult male asylum seekers pretend to be children when they arrive in the UK has been undermined by the Home Office’s own data, which shows the actual figure is just 1%.

The fact-checking organisation Full Fact has obtained new freedom of information data which shows that between 1 January and 7 November 2022 only around 1% of all males arriving on small boats at Western Jet Foil claimed to be under 18 but were then later found to be over 18.

Full Fact has written to Robert Jenrick asking him to correct the parliamentary record or to provide data which supports his claim.

Last November, Jenrick said in parliament: “At times, up to 20% of the adult males who arrive at Western Jet Foil claim to be under 18, when clearly the number is substantially less than that.”

An initial request Full Fact made to Jenrick last November to provide evidence to support the 20% claim or to correct the parliamentary record in accordance with the ministerial code went unanswered. The organisation then submitted a freedom of information request and received the data after several months of delay by the Home Office.

It is not the first time Full Fact has raised concerns about the government’s use of immigration statistics. On 7 March 2023, the home secretary, Suella Braverman, accused Labour of leaving a far bigger asylum backlog than the government is currently dealing with. However, when Labour left power in 2010 the backlog was 18,954 and at the end of December 2022 it stood at 161,000.

Full Fact raised concerns with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) about ministers’ use of unpublished data and on 21 November the OSR’s director general, Ed Humpherson, wrote to Matthew Rycroft, the permanent secretary for the Home Office, to highlight the importance of transparency of statistics.

In the letter Humpherson wrote: “Given the continued public interest in and use of immigration statistics, I urge the Home Office to review ways of working to ensure that the transparent release and use of Home Office data and statistics is the default in future.”

The interim chief executive at Full Fact, Andrew Dudfield, said: “Successive ministers have made claims about asylum and immigration which are not backed up by published data. It is the job of the prime minister, the home secretary, and the minister for immigration to communicate accurately and responsibly with the public on important issues.

“Repeated failure to be transparent makes proper democratic scrutiny impossible. It’s vital we’re all given access to the information behind the claims made by ministers when they make them, and that any data quoted publicly is freely available. Public trust in politics is low. Our democracy depends on good information and right now we have a system that operates as if transparency and accountability are optional.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.