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Ministry of Justice Appeals Order to Release Detailed Foreign-National Conviction Data
The Ministry of Justice is appealing an Information Commissioner ruling that would require publication of foreign national conviction totals by nationality and offence in England and Wales from 2018 to 2024. The Centre for Migration Control had requested the breakdown. The department had cited cost and privacy concerns that the commissioner rejected.
Jul 19, 11:07 PM·1m read1 source
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The Ministry of Justice has taken its case to the General Regulatory Chamber after the Information Commissioner rejected arguments over cost and privacy in a Freedom of Information dispute brought by the Centre for Migration Control. GB News reported that the department is challenging the order following the Centre's request for conviction totals by nationality broken down by specific offences from 2018 to 2024.
Ministry data already shows migrants behind one in seven sex offence convictions and Albanians as the largest group of foreign criminals held in the country. The Information Commissioner stated that complexity alone does not justify refusal and that the Ministry failed to supply a coherent cost estimate.
The commissioner added that the department could suppress offences with fewer than five convictions and aggregate them to address identification risks.
Robert Jenrick said the appeal continues a cover-up and that successive justice secretaries have refused to publish the information. Nick Timothy questioned why the government is fighting release of sex crime data by nationality. Rob Bates of the Centre for Migration Control said the legal step raises questions about what officials are hiding.
In a letter last week David Lammy rejected a call from Nick Timothy for full publication and said the Ministry already releases a range of statistical breakdowns on foreign offenders.
