Availability of data linking migration or asylum status with recorded crime

FOI reference: FOI-2026-3353

You asked

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information for the period 1 January 2025 to present.

1. Whether the UK Statistics Authority has produced any internal assessments, correspondence, or briefing material relating to the availability or quality of data linking migration or asylum status with recorded crime or criminal justice outcomes.

2. Whether UKSA has identified barriers or limitations preventing the publication of official statistics on:

• crimes committed by non-UK nationals,
• crimes committed by recent migrants or asylum seekers,
• or outcomes in the criminal justice system where immigration status is relevant.

3. Whether UKSA has made any recommendations to government departments (including the Home Office or Ministry of Justice) in 2025 regarding:

• improving data linkage between immigration and crime datasets, or
• addressing gaps that limit transparency or public accountability

We said

Thank you for your request. 

Please find responses to each part of your request below. 

1. Whether the UK Statistics Authority has produced any internal assessments, correspondence, or briefing material relating to the availability or quality of data linking migration or asylum status with recorded crime or criminal justice outcomes. 

The UK Statistics Authority has not produced any internal assessments relating to the availability or quality of data linking migration or asylum status with recorded crime or criminal justice outcomes. 

With regards to correspondence, the Home Office contacted the Office for Statistics Regulation on 22 April to make us aware of its future plans for the future publication of statistics on Foreign National Offenders. This can be found on page 1 of the associated download bundle. Please note that personal data has been redacted throughout the bundle under s.40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). 

While no formal briefing exists on the availability or quality of data linking migration or asylum status with recorded crime or criminal justice outcomes, the Office for Statistics Regulation holds an internal briefing document on media coverage of sexual offences in London committed by foreign nationals that was compiled as part of the crime team's horizon scanning. This can be found on pages 3 to 13 in the associated download bundle. 

In the bundle, we collated publicly available statements regarding this subject. Where these are available publicly, they have not been provided in the response, however we have provided the following links to them:

Russian TikToker fined over drone strike video, and UK 'wealthy exodus' claim checked 

Disputed or debunked claims about migration and crime in the UK 

The problem with Robert Jenrick's migrant sex crime claims 

Fact-checking Farage: Are foreigners more likely than Britons to commit sexual offences? 

Up to 47% of sexual offence charges in London last year were foreign nationals (Reddit) 

Up to 47% of sexual offence charges in London last year were foreign nationals (Migration Central) 

Immigration to blame for rise in rapes, Farage claims 

Mass migration is putting British women and girls in danger 

I care more for my daughters' safety than the rights of foreign criminals. That's why I support every peaceful protest outside an asylum hotel, writes ROBERT JENRICK 

NATIONAL DISGRACE Four in ten people charged over heinous sex attacks in London are foreign nationals, shocking police stats show 

Nationalities of foreign criminals to be published 

Cooper 'pandering' to Farage by ordering publication of foreign criminals' nationalities 

Migrant Crime: UK Government to Publish League Tables for First Time 

UK police should release ethnicity of alleged offenders, Farage says 

Guidance on police disclosing suspects' ethnicity should change, Cooper says 

Withholding facts about suspects risks endangering the British public 

Revealed: The true scale of foreign sex offenders in Britain 

Foreign-born prisoners account for 1 in 8 of the total UK jail population - reaching its highest level since 2013 

FOREIGN CONS UP 1 in 8 prisoners born overseas as number of foreign sex offenders & violent criminals in England & Wales at record high 

Almost half of Scotland's foreign prisoners come from just three countries 

Are 'Channel migrants' 24 times more likely to go to prison than British citizens?

2. Whether UKSA has identified barriers or limitations preventing the publication of official statistics on:  

• crimes committed by non-UK nationals, 

• crimes committed by recent migrants or asylum seekers, 

• or outcomes in the criminal justice system where immigration status is relevant. 

The UK Statistics Authority has not carried out work to identify barriers or limitations preventing the publication of official statistics on the topics requested. However, we have recorded meeting notes that describe data limitations that may be in scope of the request. These can be found on pages 14 to 21 in the associated download bundle. Please be advised that meeting notes on topics that are out of scope of this request have been redacted. 

3. Whether UKSA has made any recommendations to government departments (including the Home Office or Ministry of Justice) in 2025 regarding:  

• improving data linkage between immigration and crime datasets, or 

• addressing gaps that limit transparency or public accountability. 

We have not made any recommendations in 2025 to improve data linkage between immigration and crime datasets. 

We have interpreted the second point as whether UKSA has made any recommendations to government departments in 2025 regarding addressing gaps in immigration crime datasets. We have not made any recommendations in this regard.