The Ministry of Justice has launched a legal challenge to prevent the publication of detailed crime statistics on foreign nationals, setting up a confrontation over transparency, privacy and the public’s right to access official data.
The department, led by Justice Secretary David Lammy, is appealing a ruling by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that ordered it to reconsider a Freedom of Information request seeking conviction data by offenders’ nationality between 2018 and 2024.
The request, submitted by the Centre for Migration Control, asked for the total number of convictions by nationality, broken down by specific offences, including crimes such as rape, murder and child sexual abuse, rather than broader offence categories.
The Ministry of Justice initially refused the request, arguing that producing the information would exceed the cost limits set under the Freedom of Information Act and that releasing highly detailed figures could risk identifying individual offenders in some cases.
The Information Commissioner rejected both arguments.
In its decision, the watchdog said the department had failed to provide sufficient evidence that compiling the data would exceed the statutory cost threshold.
The Commissioner acknowledges that the request is wide in scope and involves the manipulation of a complex dataset,” the ruling stated.
“However, complexity alone does not obviate the requirement to provide a properly evidenced estimate.”
The ICO also concluded that any potential privacy concerns could be mitigated by suppressing very small data sets—for example, where fewer than five convictions exist for a particular offence and nationality—rather than withholding the information entirely.
The Ministry of Justice has now appealed the decision to the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber), which hears challenges against rulings made by independent regulators.
The appeal has prompted criticism from opposition politicians and campaign groups, who argue the Government is resisting legitimate public scrutiny.
Conservative MP Robert Jenrick described the move as a continuation of a long-running lack of transparency by successive governments, while Centre for Migration Control research director Rob Bates said his organisation would continue pursuing the information through legal channels.
Bates argued that detailed conviction statistics were “clearly in the public interest” and questioned why ministers were challenging the watchdog’s ruling.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy also criticised the appeal, arguing that greater detail on offence categories would improve public understanding of foreign national offending.
The Ministry of Justice already publishes statistics covering foreign national offenders, including aggregate figures for broad offence categories such as sexual offences and violence against the person.
Previous departmental data has shown that foreign nationals account for around one in seven convictions for sexual offences in England and Wales, while separate government statistics have identified the nationalities most frequently represented within the foreign national offender population.
However, the requested data would provide a more granular breakdown, separating offences such as rape, murder, manslaughter and child sexual abuse instead of grouping them within wider criminal categories.
In correspondence with the shadow justice secretary, Lammy said the department already publishes a “range of statistical breakdowns” relating to foreign offenders and that its statistical releases remain under “continuous review.
The tribunal’s eventual ruling is likely to have wider implications for how government departments balance transparency obligations under the Freedom of Information Act against concerns over cost, administrative burden and the protection of personal data.
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