AIBU to think migrant sex crime data should be published? And to wonder why Labour are blocking the release of that data?

[Fabiansrule]

Labour Blocks Release of Migrant Crime Data

'Victims of serious crimes and their families have joined forces to demand that the Labour government publish detailed data on offences committed by foreign nationals, accusing ministers of withholding information that is “clearly and legitimately in the public interest”.

Among the signatories are victims of high-profile sexual offences and families of murder victims. One signatory is a 14-year-old victim of a sexual assault in Epping allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, in the same Essex town where asylum seekers were housed at the controversial Bell Hotel.
Fiona Goddard, a survivor of rape-gang grooming who has campaigned publicly about her experiences, has also signed the letter.

Eight relatives of Rhiannon Whyte, a hotel worker murdered by a Sudanese national, are also among those backing the demand.'

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news-corner/labour-blocks-release-of-migrant-crime-data/

The most racist things I've heard IRL have been from POC. In my four years of working with Indians it became clear how many of them dislike Pakistanis.

I'm friendly wirh a Thai woman who manages a nice Thai restaurant. She told me she would ban Chinese people if she could as they're 'tight' and take up lots of space but don't spend much money. My Lithuanian mate of Polish descent doesn't seem to like POC although she won't say it explicitly - it's clear when she asks things like whether English people are ok with a Pakistani running the country etc.

Racist societies aren't falling over themselves to apologise for what happened hundreds of years ago or hand wringing over micro aggressions. If you feel the need to keep apologising for 'xenophobia' then I'd be wondering what exactly you've done to feel such guilt.

The ICO rejected the claim it was too expensive to do.

No one - not Labour, the Tories, Reform or a reputable tech company - could present a responsible and statistically useful report in 35 days or whatever the very short timeframe was. The people saying this are being strictly pragmatic.

Upthread, @Catza explained that Sweden snd, I think, Germany (but possibly Denmark instead, no ‘gotcha’ s please) standardise and share data across the country. We do not, making the task much harder. Germany also has a compulsory national ID card which the British were soundly against. This card is a huge help, unambiguously establishing nationality whereas we rely on self reporting. That is a wasp’s nest in itself.

Sweden and Denmark of course have much smaller populations, making everything easier.

I am fully convinced that any government would be appealing just as Labour is, on purely pragmatic grounds. I suspect some civil servant made the mistake of thinking that the job was so self evidently unreasonable that the government’s side did not need to be argued properly. That was stupid.

That is a valid question which will remain unanswered I expect. Or will be turned against you in an attempt to claim you don't care about the victims of crimes perpetrated by asylum seekers.

It’s not a report. It’s data as an excel or CSV spreadsheet.

It said cost alone was not a reason not to release the data. Anyone who has experience of FOIs knows it will be hugely expensive and FOIs are routinely refused on cost grounds.

And it wasn’t on those grounds. So not relevant here.

The rape of children, or anyone, is not a laughing matter. What a foul thing to say.

Not yet it isn’t. Requesting this format without the ages and socioeconomic data on the offenders is irresponsible in the extreme. At least give people the chance to observe correlations for themselves.

The article doesn't contain "arguments", just prevarication and waffle.

Not as foul as saying we need to take our fair share of rapists. We really don't.

That’s how it will be provided, not a report.

It’s not a Labour puff piece it’s an FOI request. Which thankfully we can do.

Yes, this is why the government acts against the interests of the British people. They're the same people who denied, minimised and enabled the grooming gangs.

The FOI was initially refused on cost grounds and privacy grounds. Which the IC rejected.

Well it is a good thing I have never said that, isn't it.

Gosh that's a reply that's hitting below the borderline. It's despicable.

Not your response @TemperanceWest

Ok, so it’s utterly impossible to provide the statistical information requested. Utterly impossible, frightfully expensive, time consuming - obvious it can’t be done…

So - how about starting to collect meaningful data, sharing information, noting patterns? Or is this a no-no too?

On the cost argument the cap is £600 for an FOI request. Not sure where this idea that an FOI request is hugely expensive

The Ministry of Justice initially blocked the request by claiming that extracting and manipulating seven years of criminal conviction data would exceed the statutory cost limit of £600 (which equates to 24 hours of staff time calculated at £25 per hour). 1]

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) rejected this, ruling that the government failed to provide an accurate cost estimate to prove it would actually exceed £600.

Ironically, critics and campaign groups like the Centre for Migration Control argue that the government has already spent far more taxpayer money on legal fees fighting the appeal than the £600 it would cost to simply compile and print the data. 1, 2]

Yes by Labour that’s the issue. It was rejected.

Baroness Casey's report recommended this sort of data should be collected iro perpetrators of grooming gangs iirc. No reason why it shouldn't apply more widely.

Doing this will cost less than £600. Andy Burnham’s Instagram posts probably cost more than that.

@GunnelVallquist many of us genuinely can't understand why people are being allowed to land on our shores unvetted !
The IRG that's the Iranian revolutionary guard are using these routes to get people in.
Why bother having any checks anywhere when these routes exist ?
We can't understand why it's not declared to be a national emergency ?
Why it's ok ?

They should release it. Because if they don't, people will just use it against the government and imply that the figures are worse than they actually are.