Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about in-person reporting requirements for those on immigration bail.

As you know, those on immigration bail are required to meet certain conditions, likely to include regular reporting to an immigration official or the police. The requirement to physically report was temporarily paused in March because of the developing situation with COVID-19 in the UK.

Since then, the Home Office says several steps have been taken to enable physical reporting to resume in a COVID Secure way. I know that concerns have been raised about the continuation of this requirement throughout the second national lockdown, which ended in England on 2 December, particularly in relation to the need to travel on public transport.

I appreciate that concerns exist more widely around reporting conditions in general, including: the frequency and cost of reporting; the distance that may be required to travel to report; and treatment during the reporting process.

It is of course important that reporting arrangements are kept under review and are in line with any local and national COVID-19 restrictions that are put in place. I will follow this situation closely.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP