Reports submitted by the ICIBI in May and October 2025 have still not been published
In correspondence published yesterday, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee said it was "extremely concerned" by the Home Office's failure to publish reports by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) in a timely manner.
Image credit: Wikipedia In a letter dated 3 March 2026, the Committee's chair, Dame Karen Bradley MP, wrote to the Home Secretary highlighting that three inspection reports submitted in 2025 had yet to be made public. One report was submitted in May, with two further reports delivered in October. The Committee noted that this exceeded the long-standing convention that such reports should be published within eight weeks of receipt.
The Committee described the delay as "not acceptable" and requested an explanation, urging the Home Office to ensure the reports were published "as a matter of urgency." It also pointed to a pattern of delays, noting that successive Independent Chief Inspectors had raised similar concerns about late publication.
The letter further emphasised that, unlike many other inspectorates, the ICIBI does not have the authority to publish its own reports, making it reliant on the Home Office to do so. The Committee warned that the department "must not take advantage of this arrangement" to delay publication.
In addition, the Committee expressed surprise that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had not yet met the newly appointed Independent Chief Inspector, John Tuckett, and encouraged her to do so promptly to discuss his inspection programme and any concerns.
Responding in a brief letter on 25 March, the Home Secretary said the department "recognises the importance of publishing ICIBI reports promptly" and remained committed to doing so "wherever possible." However, she stated that reports are not published until "necessary assurance processes are complete."
Mahmood confirmed that all three outstanding reports, along with departmental responses, were still under consideration and would be published "in due course." She also noted that Tuckett had met junior ministers several times and that she expected to meet him herself soon.
In a news article updated on 16 April, the ICIBI noted that the number of completed inspections awaiting publication has grown. As of this month, six reports were listed as awaiting release. These include inspections into Home Office management of contact with migrants without leave to remain (submitted 12 May 2025), administrative reviews (17 October 2025), and overstayers (21 October 2025).
More recent reports awaiting publication include inspections into asylum casework and country of origin information on Afghanistan and Colombia (both dated 5 March 2026), as well as an inspection of refusals and cancellations of permission to enter the UK (16 April 2026).
Speaking to The House magazine this month, John Tuckett acknowledged the Home Office's delay in publishing his inspectorate's reports but did not directly criticise the current system. He stated: "That's how the system works. There are arguments for it. There are arguments against it." He added that redactions of inspection reports on national security grounds were "a very sensible measure."
Tuckett also said that he would produce shorter inspection reports with a faster timetable than his predecessors. "Rather than have long inspections that would last upwards of six, seven months at a time before a report was produced, I'm trying to shorten that."
The Independent Chief Inspector confirmed that he had not met the Home Secretary during his first six months in post, but downplayed its significance. "The Home Secretary is a very, very busy person indeed," he said. "I'm quite comfortable with not meeting her at the very, very early stage. In some respects, it'd be much more valuable if I met her at this stage now, when I've got some understanding of the system and I can feed back."
He said he had instead built strong working relationships with other ministers, describing his engagement with the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Mike Tapp, and the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, in positive terms. "Both of them have been highly supportive," he told The House magazine, adding that he had prioritised building relationships with senior figures across the Home Office.
Tuckett also signalled a shift in approach compared with some of his predecessors, emphasising a more collaborative relationship with the Home Office, saying: "There has been some degree of not so… how do I put it? Not-so-positive relationships in the past, and there is a bit of legacy from those still around. But I'm my own person. I'm John Tuckett. I'm not David Bolt. I'm not David Neal. And I've made it my job to try and build a new relationship based on: how do we work together?"