The Home Office set targets for the voluntary removal of immigrants from Britain, a report from 2015 has revealed, despite claims from home secretary Amber Rudd to the contrary.
Asked in front of a committee of MPs investigating the Windrush scandal on Wednesday when targets were set, Rudd replied: "We don't have targets for removals."
When Labour's Yvette Cooper pointed to evidence of regional targets for net removal, the Home Secretary responded: "That's not how we operate."
However, an inspection report from December 2015 shows that numbers for removal were set, split between 19 regional Immigration Compliance and Enforcement teams across the UK.
NEW: Turns out the Home Office did set targets for the voluntary removal of illegal immigrants. This from the 2015 inspection report. Home Office set a target of 12,000 voluntary departures for 2015/16 and these targets were split between 19 ICE teams across the UK https://t.co/4UZiFevdzq
Glyn Williams, a senior civil servant responsible for immigration, also said he didn't think targets existed, before the Commons home affairs committee on Wednesday.
"If there are removals targets in the Home Office and the two people who are supposedly in charge don't know about them then that feels pretty serious and feels like a kind of lack of grip anywhere in the system," Cooper said.
After Rudd's appearance, a spokesperson for the Home Office appeared to shift the position somewhat, saying it has "never been Home Office policy to take decisions arbitrarily to meet a target".
Culture secretary Matt Hancock echoed the spokesperson's words on Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday.
Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said on Sky News that the "sensible" thing would be for Rudd to set out the Home Office's position on targets in parliament on Thursday.
"There's got to be accountability," he said. "We need to know, were there targets? if so, what were they? And ask questions about where that plays its part in this hostile environment that has been much discussed in recent weeks and months."
Rudd faced further calls to resign on Thursday after Labour was granted an urgent question in the House of Commons.
Responding to the question about the targets, she said: "I have never agreed that there should be specific removal targets and I would never support a policy that puts targets ahead of people."
She described the targets referred to in the inspection report as "local targets used for internal performance management".
"These were not published targets against which performance was assessed, but if they were used inappropriately then I am clear that this will have to change," she said.
"I have asked officials to provide me with a full picture of performance measurement tools which are used at all levels and will update the house and the Home Affairs select committee as soon as possible," she added.