Mankind has been making and storing 'records' since Roman times and earlier. It doesn't mean that they utilize them. What interest would HMPO have in a person's travel records? In the vast majority of cases, unless there is a 'red flag' they will simply be stored.
Other agencies might have an interest, such as Border Force, the NCA or indeed DWP, in which case the information is there to be retrieved. A good example of that might be the recent case of Richard Barrows, found hiding in Thailand after almost 30 years on the run.