§ 6. Mr. van Straubenzeeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to complete his inquiries into the representations about illegal entry of immigrants into the United Kingdom made by Mr. R. H. Taylor of Winnersh and forwarded to him by the hon. Member for Wokingham.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesAs I have informed the hon. Member, Mr. Taylor has been
§ He has had to admit, that there are inadequate statistics. Even if he is not prepared to go as far as I suggest in my Question, what exactly is he prepared to do to try to reduce some of these casualties?
§ Mr. ReesIf my hon. Friend looks carefully at the figures I have given he will note that many of the accidents are to the aged, and it is very difficult to deal with this problem by legislation. We believe that the effort by local authorities is the best way to deal with it.
§ Mr. HoggApart from the aged, how many of the figures were due to fire? Is the hon. Gentleman satisfied that his Department cannot do more to prevent the fire risk?
§ Mr. ReesPerhaps the right hon. and learned Gentleman will put down a Question on that. We are looking at the fire risk as a matter of urgency. The problem arises with fires in single rooms in houses in multiple occupation.
§ Following is the information:
§ interviewed but is not able to provide any information of value.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeWill the hon. Gentleman accept that it must be right for Members to forward what appear to be properly founded allegations, but will he also accept my apologies on this occasion for having wasted the time of busy officials by an allegation of a man who is quite clearly an ignorant windbag?
§ Mr. ReesI cannot judge that to the same degree as the hon. Gentleman. The allegations were vague and unsubstantiated, and the remarks were ill-considered.