HC Deb 14 June 2004 vol 422 cc514-5
11. Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow) (Lab)

Pursuant to the oral answer of 10 May 2004, Official Report, column 1, on asylum seekers (benefits), what conveniently available figures he has for the numbers of failed asylum seekers who were destitute and unable to leave the UK immediately for reasons beyond their control who have sought the provision of accommodation under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; and if he will make a statement with reference to the case of the constituent of the hon. Member for Linlithgow from the town of Armadale that has been raised with him. [178162]

The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Mr. Desmond Browne)

Those failed asylum seekers who fit the description provided by the Father of the House in the first part of his question and who have applied for section 4 accommodation will have been offered it. Of those who have been offered section 4 accommodation and accepted it, there are currently around 500.

My hon. Friend's constituent applied for leave to remain in the United Kingdom on human rights grounds on 5 February 2002. His application was refused and he lodged an appeal against that decision in August 2003. The refusal decision is being reviewed. If it is maintained, the appeal will then be forwarded to the immigration appellate authority.

Mr. Dalyell

I thank the Home Office in Croydon for addressing the problem of the constituent referred to in the question, but are there general considerations encapsulated in the rather precise if wordy question on the Order Paper?

Mr. Browne

I am grateful to the Father of the House for his thanks to the immigration and nationality directorate for helping to solve the problem experienced by his constituents, and I shall pass his thanks on to those involved. The people in the IND who work hard to help Members do not always get the thanks that they deserve, even though they sometimes work in difficult circumstances on complicated cases.

My hon. Friend's supplementary question is, I think, designed to reveal the fact that there is a challenge in the support of people whose application for asylum has failed but who cannot for one reason or another return to their country of origin or to the third-party country from which they travelled to the United Kingdom. If they co-operate fully in arrangements for their return and removal there is an opportunity for them to be supported under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, otherwise, in my view, which is shared by the House and is in the legislation that will shortly come before us, action will be reinforced. It is not fair to ask the taxpayer to support people who, as a result of their own activities, do not return home when they can do so.