§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, I apologise to the House for being absent yesterday when I had a Question on the Order Paper, as circumstances arose which made it impossible for me to be present. I beg leave to ask the Question which now stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will adopt the practice of Scandinavian Governments of reporting cases of immigrants claiming to be political refugees to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees before resorting to deportation; whether they will require immigration officers to inform the Home Office before making decisions for deportation in all immigration cases; and whether they will give instructions that all immigrants awaiting decisions shall be transferred to Harmondsworth detention centre.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord HARRIS of GREENWICH)My Lords, I assume that my noble friend is referring to the removal of passengers who have been refused leave to enter the United Kingdom and not to formal deportation. I have been unable to substantiate that the practice of Scandinavian Governments is as my noble friend has stated. The power to give or refuse leave to enter the United Kingdom is vested by Statute in immigration officers, but they are required by the Immigration Rules to obtain the authority of a chief immigration officer or an immigration inspector before refusing entry.
58 Where a passenger claims political asylum it has long been a standing instruction that he is not to be removed from the country without reference to the headquarters of the Home Office. The London representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is consulted in appropriate cases.
As to the last part of the Question, it would not be possible to accommodate at Harmondsworth all those detained at the ports, and in many cases to move them there would delay their removal from the country.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for that long reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that Sweden, Norway and Denmark have a joint arrangement, not only for consultation between them but with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, before they deport a person? May I ask whether the Minister has been in touch with the United Nations High Commissioner on the proposal in this Question and, if so, what has been his view?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, there are two parts to the noble Lord's supplementary question. With regard to the first part I fear that as a result of researches which we undertook after he had tabled this Question, we did not discover that the procedure in terms of consultation in Scandinavia was as he described it in the Question. So far as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is concerned, we do consult him in doubtful or difficult cases. I cannot give a guarantee that it is done in every case but it is done in many cases.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that there have been at least three recent cases where applicants have said that they wished for asylum but the immigration officers have originally not understood this and therefore the cases have not been referred to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees? Therefore would not the noble Lord think it worth while issuing fresh instructions to the immigration officers, that where there is any doubt whatsoever that persons wish to apply for refugee status this should be referred to the Home Office and, through the Home 59 Office, to the United Nations High Commisioner? In regard to detention at Harmondsworth, does the noble Lord not appreciate that it is particularly important, in the delicate cases that we are talking about now, that access to would-be refugees applying for political asylum should be as easy as possible so that they may speak with their advisers and with the United Nations High Commissioner or his staff, and therefore it is quite wrong to detain them in out-of-the-way places where such access is more difficult?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, on the last point, I am afraid there is just not always accommodation at Harmondsworth; it is as simple as that. On the earlier points raised by the noble Lord, first, if the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees does support a particular application for political asylum, normally his view is accepted. The only other point I would make is that in the case which I believe led my noble friend to put this particular Question on the Order Paper, concerning a Pole, in fact the man did not claim political asylum when he entered the country.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, with regard to the later parts of my Question, may I ask the Minister whether it is the case that over this last year there have been at least 20 instances where the immigration officers have refused admission, but when I have taken up the case with the Home Office that permission has been allowed? Does not that indicate that there is some desire that the immigration officers should communicate with the Home Office before these decisions for deportation are taken?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, on the last point raised by my noble friend, I have already made it clear that the headquarters of the Home Office have to be consulted before any person claiming political asylum is ejected from this country. With regard to the last point raised by my noble friend, while I do not know about the other 19 cases, in the case to which I alluded a few moments ago the man did not claim political asylum when he entered the country but, as a result of the substantial amount of publicity that 60 took place over the facts of that case in the national Press, he became a self-created refugee and on that basis, and on that basis alone, the case was reconsidered.
§ Earl COWLEYMy Lords, can the noble Lord tell the House how many political refugees have in fact been allowed into this country this year, and from which countries they have come?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, I cannot do so, I' fear, without notice.