§ Mr. Ryderasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for changes in the procedures for dealing with applications for refugee status and asylum.
§ Mr. BrittanAt present successful applicants for asylum in this country are granted it with or without refugee status. I have recently reviewed this practice and I have concluded that there are no longer sufficient grounds for having two separate categories. In future anyone who up to now would have been granted asylum will be granted refugee status, entitling the person concerned to the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and documentation as a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Any application for refugee status from a person already granted asylum only will be sympathetically considered by the Home Office.
The number of individual applicants granted asylum, with or without refugee status was 2,368 in 1982 and 1,407 in 1983, compared with 709 in 1979 and the change underlines our determination to maintain the United Kingdom's long standing tradition of granting asylum generously to those with a well founded fear of persecution in their own country.
There is also a significant number of applicants, who while not satisfying the criteria for the grant of asylum are not required to return to their own countries, at least for the time being, either because of their individual circumstances, or more generally on account of the current political situation in their countries of origin. This policy of granting leave to remain, on an exceptional basis, will continue. In most respects those allowed to remain exceptionally have access to social benefits while they are here on a similar basis to those granted asylum, but they are not entitled to travel document facilities. In future applications for Home Office travel documents from people here on this basis who are unable to obtain passports from their own national authorities will be considered sympathetically.
A number of other procedural changes have been made. Arrangements have been in place for some time for notifying the United Kingdom immigrants advisory service of an application for asylum made, either on a person's arrival in this country or after arrival in a case involving detention, where it seems likely after interview that the application will be refused and the person is not represented. In addition, applicants who apply for asylum after having entered the country will be informed in writing of the availability of free advice from the UKIAS. Procedures have been introduced for reviewing regularly cases where the applicant is detained; and a new 86W computerised system for recording applications is now in operation, which will provide better information about the progress and outcome of cases.