HC Deb 05 February 1988 vol 126 cc779-82W
Mr. Devlin

To ask the Secretary of State of the Home Department how many refugees are currently seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom; from which offenders imprisoned for each of the last five years; and if he will express the figures as a percentage of (a) the total number of prisoners and (b) the total number of foreign prisoners imprisoned for road traffic offences;

(2) if he will list, by country of origin, the total number of offenders imprisoned for road traffic offences for each of the last five years, who were using foreign-registered vehicles.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

The readily available information, which is only for 1986, is given in the table, excluding citizens of Commonwealth countries, Pakistan and the Republic of Ireland the recording of whom is not sufficiently reliable for separate estimates of their numbers to be given. No details of the registration of any vehicles involved are held centrally.

countries they originate; how many are in detenion; and what information he has as to which political movements they are members.

Mr. Renton

The latest available information on outstanding applications for asylum relates to 1 October 1987 and is shown in the following table. Delays in the input of data to the computer system means that some applications made before this date do not appear in the table and some applications on which a decision has been taken are included.

There are at present some 53 persons seeking asylum in the United Kingdom who have been detained for more than 14 days. Information regarding the membership of political movements of asylum-seekers is not readily available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Refugee Applications Outstanding as at 1 October 1987
Nationality Number
Afghanistan 103
Albania 1
Algeria 6
Angola 17
Bahrain 7
Bangladesh 9
Bolivia 7
Botswana 1
Bulgaria 3
Burkina Faso 1
Burma 8
Cameroon 1
Chad 1
Chile 22
China 4
Colombia 13
Congo 1
Cyprus 8
Czechoslovakia 9
Djibouti 3
Egypt 10
El Salvador 4
Ethiopia 373
Gambia 2
Ghana 367
Grenada 1
Guatamala 1
Guyana 4
Hungary 10
India 198
Iran 1,390
Iraq 435
Israel 1
Jamaica 1
Jordan 8
Kenya 11
Laos 1
Lebanon 70
Lesotho 3
Liberia 9
Libya 136
Malaysia 1
Mali 1
Mauritius 2
Morocco 6
Mozambique 1
Netherlands 1
Nicaragua 1
Niger 24
Nigeria 37
Pakistan 712
Peru 1
Philippines 4
Poland 114
Romania 7
Seychelles 192
Sierra Leone 11
Somalia 470
South Africa 95
Spain 2
Sri Lanka 1,038
Sudan 80
Surinam 1
Syria 32
Tanzania 7
Tunisia 1
Turkey 177
Uganda 469
USA 4
USSR 2
Yemen (AR) 5
Yemen (PDR) 19
Yugoslavia 6
Zaire 63
Zambia 11
Zimbabwe 47

Nationality Number
BOC 2
Nationality uncertain 112
All Nationalities 7,042