§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the total number of people who sought asylum in the United Kingdom in each quarter of 1990;
(2) if he will list the total number of people who sought asylum in the United Kingdom in 1990; and how many (a) were awarded refugee status, (b) were awarded exceptional leave to remain and (c)were refused entry.
§ Mr. Peter LloydReliable quarterly estimates of the number of applications for asylum in the United Kingdom in 1990 cannot yet be made, but provisional indications are that the total in 1990 was of the order of 30,000, including associated dependants.
Comprehensive information on decisions in 1990 on asylum applications is not yet available. Decisions recorded to date are shown in the following table, but these understate because of delays in recording.
Decisions1 on applications2 for asylum in the United Kingdom made in 1990 as recorded at Mid-February 1991 Numbers Granted asylum 1,600 Granted exceptional leave 3,700 Refused asylum or exceptional leave 650 1Including associated dependants. 2 Decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in 1990. Fuller and more reliable estimates of applications and decisions in 1990 will be published as usual in the annual Home Office statistical bulletin "Refugee Statistics, United Kingdom" later this year.
§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each year since 1985 the number of applicants for asylum in the United Kingdom who have been held in detention for more than one month.
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§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. On 15 February, 110 persons who had claimed asylum had been detained under Immigration Act powers for more than one month.
§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the Council of Europe ministerial conference on east-west migration in Vienna regarding the asylum question.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI attended the ministerial conference in Vienna on 24 and 25 January, at which representatives of Council of Europe member states, as well as all the states of central and eastern Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States were present. The conference was not concerned specifically with asylum, but with the problems posed for both receiving countries and countries of origin by the growth of migration from central and eastern Europe. There was general agreement on the need for international cooperation on measures to limit migratory flows, including action in respect of economic migrants who seek to exploit the asylum process and on the importance of tackling the root causes of migration in the countries of origin. A group of senior officials from the participating states was invited to follow up the recommendations of the conference.
A copy of the final communiqué of the conference has been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he is giving to the establishment of a European appeal court to give a right of appeal against a refusal to grant asylum; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydNone. I see no merit in such a proposal.
§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he distinguishes in policy between measures taken to combat abuse of the asylum procedure and measures taken to regulate the flow of asylum seekers.
§ Mr. Peter LloydOur policy is to meet our international obligations towards refugees who may properly look to the United Kingdom for protection, while taking firm action to maintain normal immigration control in respect both of those who have already found safety elsewhere and of those whose applications for recognition of refugee status have no basis in the criteria of the 1951 United Nations convention.