§ Mr. BlairTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the circumstances surrounding the search in October through Home Office files in(a) the immigration and nationality department and (b) other Home Office departments in 659W respect of President-elect Clinton; in response to what requests such a search was made; what is the normal procedure for dealing with such requests; what was the procedure in this case; and when Ministers (i) were informed and (ii) authorised the search.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeIn response to an inquiry by a journalist from theEvening Standard in October as to whether Mr. Clinton had applied for United Kingdom citizenship, the Home Office press office said that it was unable to discuss individual cases.
The press office then made inquiries of the nationality division to establish for itself the facts of the case. These revealed that there was no file in Mr. Clinton's name. The press office subsequently decided to brief newspapers off the record that there was no foundation to the story in order to bring ill-informed speculation about Mr. Clinton to an end.
No Minister was involved in any way or at any stage in the handling of the press inquiry. I have already
Population of Persons Detained under the Immigration Act 1971 in Prison Service Establishments in England and Wales by Length of Detention1 Length of Detention1 One day to one month Over one month to two months Over two months to three months Over three months to six months Over six months Total detainees 30 Septemper 1991 41 25 11 47 70 194 31 December 1991 56 28 17 30 79 210 31 March 1992 68 31 15 38 83 235 30 June 1992 63 53 32 51 61 260 1 Time which had been served by the relevant date. 660W
Population of persons detained under the Immigration Act 1971 in prison service establishments in England and Wales by establishment Establishment Number September 1991 December 1991 March 1992 June 1992 Remand centres Brinsford — — 1 — Glen Parva — — — 1 Feltham 1 2 1 — Haslar 99 98 99 100 Hindley 1 2 — — Low Newton — — 1 — Prisons Bedford 1 2 1 3 Belmarsh 1 6 4 3 Birmingham 12 16 18 24 Bristol 2 1 1 1 Brixton 4 3 1 3 Bullingdon — — — 3 Canterbury 6 7 2 6 Dorchester — — 5 9 Durham 2 1 — 1 Elmley — — — 4 Exeter — — 8 2 Gloucester — — 1 1 Holloway 3 4 6 1 Hull 1 — — — Leeds 1 1 5 3 Leicester 4 7 2 5 Lewes 1 3 1 4 Lincoln 1 1 — — Liverpool — 1 — — Norwich — 1 1 1 Pentonville 46 45 55 70 Preston — — 2 3 Pucklechurch 1 1 — — announced that I shall be reviewing with my chief press officer the procedure for handling such inquiries in the future.