HC Deb 08 February 2000 vol 344 cc145-6W
Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the responses to his Department's consultation document on the proposed financial bond scheme for visitors. [108882]

Mrs. Roche

Responses to the consultation document are now being considered, and we shall make available an analysis of them in due course.

Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the cost of administering a financial bond scheme for visitors to the UK. [108881]

Mrs. Roche

The cost of the proposed pilot scheme will be absorbed within departmental budgets. The costs of operating any scheme subsequent to the pilot could not be assessed until a decision were taken on whether to make the scheme more widely available.

Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will make a statement on the introduction of a bond scheme for visitors to the United Kingdom under sections 12 and 13 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999.[108883]

Mrs. Roche

We intend to make an announcement about the results of the consultation process on the design of a pilot study for financial bonds for visitors under sections 16 and 17 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in due course.