HC Deb 06 February 2002 vol 379 cc972-4W
John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment the Government have made of the appeal facilities that would be available to asylum seekers who would be housed in the proposed accommodation centre at RAF Turnhouse. [32518]

Angela Eagle

Accommodation centres will provide asylum seekers with access to legal advice for their appeals. The location of appeal hearing centres is a matter for the Immigration Appellate Authority. However, the Home Office will make provision for asylum seekers to travel to their appeal hearings if they wish to attend.

John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions his Department intends to have with representatives of(a) the City of Edinburgh council, (b) the Scottish Executive and (c) others regarding the proposed new asylum seeker accommodation centre at RAF Turnhouse. [32520]

Angela Eagle

The Home Office intends to consult widely within the constraints of the planning process, time and departmental resources.

Paul Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers who purport to be children have subsequently been found to be adults in the last two years. [32193]

Angela Eagle

[holding answer 1 February 2002]Between November 2000 and September 2001, inclusive, there were 1,120 age disputed cases (rounded to the nearest five) of principal applicants who applied in-country. These cases are not included in the published data on unaccompanied minors. Information is not available on either the number of age disputed cases who lodged their application at port, nor on other months in 2000 and 2001.

Information on unaccompanied minors is published annually in the statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom", a copy of which is available in the Library, and from the RDS website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigrationl.html

Mr. Gibb

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 January 2002,Official Report, column 180W, on asylum seekers, if he will list the categories of data to be stored on the micro-chip on the asylum seeker identification card. [31329]

Angela Eagle

The data held in the Application Registration Card micro chip are:

  1. 1. Name
  2. 2. Address
  3. 3. Immigration Fingerprint Bureau (IFB) Ref. No.
  4. 4. Home Office Ref. No.
  5. 5. Port/Local Enforcement Office (LEO) Reference
  6. 6. National Asylum Support Service (NASS) Ref. No.
  7. 7. NASS Status
  8. 8. Originating Port/LEO Code
  9. 9. Date of Birth
  10. 10. DOB disputed?
  11. 11. Sex
  12. 12. Nationality Code
  13. 13. Nationality sub group
  14. 14. Reason printed
  15. 15. Asylum/Non Asylum
  16. 16. Place of original issue
  17. 17. Date of original issue
  18. 18. Next report date
  19. 19. Card Issue No.
  20. 20. Card Serial Number
  21. 21. Photo Image
  22. 22. Fingerprint template
  23. 23. Issuing Officer
  24. 24. Fingerprints taken?
  25. 25. Number of dependants
  26. 26. Dependant of
  27. 27. Language 1
  28. 28. Language 2
  29. 29. Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Child (UASC)—Responsible authority
  30. 30. Employment status.

All items will be readable by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) officials using portable `QuickCheck' readers. Name, National Asylum Support Service (NASS) Reference Number, Next Report Date and Card Issue Number will also, in due course, be readable by those issuing NASS benefit payments.

Application Registration Card data will remain subject to review and change.