§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 19 March 2001 (WA 127) and by the Lord Rooker on 11 April 2002 (WA 111), what work needs to be undertaken before they are able to publish the operational enforcement manual containing instructions for members of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and what are their current estimates for the period of time needed for this work to be completed. [HL4073]
§ Lord RookerA revised edition of the enforcement manual was issued at the end of last year. A further exercise needs to be conducted to identify those passages whose disclosure might prejudice the effective operation of the immigration control. Once this has been done, we shall consider whether or not the harm likely to arise from their disclosure outweighs the public interest; and whether or not they can be reworded in a form that would allow their publication. We aim to have completed the entire exercise and have the whole of the manual available on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk by the end of this year. It is possible that some sections will be available before then.