HC Deb 02 July 2003 vol 408 cc321-2W
Vera Baird

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to accommodate asylum seekers in a camp in(a) Croatia and (b) another eastern European country outside the EU; whether the occupants of such camps would have rights under the law of the country where the camp is located; what legal system would apply to the occupants; and whether he will be responsible for ensuring the rights of occupants under (i) the Convention on Refugees and (ii) the European Convention on Human Rights. [121757]

Beverley Hughes

There is no truth in the reports that the UK will process asylum applicants in a camp in Croatia. We have no current plans to process asylum applications to the UK in camps in slates on the borders of the EU.

We are exploring with partners and the UNHCR how best our ideas on new approaches to international protection can be put into practice.

Mr. Wiggin

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for asylum in the UK have been made since January by Iraqi(a) Ba'ath and (b) ex-Ba'ath party officials. [122018]

Beverley Hughes

No one identified as either a current or former Ba'ath Party official has applied for asylum since January 2003.

Mr. Viggers

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has commissioned on the number of asylum seekers who commit crimes. [122208]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 30 June 2003]: There is no available evidence to suggest that asylum seekers are more likely to commit crime than any other person living in the United Kingdom.

Details of the nationality and immigration status of suspects or of those convicted of crimes are not collated centrally as part of the recorded crime statistics and are not necessarily recorded by individual police forces.

The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 has provision to prevent serious criminals availing themselves of the protection of the 1951 Refugee Convention and we will seek to remove such criminals from the United Kingdom wherever possible.

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