§ The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Mr. Desmond Browne)The Government are firmly committed to ensuring that the country information material they produce to inform asylum decisions meets the highest standards.
Accurate, objective and up to date country information is fundamental to a fair and effective asylum system. The independent advisory panel on country information (APCI) was set up to provide rigorous external scrutiny of country information material produced by the Home Office and make recommendations to help ensure that it is of the highest quality. The APCI has already shown itself to be working in a robust and forthright manner.
While we are satisfied that the country information material produced by the Home Office is already of a good standard, we recognise that improvements can be made. We have responded swiftly and positively to issues raised by the APCI and announced earlier this year the introduction of a range of improvements in the way the material is produced and quality assured. The measures introduced were welcomed by the APCI and have resulted in a clear improvement in the quality and presentation of country information material.
The panel rightly considers it essential that the Home Office's country information material should not only be objective in fact, but that it should also be perceived as being objective and have the confidence of all its users. The APCI was concerned that the country information would not be perceived as impartial while it was being produced by country information and policy unit (CIPU) which also has the function of advising on the development of country specific asylum policies. The APCI made a recommendation that the Home Office bring forward proposals to address this issue.
We have given very careful consideration to the APCI's recommendation and I am announcing today that the current country information and country policy functions of the CIPU will be separated. In future, the production of country information material used by the Home Office will be undertaken by a country information unit dedicated solely to that function. The existing CIPU country policy function will be undertaken separately within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. These changes, which directly reflect the APCI's thinking, will be put in place as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made.
I am also announcing today that in future country reports will be produced and published at six-monthly intervals on the top 20 asylum generating countries (and other countries for which an operational need is identified) instead of the current top 35 countries. The 120WS reduction in the number of country reports produced is consistent with the significant reduction in asylum intake. This step will enable the resources freed to be used to help assure the standard of the country information material produced, whilst ensuring that country reports are still produced on the main asylum generating countries. Country information material will continue to be produced on those countries which fall outside the top 20 in the way that is now done for countries which fall outside the top 35.