§ 17. Mr. Alexander W. Lyonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offers of jobs and accommodation for Ugandan Asians have been received by the Resettlement Board from private and public sources in each of the local government areas of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. LaneSo far over 1,100 employers have offered jobs. More than 2,000 offers of accommodation have come from private sources. Local authorities have offered some 1,600 dwellings. The work required to set out the individual offers by local authority area would not in my view be justified.
§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of local authorities in Wales which are prepared to provide homes for Uganda Asian refugees, those which have indicated that they are not prepared to provide accommodation and those which have not replied to his appeal.
§ Mr. LaneNineteen authorities in Wales have made firm offers of accommodation to the Uganda Resettlement Board. Several others have said that they may be able to do so. Twenty authorities have indicated that they would have great difficulty in providing accommodation at the present time.
207WI do not think it would be appropriate to publish a list while a number of authorities are still considering whether they could help.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give the number of stateless Ugandan Asians who have arrived in this country; why they were admitted and under what statutory authority; and whether the 10 stateless Ugandan Asians at Greenham Common Camp, Berkshire, have been split up from their families.
§ Mr. LaneApart from those admissible as dependants of United Kingdom passport holders, 73 people of undetermined nationality from Uganda have arrived in the United Kingdom. They have been refused admission. Their arrival is being reported to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Meanwhile they are being allowed to remain temporarily in resettlement centres. Nine at Greenham Common are separated from their families.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why he was able to state on 23rd October, 1972, that up to 20th October just under 17.500 Ugandan Asians had been admitted into Great Britain but he was unable to state how many of these were children; and whether he will arrange to have a detailed analysis made of these immigrants according to age groups, sex and business qualification, trades or industry and publish the same in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. LaneThe total number arriving from Uganda is quickly available, but it takes a few days to classify the information and to say how many are children. The hon. Member has since been supplied with the information he asked for. As regards the second part of the Question, a great deal of information is being collected and I will consider how this can most usefully be analysed in due course.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give, for the latest and most convenient stated date, the number of Ugandan Asians that have been admitted into the Metropolitan Police Force 208W since their enforced exit from Uganda commenced; what positions they have been appointed to; and at what salaries.
§ Mr. CarlisleNone up to 2nd November. But two have joined the Metropolitan Police civil staff, and two Ugandan Asians already resident here have joined the Metropolitan Police Force since 4th August.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that notwithstanding his appeal for Ugandan Asians to avoid the red areas more than 200 have moved into the London Borough of Newham; and as this borough has a severe housing, schooling and unemployment problem, what action he has taken or intends taking to prevent further immigrants entering this and similar areas.
§ Mr. LaneA number of refugees have notified the Uganda Resettlement Board of their intention to go to the London Borough of Newham, in many cases to join friends and relatives there. The board, which is endeavouring to achieve the maximum dispersal of the refugees, warns all new arrivals about the problems facing those who go to areas where social facilities are under strain; but in the last resort neither the board nor the Government have powers of direction.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the prima facie evidence submitted to him by the hon. Member for West Ham, North showing that some of the Ugandan Asians now resident in camps in Great Britain are taking advantage of Great Britain's hospitality within the fields for which he has ministerial responsibility in the camps provided, what action he proposes to take to change this situation.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that homeless families in London and other cities who are given temporary half-way accommodation are compelled to move out and find their own housing after a stated 209W period; and what action he has taken, or intends to take, to ensure that Ugandan Asians in reception centres are treated on the same basis as British-born homeless now in temporary accommodation.
§ Mr. LaneLocal authorities are aware that it is the Government's view that homeless families who have been provided with temporary accommodation should not be compelled to leave it unless they have suitable alternative accommodation to go to. Refugees from Uganda are similarly accommodated in resettlement centres until suitable arrangements have been made for them elsewhere.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now give further details of the actual costs incurred by the Uganda Resettlement Board; how far his estimate of £1 million per month has proved correct; what are the salaries and expenses of the chairman and members of the Resettlement Board and the wages and salaries of its staff; and whether he will publish details of the directions he has given to the board about its financial procedures.
§ Mr. LaneThe board's current expenditure suggests that the final cost of the resettlement centres will be within the figure which my right hon. Friend referred to. The chairman's salary is £500 a month; one other board member receives his normal Civil Service salary; the board's monthly salaries bill for headquarters staff is £7,000; and £21,000 a month is borne by the parent Departments of staff seconded to the board's headquarters. The board is required to prepare estimates of expenditure, on the basis of which my right hon. Friend will seek the approval of Parliament. For some forms of expenditure the prior authority of the Home Office is needed. The board's accounts will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for West Ham, North may expect the communication promised to him on Monday, 23rd October, 1972, giving details of the number of immigrant children admitted into 210W Great Britain since the Ugandan Asian problems.
§ Mr. LaneI wrote to the hon. Member on 6th November. I will reply as soon as possible to a further letter which I received yesterday.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give details of the number of letters he has received from the general public and Members of Parliament on the subject of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give details of the proposed financial arrangements to be made by the Uganda Asian Resettlement Board to local authorities engaged in re-habilitating the Ugandan Asians and of the extent to which he or the board discussed these arrangements with the local authorities concerned or their associations.
§ Mr. LaneAfter consulting the local authority associations, the Uganda Resettlement Board sent a letter to local authorities on 1st November, giving details of the financial assistance that will be available. Copies of the letter have been placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has received from the Uganda Resettlement Board that Asians are seeking to make the resettlement camps their permanent homes; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of Ugandan Asian British passport holders who had arrived in Great Britain on Monday, 23rd October, 1972, and on Tuesday, 24th October, 1972, respectively.
§ Mr. LaneThe number of Uganda Asians who had arrived by 23rd October was just under 19,000. The number who had arrived by 24th October was 19,144.