§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department under which specific statutes the Metropolitan Police have been instructed by him to obtain undertakings from British subjects recently returned from serving as mercenaries in Angola not to engage in such activities in the future; and what statutory penalties may ensue if such undertakings are not given or are subsequently broken.
§ Mr. EnnalsI have been asked to reply.
As a condition of the restoration of passport facilities returned mercenaries are being asked by the Passport Office to sign a declaration that the continuance of passport facilities is not required for the purpose of travelling to Angola as a mercenary. There is no statute law on the grant of passports, which is a 155W Royal Prerogative exercised in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1925 it is an offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment to make a statement which is to the declarant's knowledge untrue for the purpose of procuring a passport.