§ Mr. Tilleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many times the powers that were introduced under the Social Security Act 1980, schedule 2, part 11, subsections 17 and 18, enforcing the liability of a sponsor to maintain a dependent where the sponsor has given an undertaking in writing under the terms of the immigration rules, have been used; in what circumstances, if any, prosecutions have resulted; and how many complaints his Department have received concerning the liability to enforce the undertaking of the sponsor.
§ Mr. NewtonNo information is available about the number of cases where this liability has been pursued. The latest information we have is that there were 101 claims to supplementary benefit from sponsored immigrants during the year ending November 1981, and no doubt liability will have been considered in some of those cases. However, to date the Department has not taken any legal proceedings to enforce a sponsor's undertaking, and so far as I am aware the Department has not received any complaint about enforcement.