§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what opportunities are available to refugees to obtain legal advice to support their applications for residence.
§ Mr. WaddingtonAn applicant for asylum in this country is free to contact anyone he wishes for legal advice. Arrangements are presently being made for the refugee unit of the United Kingdom immigrants advisory service to be informed of all asylum and refugee cases where a negative decision is proposed and no other agency or hon. Member has previously intervened.
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what happened to each of the 142 refugees who came from East bloc countries to whom residence in the United Kingdom was refused in 1982.
§ Mr. WaddingtonRecords are not kept in such a form as to enable the eventual outcome of an unsuccessful application for asylum to be established. A decision that an applicant does not qualify for asylum does not necessarily imply that the applicant has been required to leave the country as the application could have been made from overseas, or the applicant could have been either already resident in the United Kingdom or able to qualify for leave to remain under another provision of the Immigration Rules. An unsuccessful applicant may also have been allowed to remain on an exceptional basis.
The available statistics on applications for asylum have been placed in the Library.