§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the nature of their response to the European consultation on refugees and exiles following the publication of the policy document A Refugee Policy for Europe (September 1987); and whether they intend to publish their response.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)My honourable friend the Minister of State discussed the proposals contained inA Refugee Policy for 1202WA Europe with representatives of the British Refugee Council, at a meeting held on 7th December 1987, and officials subsequently wrote to its director setting out comments in more detail. We do not consider it appropriate to publish this correspondence but, if the noble Lord so wishes, I would be happy to write to him with detailed comments and to place a copy of my letter in the Library.
The Government broadly welcome the document as a contribution to the debate on refugee issues and agree with many of the detailed points which are made in it. We believe that it is only through co-operation between countries that an acceptable solution to the refugee problem will be found; the United Kingdom is therefore in the forefront of European countries seeking to address the sorts of issue raised by the report. In particular, we agree that it is essential to reach agreement on the definition of "country of first asylum" and are working towards that end.