§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will show as a table in theOfficial Report, for each year from 1979 until the latest available year, the proportion of people seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom who were either granted full refugee status or exceptional leave to remain;
(2) if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing, for each year since 1979 aggregated, the numbers of people seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom on a country of origin basis, showing the proportion each constitutes of the total number of people so applying;
(3) if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing, for each year from 1979 until the latest year for which figures are available (a) the number of persons applying for political asylum in the United Kingdom and (b) the statistics in (a) expressed as an index with 1983=100.
§ Mr. RentonInformation for the years 1979 to 1987 on the numbers of applications for refugee status, grants of refugee status, and grants of exceptional leave to remain, analysed by nationality, is published in tables 1 to 3 of46W Home Office statistical bulletin "Refugee Statistics, United Kingdom, 1987" (issue 16/88), copies of which are in the Library. More detailed analyses by nationality are published in tables 6 and 7 of this bulletin and corresponding tables in the similar bulletins for 1985 and 1986 (issues 12/86 and 13/87 respectively).
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many representations by hon. Members regarding individual applications for political asylum have not been accepted as sufficient to obtain a stay of removal since 3 March 1987;
(2) if he will show on a monthly basis from January 1986 the percentage of applications for political asylum which had been rejected which were then referred to the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service.
§ Mr. RentonNo central record is kept of cases in these categories.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who had been refused political asylum in the United Kingdom and decided to challenge the decision through the courts have been deported before all legal proceedings were completed, since 3 March 1987.
§ Mr. RentonNo central record is kept of legal proceedings following the refusal of asylum. There can be no guarantee that an applicant will be allowed to remain in this country whilst all possible proceedings are pursued.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a table in theOfficial Report, showing, for the latest year for which comparable figures are available, in ranked order, on a per capita basis for each member country of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the number of applications received by each of those countries for political asylum.
§ Mr. RentonFull information is not available in the form requested. Some information about asylum applications in Western European countries was given in response to a question from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Burton (Mir. Lawrence) on 5 July at column502. Information on the population of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries is available from a number of published sources including the "United Nations Demographic Yearbook", a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effects of the operation of the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 1987 on the ability of people who genuinely wish to seek political asylum in the United Kingdom to do so.
§ Mr. RentonWe do not believe that the Act will stop refugees finding safety and coming to this country when it is the most appropriate place of refuge. In the past the great majority of genuine asylum applications have arrived here without resorting to forged documents.
§ Mr. SoamesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, pursuant to the reply given on 4 July,Official Report, column 418, his Department has yet sent quarterly asylum statistics to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
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§ Mr. RentonOfficials have now written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. I am placing a copy of the letter, with tables attached, in the Library.