§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will estimate the amount of unpaid fines by airlines fined under the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act for allowing passengers to enter the United Kingdom on bogus papers; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what measures he proposes to take to ensure payment of fines by airlines; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RentonThe total amount incurred by airlines under the Act at 27 October was £6.061 million. Payments totalling £3.264 million had been received by that date, leaving £2.797 million outstanding. The Treasury Solicitor has been instructed to institute civil recovery proceedings against four airlines with a poor payment record, and he is currently in discussion with the solicitors acting on their behalf. We will not hesitate to institute similar proceedings against other carriers who fail to remit prompt payments.
A separate record is not maintained of those payments which relate to the carriage of passengers holding forged documents. However, of the total of 8,502 notices of liability issued to all carriers up to 30 September, which include those cases where a subsequent demand for payment was either not issued or withdrawn, only 42—0.5 per cent.—arose because the passenger held forged documents, the falsity of which was reasonably apparent.