§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what arrangements he has made to ensure that the exercise of the power of deportation by each immigration inspector is consistent and fair;
(2) what arrangements and guidelines he has made or given for immigration inspectors for the taking of deportation decisions including arrangements for the deferral of decisions where hon. Members have made representations or where there is an outstanding application for leave to remain;
(3) what arrangements he has made concerning the delegation of his functions in deportation decision-making to immigration officers at not less than inspector level; and whether the arrangements extend to representations by hon. Members on applications for variation of leave;
(4) what arrangements he has made to ensure the access of immigration officers and inspectors to Home Office files on prospective deportees, particularly out of normal working hours.
§ Mr. RentonEvery case involving a person liable to deportation has to be considered on its individual facts. Common instructions on the handling of cases where action may be taken under section 3(5)(a) of the Immigration Act 1971 are issued to members of the deportation section and members of the immigration service involved in enforcement work. As required by the immigration rules all the relevant factors, including outstanding applications and representations by Members of Parliament, have to be taken into account, whether by reference to Home Office files or some other effective means, including interview.
Representations by Members of Parliament, including requests for deferral of removal in deportation cases, will continue to be considered in accordance with the guidelines on the handling of representations by Members of Parliament in immigration cases.
75W
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been recipients of notices of intention to deport(a) for working in breach of their conditions, differentiating between persons working in breach of (i) an employment prohibition and (ii) an employment restriction, and (b) for overstaying; and in each case for each of last six months for which records are available, what grade of official took such decisions and at which Home Office centres or ports they were based.
§ Mr. RentonThe available information, on a quarterly basis, relating to the numbers of notices of intention to deport issued under section 3(5)(a) of the Immigration Act 1971 for the period from 1 October 1988 to 31 March 1989 is as follows:
October to December 1988 January to March 1989 Issued by: Deportation section Immigration service Deportation section Immigration service Overstaying 228 282 165 443 Working in breach — 205 — 259 Decisions to issue a notice of intention to deport under section 3(5)(a) are taken at HEO level in the deportation section and at inspector level in the immigration service. Information about the ports at which the inspectors were serving in each case and about the breakdown into those working in breach of an employment prohibition and an employment restriction is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department since the coming into force of the Immigration Act 1988, how many deportation decisions have been(a) taken and (b) authorised by (i) the deportation caseworking section of his Department, (ii) immigration officers and (iii) immigration inspectors; and in what proportion of cases depention has been authorised.
§ Mr. RentonThe statistics currently available are for the period from 1 July 1988 to 31 March 1988. In that period 2,009 notices of intention to deport under section 3(5)(a) of the Immigration Act 1971 were issued; 1,048 persons were detained, mostly for a short period pending resolution of their cases. A total of 568 were authorised by members of the deportation section and, since 1 August 1988, 1,441 by immigration inspectors. Immigration officers are not authorised to take these decisions.
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the delegation of his powers of decision making in deportation taking effect on 1 August 1988 was not published until 20 December 1988.
§ Mr. RentonThere is no requirement to publicise changes in administrative procedures and it was not at the time considered necessary in this case.