§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Turkish Kurds have been held in detention in excess of(a) one month, (b) two months and (c) three months since I May; and of those held in detention in excess of each period, how many were subsequently granted exceptional leave to remain or political asylum.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation is not maintained on the basis of ethnic origin. In the period 1 May–30 October inclusive, 32 Turkish nationals were detained for longer than one month but less than two months; 23 were detained for longer than two months but less than three months; and 63 were detained for longer than three months. In all of these cases detainees were subsequently released from detention. Information is not readily available on the outcome of these cases.
§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Turkish Kurds were held in detention for 12 hours or more following a recommendation by group A that they be granted exceptional leave to remain or political asylum since 1 May.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation is not maintained on the basis of ethnic origin. The other information is not readily available in the form requested. When the immigration service is notified of a decision by the refugee unit of the Home Office that an applicant should be given asylum or exceptional leave to remain, it arranges for the applicant's release from detention as soon as is practicable.
§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many Turkish Kurds have been served with minded to refuse notices since 1 May; how many of these have subsequently been granted(a) exceptional leave to remain and (b) political asylum;
(2) how many Turkish Kurds, refused leave to enter, were subsequently granted exceptional leave to remain or political asylum since 1 May 1989.
§ Mr. Peter LloydA total of 294 of the Turkish nationals who sought asylum on entry since 1 May have been allowed to remain here on an exceptional basis and 78 have been recognised as refugees under the 1951 convention. Central records do not distinguish at what stage of the procedure leave to enter was granted and this could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where an application for political 205W asylum has been submitted by a Kurdish applicant already in the United Kingdom (a) how many have been granted exceptional leave to remain without interview and (b) how many have been granted political asylum for the periods (i) January 1987 to 1988, (ii) July 1988 to 31 December 1988 and (iii) 1 January 1989 to 1 November 1989.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe readily available information is given in the following table:
Grants of refugee status or of exceptional leave to Turkish nationals1 who applied for refugee status when already in the United Kingdom Number of persons Granted refugee status Granted exceptional leave 1987 2 3 January 1988 to June 19882 3 5 July 1988 to December 19882 3 15 January 1989 to September 19892 90 280 1The ethnic origin of asylum applicants is not recorded but the majority of Turkish applicants have stated that they are Kurds. 2Provisional estimates; figures rounded to the nearest 5. 3 = less than 3. Information on the number of these decisions which were made without interview is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Full information on decisions since September 1989 is not yet available.