Vietnamese Boat People (Hansard, 4 April 1990)

52. Mr. Ted Garrett
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on the situation of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong.

§ 75. Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on the situation of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong.

§ 77. Mr. Eadie
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on the situation of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong.

§ Mr. Maude
For the first time since May 1987, there is now a sustained net outflow of Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong. But it is too soon to know whether there will be another large influx into Hong Kong this year.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on living conditions in the closed camps for Vietnamese boat people.

§ Mr. Maude
The standard of living conditions in Hong Kong's 10 detention centres depends to a large extent on the degree of overcrowding. At present there are 44,000 Vietnamese boat people living in these detention centres, which have a combined design capacity of 43,000 places. A further 5,000 places will become available during May to accommodate the new influx which it is feared will arrive in the coming months.
The UNHCR provides a full range of services to all detention centres through programmes operated by voluntary agencies. These services include education for children and adults, medical and family planning services, social work and welfare services.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to improve conditions in the closed camps for Vietnamese boat people.

§ Mr. Maude
Following the influx of 34,000 Vietnamese boat people in 1989, the Hong Kong Government have constructed new accommodation providing a total of 23,000 places. This has eased the overcrowding and has led to a significant improvement in conditions. In 1989–90 the total cost of providing asylum in Hong Kong was about £90 million. Of this, Her Majesty's Government provided £21 million to cover part of the cost of the building programme.