§ Mr. GorstTo ask the Attorney-General what qualifications or training(a) entry clearance officers and (b) adjudicators have in order to qualify them for the 652W work they carry out in the Indian sub-continent; how many entry clearance officers and adjudicators are employed; what is the average number of applications dealt with by an entry clearance officer or an adjudicator each month; and to whom they are answerable for the manner in which they perform their duties.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe training of entry clearance officers is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. I understand that entry clearance officers on the Indian sub-continent undergo a three-and-a-half week training course in which they are instructed in all areas of the immigration rules. On arrival at post they are given a further period of training varying between two and eight weeks depending on their location. All aspects of their work are closely monitored by line managers, to whom they are immediately answerable. Their ultimate responsibility is to their head of post. There are 82 entry clearance officers on the Indian sub-continent, who each process an average of 320 applications per month.
Adjudicators are appointed by the Lord Chancellor from among lawyers of not less than seven years' standing. Upon appointment, adjudicators are required to attend a two to three-day induction course, to pay visits to officials of the immigration service at ports of entry in the United Kingdom, and to officials of the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service, which represents 50 per cent. of appellants before the adjudicators. Once the adjudicators take up their duties they are required to attend training seminars, which are held on a regular basis.
The number of adjudicators currently sitting at nine hearing centres throughout the United Kingdom is as follows:
- 1 Chief Adjudicator
- 11 Full-time Adjudicators
- 71 Part-time Adjudicators
There are no details of the number of cases from the Indian sub-continent disposed of by individual adjudicators, but in 1990 the average number of cases disposed of each month was 1,377.
Adjudicators are answerable to the chief adjudicator and the Lord Chancellor for their conduct. Appellants dissatisfied with a judicial decision of an adjudicator may appeal on a point of law to the immigration appeal tribunal.
§ Mr. GorstTo ask the Attorney-General what discretion is available to Ministers to bring forward the timing of the hearing of an appeal against the refusal of an entry permit by an entry clearance officer in the Indian sub-continent; and whether he has discretion to intervene in cases where evidence of an unsound refusal is made available to him.
§ The Attorney-GeneralMinisters have no discretion to being forward the timing of immigration appeal hearings by the adjudicators. That is a matter for the immigration appellate authorities, which are independent of Ministers, although responsibility for their administration rests with the Lord Chancellor.
Where further evidence clearly indicates that a decision to refuse entry is unsound, the correspondence unit in the migration and visa department of the Foreign Office will refer the case back to the entry clearance officer for reconsideration.
§ Mr. GorstTo ask the Attorney-General what is the average time in the Indian sub-continent that elapses 653W between the lodging of an appeal against the decision of an entry clearance officer to grant an entry permit and the hearing of that appeal by an adjudicator; and what are the minimum and maximum times recorded during the past two years.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe immigration appellate authorities (IAA) do not record details of the minimum and maximum times for appeals from an Indian sub-continent to be determined by adjudicators. However, it is possible to provide an estimate of the average time taken by the IAA to deal with appeals at each stage of the proceedings, as follows:
- (a) From the date of receipt of the notice of appeal and explanatory statement at the IAA's headquarters in London, to the date the case papers are despatched to the parties representatives in this country: 10 to 12 weeks;
- (b) From the date on which both parties indicate readiness to proceed to a hearing, to the date of the hearing: two to three months;
- (c) From the date of the hearing to the date the Adjudicator's determination is despatched to the parties representatives in this country: one month.
Thus the current estimate of the average time taken by an Adjudicator to deal with a case is five and a half to seven months, to which must be added the time taken by the parties' representatives in the United Kingdom to indicate readiness to proceed after receipt of the case papers from the IAA. This latter period can vary considerably but the current estimate is from two to six months.
In addition, an appeal from a determination by an adjudicator to the immigration appeal tribunal is estimated to take four to six months.