§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the purpose of the port suspect books; what sources of information are used to compile the books; and which authorities have access to the information;
(2) what is the purpose of the Home Office suspects index; what sources of information are used to maintain the index; which authorities have access to the information; and how many people are listed on the index.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe suspect index alerts the immigration officer to take action in respect of an318W individual who might not be identified in the course of routine examination. Information is received from a number of official sources. The index is used by the immigration authorities in the common travel area. Currently there are some 10,000 entries.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the capacity of the computer on which the Home Office suspects index is kept; and if it is linked to any other immigration service or police computers;
(2) which categories of information held in the port suspect books are computerised.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Home Office suspect index is not computerised and the information contained in it is not received in computerised form.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the ports administration system has rendered redundant any other computer systems or manual information registers previously used at Heathrow, Gatwick and Dover east.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe prototype computer system at Dover eastern docks will become redundant when the port administration system is installed there. The new system will also replace certain manual registers at Heathrow, Gatwick and Dover which record details of people who have been required to submit to further examination, or refused leave to enter, or detained under Immigration Act powers, or in respect of whom a liability has been notified under the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 1987.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the capacity of the computer for the ports administration system; what sources of information are used; and what divisions of the immigration department and which other authorities have access to the system.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe port administration system comprises seven computers, each with disk storage capacity of 1,008 megabytes. It records information about passengers who are the subject of further examination, drawn mainly from interviews, and from documents in their possession. Access to the system is limited to members of the immigration service at the port where each computer is installed. In addition access to all the systems for maintenance purposes is available to a support team of immigration service officers at terminal 3, Heathrow airport, staff of the Home Office computer bureau at Bootle and authorised employees of the hardware contractors.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the ports administration system will be capable of fulfilling the information technology requirements of the 1990 European convention on asylum (the Dublin convention) and the 1991 draft convention on the crossing of external borders of the states of the European Communities.
§ Mr. Peter LloydNo.