§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with EC counterparts to harmonise the primary purpose rule with practices in other EC countries.
§ Mr. Charles WardleDiscussions have been held at official level in the ad hoc group on immigration with a view to agreeing a set of principles and a resolution on the harmonisation of family reunification policies in the member states. The existence in the United Kingdom of the primary purpose rule has been taken into account in those discussions.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken since June to reduce levels of secrecy in the work of the ad hoc group on immigration.
§ Mr. Charles WardleA public statement on the decisions and conclusions adopted will be made in the normal way following the meeting of EC Ministers concerned with immigration on 30 November.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of how many individuals are in the United Kingdom(a) illegally, (b) in breach of their entry conditions and (c) otherwise in the United Kingdom unofficially.
§ Mr. Charles WardleComprehensive information on the number of immigration offenders resident in the United Kingdom is not available, and it is not possible to make a reliable estimate. In many cases it is not possible to determine whether a person is an immigration offender until he/she has been traced and interviewed. In the 12 months up to the end of June 1992, some 8,800 immigration offenders were detected and served with illegal entry notices or with notices of intention to deport for being in breach of their conditions to enter or remain.
222W
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the topics and proposals on immigration, asylum and other matters that Her Majesty's Government are putting before the Edinburgh summit.
§ Mr. Charles WardleImmigration and asylum matters will be discussed by immigration Ministers of EC member states on 30 November. It is too early to say whether any of these matters will need to be referred to the Edinburgh European Council.
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the meeting of the ad hoc European group on immigration held on 10 and 11 September giving details of its conclusions, of how Parliament will be kept informed about the group's proceedings, of what matters are currently under consideration by the group, when the group will meet again, what sub-groups have been formed and for which subjects.
§ Mr. Charles WardleI refer the hon. Member to the answers that I gave on 19 October 1992,Official Report, cols 50–52, to his previous questions on this matter.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to establish a system to compensate individuals who have suffered damage, loss, inconvenience or general disadvantages as a result of poor quality of service from the immigration and nationality department.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThere are arrangements in place for making ex gratia compensation payments in certain circumstances where a person has suffered financial loss as a direct result of negligence, error or delay by an officer of the Home Office.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in each year since 1988 that evidence from DNA testing has been available to immigration appeals against refusing entry to children, what percentage of original refusals by entry clearance officers were(a) correct and (b) incorrect;
(2) how many individuals initially refused entry because of not being related as claimed and subsequently accepted as related after DNA testing have (a) subsequently reapplied for entry and (b) been refused, giving as a percentage the grounds of the refusal in each category.
§ Mr. Charles WardleInformation is not available in the form requested. I will write to the hon. Member setting out such figures on cases involving DNA evidence as can he obtained at reasonable cost.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for the latest year for which figures are available, of those persons refused entry under the primary purpose rule how many were married to(a) British citizens, (b) citizens of another nation, but settled in the United Kingdom and (c) other categories as totals and as a percentage of the whole.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe information requested is not available.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the subjective and the objective criteria used in each of the EC countries which are 223W comparable to the primary purpose rule in the United Kingdom in respect of applications from a spouse to join his or her partner.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe information requested is not available. It is a matter for each member state to decide, in accordance with its national immigration legislation, what criteria to apply in relation to the admission of spouses.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has as to the current situation of the Zairean national who was returned to Zaire in May 1991 whose case subsequently gave rise to contempt of court proceedings involving the Minister's predecessor.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Treasury Solicitor was informed on 18 July 1991 that the person concerned had contacted his legal representatives from Nigeria. We have heard nothing more as to his whereabouts since then.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff have been employed by the immigration and nationality department to deal specifically with applications for asylum in each of the past five years; and if he will make it his policy to ensure a regular review of staffing levels in the department.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe number of staff employed in the asylum division to deal specifically with applications for asylum on 1 October in each of the last five years was as follows:
Year Number 1988 52 1989 62 1990 86 1991 200 1992 435 Staffing levels are kept under constant review.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional individuals have joined their spouse in the United Kingdom as a result of the change in guidance in June to no longer use primary purpose as a reason to refuse in cases where a marriage has existed for five years or where there is a child of the marriage with the right of abode in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the trends emerging from this change.
§ Mr. Charles WardleIt is not possible to make an estimate of the effect of this change. The available information on decisions on entry clearance applications in respect of spouses relates only to those made in the Indian sub-continent; the latest statistics for which are published in tables 8 and 9 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Control of Immigration: Statistics—First and Second Quarters of 1992". A copy of this bulletin is in the Library.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will issue guidelines setting out the type of questions to be asked at entry clearance interviews of non-EC nationals at United Kingdom ports.
§ Mr. Charles WardleExisting instructions to immigration officers are to the effect that questioning should be224W confined to what is relevant to the decisions the officer will have to make. Cases vary greatly, and I see no need for more detailed guidelines.
Procedures at entry clearance interviews overseas are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, but similar principles are followed.