HL Deb 25 July 1996 vol 574 cc170-1WA
The Viscount of Falkland

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Secretary of State for Social Security's remarks on 15th July (H.C. Deb., col. 850), whether his claim that the amendment passed in the House of Lords on 1st July would mean that "anyone who entered this country some time ago could destroy their documentation and claim to have arrived recently" implies that the Immigration Service would be bound by an irrefutable presumption that such a claim was true and if so, whether this would be a unique case in immigration law.

Baroness Blatch

While there would not be an irrefutable presumption that those without documents had arrived recently, if they said they had it would in practice be very difficult to refuse benefits to such a person on the grounds that they had not arrived recently when there was no documentary evidence as to the date of their arrival. Often there would be no evidence with which to refute their claim.