§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 28 October 1997,Official Report, column 778, concerning the document "Corpus Juris", under what authority and terms of reference and for what reason this paper was produced; and by what Ministerial Council of the Community and under which article or treaty any formal proposal would be made. [17319]
83W
§ Mr. MichaelI have no information about the provenance of the document beyond the fact, which is stated in the introduction to the document and was referred to by my hon. Friend in his earlier question, that the work was done by researchers at the request of the Director General for Financial Control of the European Commission.
As has been made clear, the paper has no status beyond that of a possible discussion document, for the commissioning of which no formal Treaty base is required. None of the recommendations has been formally proposed in the Council, nor has the paper itself been formally presented to or discussed in any European Union forum. If the Commission were formally to table proposals arising from the text, it would be for it alone to decide where, and on which Treaty base, to introduce them; that would clearly depend on the content of such proposals. In some areas to which the text refers, e.g. police and judicial co-operation, the Commission
Applications1 received for asylum in the United Kingdom from nationals of Nigeria, excluding dependants, initial decisions1,2,3, and removals/voluntary departures, for the years 1987 to 1996 and 1997 (January to October) Number of principal applicants 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 41997 Asylum applications1 10 10 20 135 335 615 1,665 4,340 5,825 2,900 1,290 Decisions1,2,3 10 10 5 15 25 210 360 1,495 2,630 5,145 3,855 Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum — — — — * — — * * 15 40 Not recognised as a refugee but granted exceptional leave to remain 5 5 * — — * 10 5 5 10 30 Refused asylum and exceptional leave to remain 5 5 5 15 25 210 350 1,485 2,625 5,120 3,785 Applications outstanding (at end of year) n/a n/a 40 160 450 870 2,455 5,100 7,940 5,225 52,680 Removal6 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 65 105 190 285 395 430 Port7 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 50 75 125 190 215 185 Third country n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 15 30 40 35 30 Substantive n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 60 90 150 185 155 In country8 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 15 30 70 95 180 245 1 Figures rounded to the nearest 5 with "*"= 1 or 2 and "n/a"= not available. 2 Decision figures do not necessarily relate to applications made in same year. 3 Information is of initial decisions, excluding the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions. 4 Provisional. January to October. 5 Relates to position at end of September 1997. 6 Refused asylum seekers removed from the United Kingdom-includes persons removed to countries other than those of their nationality. 7 Includes any voluntary departure up to and including notification of the decision on the asylum application but excludes any subsequent departure. 8 Includes removals under enforcement powers and those departing voluntarily following enforcement action but excludes all other voluntary departures.