§ Mr. MalinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to deport from the United Kingdom those whose(a) immigration appeals and (b) asylum applications have failed. [95446]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Government have made clear their commitment to remove from the United Kingdom those persons who have no lawful basis of stay; this includes people whose immigration appeals have failed and who do not otherwise qualify to remain.
In order to effect a person's removal or deportation, it is often necessary to overcome a number of barriers such as a lack of documentation, further representations, absconding or the refusal of the person's home country to accept them back. The Immigration Service has instituted a range of measures aimed at addressing these difficulties and streamlining the process as a whole. Among the steps already taken are the establishment of a specialist documentation unit to liaise with issuing authorities, the tasking of a dedicated absconder tracing team and bilateral discussions with source countries.
In addition, the Immigration and Asylum Bill currently before Parliament contains a range of measures to tackle delays in the removal of failed asylum seekers and others whose appeals have been dismissed. These include provisions to create a new combined appeal process that will limit the scope for failed applicants to make successive appeals aimed solely at frustrating removal, a simplified administrative procedure to replace deportation in routine cases and procedures to restrict the activities of bogus representatives. Immigration officers involved in enforcement activity are also to be given enhanced powers to assist them in tracing absconders and others liable to removal and a new offence of using deception to avoid, postpone or revoke enforcement action will be created.
§ Mr. MalinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the last three years, how many deportation orders have been(a) made and (b) carried out. [95449]
§ Mrs. RocheThe information requested is given in the table. It should be noted that some deportation orders cannot be enforced immediately, either for legal reasons or because of other barriers to removal such as absconding. There are also cases where a deportation order has been signed, but it is later decided that deportation is no longer appropriate.
964W
Deportation action 1996 to 19981 Deportation orders signed Deportation orders enforced2 1996 1,890 900 1997 1,210 820 1998 1,000 700 1 1998 figures are provisional 2 A deportation order enforced in one year may have been signed in an earlier year Note:
All figures are rounded to the nearest ten