§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many comments have been received about the proposal contained in Fairer, Faster and Firmer for a bond scheme for visitors to the United Kingdom; how many responses have been received to the consultation document Financial Bonds for Visitors; and, of both of these, how many have supported the proposal and how many have opposed it. [HL1292]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonWe shall make an announcement about the results of the consultation process on the design of a pilot study for financial bonds in due course, covering both the White Paper proposal and the specific consultation paper.
§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many cases of applicants for visitors' visas in the last 12 months have involved the difficult decisions referred to in Fairer, Faster and Firmer, such that the applicant would therefore be required to put forward a financial bond. [HL1293]
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§ Lord Bassam of BrightonNo figures are available for family visits (the category that the bond scheme is intended for) involving decisions of this kind. The proposal arose not from statistics on refusals but from representations to Ministers from members of ethnic minority communities who expressed concern that some relatives might have had their entry clearance applications refused because of doubts as to their intention to leave the United Kingdom at the end of their visit.
§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people in a full year they expect to be deterred from visiting the United Kingdom as a result of the scheme to require financial bonds from certain visitors; and how many people they expect to be able to visit the United Kingdom, a bond having been supplied, who would not otherwise have been given a visa. [HL1294]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonWe do not expect that anybody will be deterred from visiting the United Kingdom as a result of the bond scheme; its purpose is to facilitate the grant of entry clearance in borderline cases where there are doubts as to the intention of the visitors to leave the United Kingdom at end of their visit. The number of extra grants is expected to be small, with most cases (as now) being clear grants or refusals of entry clearance.
§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What criteria they will use to determine whether the financial bond scheme proposed in Fairer, Faster and Firmer is discriminatory; and what process will be used to assess whether those criteria have been met. [HL1295]
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Removals and voluntary departures (1) of asylum applicants, excluding dependants, by selected nationality, 1990 to 1999 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Turkey n/a n/a 130 130 145 120 190 250 185 n/a Sri Lanka n/a n/a 60 75 55 65 80 95 140 n/a Pakistan n/a n/a 45 90 170 190 420 650 710 n/a India n/a n/a 165 225 290 355 685 825 870 n/a Ghana n/a n/a 90 130 175 210 270 370 285 n/a Nigeria n/a n/a 65 105 210 310 400 505 515 n/a former Czechoslovakia of whom: n/a n/a 5 * 20 10 65 225 390 n/a Czech Republic2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 10 50 110 160 n/a Slovakia n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 0 15 120 230 n/a Poland n/a n/a 10 105 40 245 285 815 605 n/a Romania n/a n/a 35 105 90 200 260 305 335 n/a Data are rounded to 5. * represents 1 or 2. n/a data are not available. 1 Includes any voluntary departure up to and including notification of the decision on the asylum application for port applicants. Includes removals under enforcement powers and those departing voluntarily following enforcement action for in-country applicants. 2 Figures for Czech Republic include holders of Czechoslovakian passports. n/a = Not available 1 Figures rounded to nearest 5, with '*' = 1 or 2. 2 Information is of initial determination decisions, excluding the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions.
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonThe criteria for assessing whether a bond has been requested in a genuinely borderline case, and for ensuring that the scheme is not operated in a discriminatory way, have yet to be decided, but we expect to compare pre-pilot family visitor entry clearance application, grant and refusal figures with those arising during the pilot, together with random checking of a selection of applications where a bond has been requested.
§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which Embassies or High Commissions are likely to be included in the proposed pilot scheme envisaged in the consultation document Financial Bonds for Visitors. [HL1296]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonWe have not yet decided where to run the pilot scheme.