§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reporting centres for conducting immigration interviews have been set up in the north-east 833W since January 2000; how many appeals by the Immigration Appeals Authority have been heard in courts based in the north-east; and how many were planned to be heard in the north-east in 2001. [19490]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 3 December 2001]: The north-east has one reporting centre at Waterside Court, Leeds, which opened in October 2000.
I understand from my right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor that the number of adjudicator hearings undertaken by the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) in courts in the north-east since October 2000 until the end of September 2001 was 4,911 for asylum appeals and 976 for immigration appeals. The number of tribunal hearings was 107 for asylum appeals and 31 for immigration appeals. Data prior to October 2000 are not available.
The IAA plan to receive a specified number of adjudicator appeal cases from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate each year. As the current IAA policy is to list cases into the court nearest the appellant's place of residence, area distribution can only be undertaken when appeal papers are received and consequently cannot be planned in advance.