§ Lord Northbrookasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any Minister at the Home Office has discussed the citizenship claims of the Hinduja brothers with the Prime Minister's Envoy, Lord Levy; and [HL668]
Whether the Home Office has ever received representations on behalf of the citizenship claims of the Hinduja brothers from the Prime Minister's Special Envoy, Lord Levy; and [HL669]
Whether the Home Office has ever received representations on behalf of the citizenship claims of the Hinduja brothers from the sole shareholder of the New Millennium Experience Company. [HL670]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonMy right honourable friend the Prime Minister announced on 24 January that he had asked former Treasury Solicitor Sir Anthony Hammond QC to review the full circumstances surrounding approaches to the Home Office in connection with the possibility of an application for naturalisation by Mr S P Hinduja in 1998. Sir Anthony started his review on Thursday 25 January. After an initial reading of the papers, Sir Anthony has decided that, in order to fulfil the terms of reference of his review of the application for naturalisation of S P Hinduja, it is appropriate for him to look at the circumstances of the granting of naturalisation in respect of G P Hinduja because the circumstances of both applications are closely related. For the same reason, he has also decided that it is appropriate for him to look at the circumstances surrounding the inquiries about naturalisation in respect of Prakesh Hinduja.
Sir Anthony aims to complete his review as quickly as possible, consistently with the need to conduct a thorough investigation. I understand that on the information currently available to Sir Anthony, he hopes to complete the review by the end of February. The report will be published and copies will be placed 89WA in the Printed Paper Office and the Library. It would be inappropriate for me to pre-empt the outcome of this review.