§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the number of asylum seekers' vouchers presented at designated stores; and if he will make a statement. [143639]
§ Mrs. RocheThe national asylum support service does not hold information on the number of vouchers presented to shops participating in the voucher scheme.
At the end of November, the voucher supplier, Sodexho Pass United Kingdom Ltd. had issued a total of 4,247,819 vouchers, which included 390,017 of the £l0 vouchers, which can be exchanged for cash at the Post Office. By the same date, a total of 2,307,645 vouchers had been redeemed, including 210,521 of the £l0 cash-vouchers and a small number of vouchers from local authority schemes, which the voucher supplier does not distinguish from national asylum support service vouchers.
421WThe substantial difference between the number of vouchers issued and the numbers redeemed is accounted for by the time lag between issue and redemption. Vouchers are valid for up to four weeks and retailers then have an additional four weeks in which to redeem them, so vouchers issued at the end of November will not necessarily be redeemed until the end of January. We would expect vouchers issued at the end of September to he redeemed by the end of November. At the end of September, 2,047,088 vouchers had been issued, including 189,536 cash vouchers.
§ Mr. GerrardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the evidence which has been submitted to him in relation to his review of the voucher scheme for asylum seekers. [143927]
§ Mrs. RocheAs I said when I wrote to all Members on 28 November 2000, we intend to publish the evidence submitted to us during the review. Unless respondents have specifically advised us that they wish their submissions to remain confidential, I will place copies in the Library.