HL Deb 09 March 2001 vol 623 cc51-2WA
Lord Greaves

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In the cases of asylum seekers who are refused asylum on the grounds of non-compliance where the fault appears to lie with a failure on the part of their Home Office contracted solicitors, what action is taken (a) to give fair and just consideration to the applications, and (b) to ensure there is no repeat of the problem. [HL787]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

An application will normally be refused on the ground of non-compliance if without reasonable explanation the applicant fails to attend either a screening or substantive interview or fails to return a form giving further information about the basis of the claim.

This procedure applies whether or not the applicant is legally represented. It is open to the applicant to put forward any reasons for non-compliance in the grounds of appeal or at any other stage of the process until the appeal hearing.

Contracts to provide help and assistance to asylum seekers are awarded under the Community Legal

Police Force Number of Horses Chief Inspector Inspector Police Sergeant Police Constable Civil Support
Avon & Somerset 10 1 10 3
City of London 6 1 7 1
Cleveland 9 1 8 2
Greater Manchester 41 1 1 6 39 30
Humberside 8 1 6 2
Lancashire 20 2 14 10
Merseyside 24 1 2 24 7
Metropolitan 120 1 5 18 125 48

The number of officers in the headquarters based operational units can be varied to meet changing operational pressures. The force does not retain detailed information, over time, of the numbers of officers in headquarters departments or operational units.

In addition to the operational activities of the specialist headquarters units, divisional commanders have authority to set up short-term specialist units to deal with specific problems such as drugs or street robberies from within their available resources.

Service scheme administered by the Legal Services Commission (which replaced the Legal Aid Board). Legal Services Commission contracts are subject to stringent quality standards. Claims for costs are subject to contract compliance audits. Responses to failures to comply with the contract standards could range from disallowing all or part of the costs in a particular case to removal of the contract in extreme cases.