§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are used to determine which asylum seekers should be sent to Oakington Reception Centre; what the qualifying nationalities for detention at Oakington are; how many and what percentage of new asylum seekers from each of the nationalities listed in the instructions were sent to Oakington in the last three months for which figures are available; on what grounds the nationalities listed in the instructions are selected; and if he will make a statement. [155568]
§ Mrs. Roche[holding answer 26 March 2001]: Applicants are referred to Oakington where it appears that their application can be decided quickly, including those which may be certified as manifestly unfounded, and there are no other circumstances which would make their claim unsuitable for Oakington. Nationality is a factor, although not the only factor, in deciding whether a case is suitable for consideration at Oakington as the country of origin has a bearing on the likely complexity of the claim. Information on nationalities currently potentially suitable for consideration at Oakington is provided in the table. Operational constraints, for example the availability of interpreters, limit the range of nationalities than can, in practice, be dealt with at Oakington at any one time.
Applications received for asylum in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants, and those cases referred to Oakington, December 2001 to February 20011 Nationality Total applications2 Cases referred to Oakington Percentage sent to Oakington Albania 395 125 32 Bangladesh 215 38 18 Bolivia3 10 0 0 Brazil3 10 0 0 Cameroon13 85 0 0 China 380 190 50 Ivory Coast 85 0 0 Czech Republic 280 167 59 Estonia 20 8 42 Ghana 45 14 31 Hungary3 * 0 0 India 355 75 21 Iraq 2,130 167 8 Kenya3 60 0 0 Latvia 40 18 45 Lithuania 60 15 25 Nigeria 130 65 51 Pakistan 585 112 19 Poland 190 89 47 Romania 430 85 20 Slovakia 5 3 43 Slovenia3 5 0 0 Tanzania 25 9 38 Ukraine3 135 0 0 Uganda 80 22 27 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 745 117 16 Zimbabwe 390 212 54 1Provisional figures 2Figures are rounded to the nearest 5. "*" denotes 1 or 2 3 Recently introduced nationalities Note:
Referrals to Oakington in December 2000 to January 2001 do not necessarily relate exactly to applications in that period