§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been issued by the National Asylum Support Service with a Department of Health certificate HC2 entitling them to free NHS services in the last 12 months; and what services are available with an HC2 certificate. [159836]
§ Mrs. Roche33,0001 asylum seekers have been provided with National Asylum Support Service (NASS) support during the period 3 April 2000 to 28 February 2001. All principal NASS applicants are issued with a HC2 on successful application to NASS for support. Details of dependants, if any, are included on the certificate. The HC2 lists the services available. This includes free NHS prescriptions, free NHS dental treatment and free NHS sight tests.
1Figures rounded to the nearest 10.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what opportunities for appeal(a) local authorities and (b) local electors have against the designation of their areas as a cluster for asylum seekers; [159678]
(2) how many places have had their designation as cluster areas for asylum seekers removed; and for what reasons. [159740]
§ Mrs. RocheThe National Asylum Support Service consults regional consortiums which are local authority-led about the identification of cluster areas. Any evidence put forward about the suitability of the area for the accommodation of asylum seekers received as part of this consultation process will be taken into account. Once an area has been identified as a cluster area there is no formal appeal process against its use for accommodating asylum seekers, but any evidence put forward as to why a particular area should no longer be a cluster would be given due consideration. No area has had their designation as a cluster area removed.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether North-East Lincolnshire council was consulted about the suitability of Springfield hostel, Grimsby for asylum seekers; and to whom it can now make representations on the suitability of that location. [159763]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Springfield hostel Grimsby has not been presented to the national asylum support service (NASS) as possible accommodation for asylum seekers by any of its providers. In the event that it is presented to NASS it will, if it contains more than six bed spaces, be subject to a 28-day consultation period with the local authority.
677WIf North-East Lincolnshire council wishes to make representations to NASS about the potential use of this property in advance of its possible future presentation it should contact the NASS regional manager for Yorkshire and Humberside.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places have been designated as cluster areas for asylum seekers; and if he will list them, giving the area covered by each. [159747]
§ Mrs. RocheTo date 71 cluster areas have been identified throughout the United Kingdom. These areas are recorded by region:
678W
Region East of England Ipswich Norwich Cambridge Great Yarmouth Peterborough East Midlands Leicester Nottingham Derby South Central and East Brighton and Hove Hastings and St. Leonards Portsmouth North East Newcastle Middlesborough Sunderland North Tyneside Gateshead South Tyneside Redcar and Cleveland Hartlepool Darlington Stockton on Tees North West Manchester (Greater Manchester) Bolton (Greater Manchester) Bury (Greater Manchester) Oldham (Greater Manchester) Rochdale (Greater Manchester) Salford (Greater Manchester) Stockport (Greater Manchester) Tameside (Greater Manchester) Trafford (Greater Manchester) Wigan (Greater Manchester) Burnley Blackburn Liverpool Nelson Scotland Edinburgh Glasgow South West Bristol Gloucester Swindon Taunton and Bridgewater Exeter South Gloucestershire Torbay Plymouth North Somerset Bath Wales Cardiff Newport Swansea Wrexham Bridgend and Porthcawl
Region West Midlands Birmingham Coventry Wolverhampton Dudley Sandwell Solihull Walsall Stoke on Trent Yorkshire Sheffield Bradford and Keighley Leeds Rotherham Wakefield Hull Kirklees Doncaster Halifax Barnsley Grimsby Destitute asylum seekers may also be accommodated in Northern Ireland, although they are not dispersed there.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the membership and location are of each regional consortium for the dispersal of asylum seekers; and how the members were appointed. [159736]
§ Mrs. RocheRegional consortiums have been established through out the United Kingdom as follows:
- London
- South East and Central
- North East
- North West
- Yorkshire and Humberside
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland
- Arrangements exist for the South West of England.
Each consortium is responsible for appointing its own members, but it is recognised that no one agency or organisation is equipped to deliver the full range of services. Accordingly, they should have a structure that enables input from a wide range of agencies such as local authorities, the police, health and education authorities, the voluntary sector, accommodation providers and other organisations with in interest.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what account is taken of local(a) unemployment rates, (b) health services and (c) education provision in the designation of cluster areas and the allocation of asylum seekers to them; [159733]
(2) how he intends to secure a fair and equitable dispersal of asylum seekers between areas designated and areas not designated as cluster areas; [159749]
(3) what control (a) the local authority, (b) the Health Service and (c) the education authority have on the number of asylum seekers allocated to a cluster area; and how their views are taken into account; [159725]
679W(4) if the Commission for Racial B quality is consulted about the dispersal of asylum seekers, the designation of cluster areas for their reception and he numbers sent to each area. [159726]
§ Mrs. RocheThe National Asylum Support Service (NASS) conducts research to identify cluster areas. Information is received from the local authority led regional consortiums, voluntary groups and other organisations with an interest in asylum. There is a consultation process in place to seek advice from local health and education authorities. Any information received will be taken into account, and this can include information about unemployment rates, health services and education provision. The Commission for Racial Equality is consulted on specific issues.
Ideally, NASS aims to establish cluster areas where there is suitable and available accommodation and where it would be possible to link with existing communities and to develop the support of voluntary and community groups. In some cases not all of the above criteria will be in place before asylum seekers are dispersed and it is recognised that some support structures are unlikely to develop until asylum seekers are actually located in an area.
NASS is continuing its research to identify further cluster areas to ensure that dispersal is fair and equitable.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the(a) total population and (b) ethnic minority percentage are of each cluster area for dispersal of asylum seekers; [159744]
(2) what the criteria are for the designation of luster areas for the reception of asylum seekers; [159745]
(3) what weighting is given to the size of the ethnic minority population as a factor designating cluster areas for asylum seekers; and what racial or ethnic affinities are taken into account; [159750]
(4) in taking account of the size of the local ethnic minority population in designating cluster areas for the reception of asylum seekers, whether asylum seekers already there are included; and what part the numbers of the latter play in the decision to locate further asylum seekers there. [159751]
§ Mrs. RocheThe identification of cluster areas follows research conducted centrally by the National Asylum Support Service and on information fed through by the local authority led regional consortiums, voluntary groups and other organisations with an interest. When considering if an area is suitable for accommodating asylum seekers a number of factors are taken into account. These include the make up of the local population, the number of asylum seekers already present in the area and the effect on the local area of placing additional asylum seekers there. The weight given to actual numbers will vary between areas. Information on the total population and percentage from ethnic minorities in individual cluster areas is not recorded centrally.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds and when Grimsby was designated a cluster area for the reception of asylum seekers; and if he will set out the consequences of this designation. [159746]
680W
§ Mrs. RocheThe National Asylum Support Service (NASS) consulted all regional consortiums to identify suitable cluster areas for the accommodation of asylum seekers before Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 came into force. As part of this consultation process NASS sought the views of the Yorkshire and Humberside regional consortium, of which Grimsby is part. The consortiums provided a list of towns and cities that were considered suitable to accommodate asylum seekers and the list from the Yorkshire and Humberside regional consortium included Grimsby. Grimsby has been designated as a cluster area since 3 April 2000, when the new support arrangements came into force.
Designation as a cluster area means that an area is deemed suitable to send asylum seekers under the dispersal arrangements operated by the National Asylum Support Service. Further, schools with asylum seeking children dispersed to the area by NASS on their registers were able in the last financial year 2000–01 to apply for additional grant of up to £500 per pupil. This grant could be used to assist the child to settle quickly into school. In addition the grant to the local authority is based on the standard spending assessment which takes account of rises in the local population.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum applications made in each year since 1996 are yet to be determined by his Department. [159581]
§ Mrs. RocheThe information is not readily available, and could be obtained only by examination of individual case records, and is, therefore, available only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the total number of applications awaiting an initial decision is published monthly on the web page: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ immigrationl.html
The provisional number of applications awaiting an initial decision at the end of March 2001 was 36,390.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many asylum applicants whose applications were refused for non-compliance were subsequently granted(a) refugee status and (b) exceptional leave to enter or remain in each month of (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001; and what proportion this represents of the total numbers refused on that basis;[159586]
(2) in how many cases where asylum applications were refused for non-compliance those decisions were subsequently withdrawn in each month of (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001. [159585]
§ Mrs. RocheThe information is not readily available. Reliable data could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case files.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were granted(a) refugee status and (b) exceptional leave to enter or remain in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001, including those granted such status following an initial refusal of asylum. [159584]
681W
§ Mrs. RocheThe information requested is not readily available and would be obtained only by examination of individual case files relating to the outcomes of initial decisions and of appeals, which would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on the outcomes of initial decisions, and on the outcomes or appeals determined by the immigration appellate authority, is published monthly on the Department's website at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons whose asylum applications were refused in each month of(a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001 were refused for (i) failing to return a statement of evidence within the time specified, (ii) returning a statement of evidence in a language other than English and (iii) returning a statement of evidence on time but inadequately completed. [159583]
§ Mrs. RocheInformation relating to asylum applicants who did not submit their statement of evidence form (SEF) within the 10 working day deadline, or submitted it within the time specified but inadequately completed or in a language other than English, is not currently routinely collected and so could be obtained only through examination of individual case records and is therefore available only at disproportionate cost.
The available information relates to total refusals of asylum on non-compliance grounds (failure to comply with our procedures and regulations) including failure to provide further evidence as required, failure to respond to invitations to interview to establish identity, failure to complete a SEF correctly and within the time allowed.
Information on the number of refusals, and the number of refusals on non-compliance grounds, is published regularly on the Department's website at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm.The statistics show that at least three quarters of applicants do complete their SEFs in time.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department makes a decision to refuse an asylum application on non-compliance grounds and later withdraws that decision to grant or refuse asylum in that case, if the second decision on that case is included as a decision made in the monthly statistics published by his Department. [159582]
§ Mrs. RocheA small number of refusals on non-compliance grounds are reconsidered for a variety of reasons. Those cases are granted asylum, exceptional leave to remain or are refused based on the individual merits of each case. If in due course we find that a significant number of those cases result in the grant of asylum or exceptional leave to remain, we will consider what is the best way to publish the data on the outcomes of reconsidered decisions once we are satisfied that it is reliable.
The monthly statistics published by the Home Office are based on initial decision only.