§ Mr. Neil TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will make changes to the authorisation under section 19D of the Race Relations Act 1976 concerning discrimination of the basis of ethnic or national origin in the examination of passengers. [13906]
§ Angela EagleMy right hon. and noble Friend Lord Rooker has been reviewing the authorisation made on 23 April by his predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Homsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche)—the Race Relations (Immigration and Asylum) (No. 2) Authorisation 2001—each month on the basis of statistical evidence and intelligence material produced by the Immigration Service. The authorisation permitted the Immigration Service to pay particular attention to arriving passengers from certain specified ethnic or national groups, namely Afghans, Albanians, Kurds, Pontic Greeks, Roma, Somalis, Tamils and persons of Chinese ethnic origin carrying Japanese or Malaysian travel documents.
My right hon. and noble Friend has amended the authorisation to remove Pontic Greeks from the list of specified groups, on the grounds that while intelligence suggests that members of this group may pose a threat to the United Kingdom's immigration control in future, there is not sufficient evidence at present to maintain their current inclusion in the authorisation. The remaining groups covered by the authorisation remain unchanged.
A copy of the authorisation has been placed in the Library.