§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his oral statement of 2 December 2002, Official Report, columns 611–12, what criteria he has used to differentiate between Iraqi nationals resident in the Sangatte Refugee Centre and those resident in the United Kingdom in the issuing of work permits. [85480]
§ Beverley HughesIraqis from Sangatte will be issued with work visas in order to admit them to the UK. This is an exceptional scheme designed to deal with an exceptional set of circumstances. It has no implications for other Iraqi nationals resident in the UK.
§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the Iraqi nationals resident in the Sangatte Refugee Centre to whom he intends to offer work permits he expects to be initially accommodated in the county of Kent. [85476]
§ Beverley HughesNone.
§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Treasury on meeting the additional costs of(a) housing, (b) medical care, (c) education and (d) police activity generated by the influx of Iraqis currently accommodated in the Sangatte Refugee Centre from central government funds. [85477]
§ Beverley HughesNone. The Home Office will meet from its own budget any temporary costs arising from the need to receive people from Sangatte and match them to jobs. The Iraqis are being admitted on the basis that they will work. We expect them to make a contribution to our economy, not impose a burden.
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§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his oral statement of 2 December 2002,Official Report, columns 611–12, whether it is his policy that no asylum seekers carrying French badges other than those in Sangatte Refugee Centre will be admitted to the United Kingdom. [85478]
§ Beverley HughesThe Red Cross issued "badges" to all Sangatte residents between 27 September and 5 November. The arrangements announced on 2 December for bringing certain Sangatte residents to the UK apply to "badged" Sangatte residents who presented themselves at the centre by 8 pm on Tuesday 3 December.
§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he has reached with the French Government to ensure that those wishing to seek asylum and having entered France do so in that country and are not permitted to transit to the United Kingdom. [85479]
§ Beverley HughesSince the Sangatte Centre closed to new entrants on 5 November, the French have expected illegal migrants in the Calais area to face deportation or claim asylum in France. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on 2 December that the existing levels of security will be maintained in the Calais area until the message is fully understood that illegal immigration from Northern France to the UK is no longer possible.
§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his oral statement of 2 December 2002,Official Report, columns 611–12, how many (a) Iraqi and (b) Afghan nationals are claiming asylum in the United Kingdom. [85483]
§ Beverley HughesBetween July and September 2002, 4,300 Iraqi and 1,555 Afghan nationals applied for asylum in the United Kingdom (excluding dependants). The number of Iraqi and Afghan asylum applicants currently awaiting an initial decision is not available, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.
77 per cent, of applications received in the period April to June 2002 had initial decisions made and served within two months (excludes withdrawals and third country cases).
Information on asylum applications is published quarterly. The latest publication was published on 29 November 2002 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
§ Angela WatkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what checks are made in the immigration appeal system to prevent individuals making subsequent appeals under an alias after their original appeal has been refused; and what the cost was of such appeals in each of the last five years. [82182]
§ Beverley HughesThe Immigration Acts make provision for a right of appeal against decisions made by the Secretary of State to refuse immigration and asylum applications to an Adjudicator of the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA). An appeal to an adjudicator—the first tier of the IAA —must follow an immigration or asylum application. Consequently it is976W not possible to make a subsequent immigration appeal as described unless another application attracting a right of appeal has been made, and refused. Checks for multiple or alias applications would occur at the application stage rather than at the appeal stage.