§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria his Department follows for(a) initiating deportation proceedings under the Immigration Act 1971 and (b) initiating denaturalisation proceedings under the British Nationality Act 1981. [74750]
§ Beverley HughesA person who is not a British citizen is liable to deportation on the grounds that this would be conducive to the public good, or if another person to whose family he belongs is being deported (limited to the spouse and any minor dependent children of the person being deported). He or she may also be deported following a recommendation made by a court under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1971.
Before any decision to deport is taken, all relevant factors are taken into account, including: age; length of residence in and strength of connections with the United Kingdom; personal history, including character, conduct and employment record; domestic circumstances; criminal record; compassionate circumstances; and any representations received on the person's behalf (paragraph 364–367 of the Immigration Rules (HC395 as amended)).
The criteria for deprivation of citizenship are set out in section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981. The grounds are that the person either obtained his nationality by fraud, has shown himself to be disloyal or disaffected towards Her Majesty, has unlawfully traded or communicated with an enemy in time of war, or has been sentenced within five years of becoming British to at least 12 months imprisonment.
§ Mr. FlookTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the handling of the application for indefinite leave to remain by Irena Iotova Nikolova (C1059475) of Taunton. [74326]
§ Beverley HughesThe Immigration and Nationality Directorate notified Mrs. Nikolova's representatives on 1 October 2002 that she had been granted indefinite leave to remain. A letter was enclosed apologising for both the delay in resolving her case and the administrative failures which resulted in the original application being erroneously refused. I echo those apologies.
§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the number of illegal refugees entering Britain in each of the last five years;[74486]
(2) What estimate he has made of the number of refugees who have (a) entered Britain illegally, (b) remained in Britain after being refused asylum and (c) been given exceptional leave to remain in Britain after their asylum application has failed in each of the last five years. [74395]
750W
§ Beverley HughesThe number of principal asylum applicants granted exceptional leave to remain in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years is given in the table.
Year Grants of ELR1.2 Granted ELR under clearance backlog exercise 1997 3,115 — 1998 3,910 — 1999 2,465 10,195 2000 11,475 10,020 2001(p) 21,175 — Notes:
Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
1 includes reconsideration cases in 2000 or 2001 where an asylum decision by the Secretary of State is later required to be reconsidered as a result of additional information or significant changes in current circumstances and country information.
2 Data for 2000 may include some cases decided under the backlog criteria.
(p) Data are provisional and subject to change.
I regret that there are currently no estimates of the number of persons who have entered Britain illegally or remained in Britain after being refused asylum. The Research Development and Statistics Directorate of the Home Office has commissioned research to look at the methodology of sizing the illegal population and is due to report next year.
§ Mr. LazarowiczTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many organisations, broken down by region and nation, have been approved for registration or exemption by the office of the Immigration Service Commissioner. [74142]
§ Beverley HughesAs of 1 October 2002, the number of organisations registered with, or exempted by, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) was as follows:
751W
England Organisations registered with the OISC Oranisations exempted by the OISC Avon 1 8 Bedfordshire 2 10 Berkshire 4 10 Buckinghamshire 1 7 Cambridgeshire 0 8 Cheshire 1 9 Cleveland 0 5 Cornwall 1 8 County Durham 0 8 Cumbria 0 8 Derbyshire 1 7 Devon 0 13 Dorset 0 10 East Sussex 0 10 East Yorks 1 1 Essex 0 27 Gloucestershire 0 7 Hampshire 0 24 Herefordshire 0 1 Hertfordshire 1 17 Isle of Wight 0 1 Kent 1 26 Lancashire 8 46 Leicestershire 0 15 Lincolnshire 0 9 London 87 183
England Organisations registered with the OISC Organisations exempted by the OISC Merseyside 1 22 Middlesex 13 14 Norfolk 0 10 North Humberside 0 2 North Yorkshire 0 10 Northamptonshire 0 10 Northumberland 0 7 Nottinghamshire 0 11 Oxfordshire 1 14 Shropshire 0 6 Somerset 0 5 South Humberside 0 2 South Yorkshire 0 24 Staffordshire 0 15 Suffolk 0 11 Surrey 10 29 Tyne & Wear 0 9 Warwickshire 0 7 West Midlands 9 27 West Sussex 0 11 West Yorkshire 3 24 Wiltshire 2 8 Worcestershire 0 6 Total 148 762
Northern Ireland Organisations registered with the OISC Organisations exempted by the OISC County Antrim 1 16 County Down 1 7 County Armagh 0 3 County Tyrone 0 3 County Derry 0 1 Total 2 31 752W
Scotland Oraganisations registered with the OISC Oraganisations exempted by the OISC Aberdeen City 0 1 Aberdeenshire 0 1 Angus 0 3 Argyll & Bute 0 0 Clackmannanshire 0 0 Comhairle nan Eilean 0 4 Siar Dumfies & Galloway 1 7 Dundee City 0 1 East Ayrshire 0 1 East Dunbartonshire 0 1 East Lothian 0 2 East Renfrewshire 0 1 Edinburgh City 0 10 Falkirk 0 3 Fife 0 0 Glasgow City 3 10 Highland 0 5 Inverclyde 0 0 Midlothian 0 3 Moray 0 1 North Ayrshire 0 6 North Lanarkshire 0 5 Orkney Islands 1 1 Perth & Kinross 0 2 Renfrewshire 0 1 Scottish Borders 0 4 Shetland Islands 0 1
Scotland Organisations registered with the OISC Organisations exempted by the OISC South Ayrshire 0 0 South Lanarkshire 0 4 Stirling 0 2 West Dunbartonshire 0 2 West Lothian 0 0 Total 5 82
Wales Organisations registered with the OISC Organisations exempted by the OISC Blaenau Gwent 0 1 Bridgend 0 1 Caerphilly 0 1 Cardiff 0 7 Carmarthenshire 0 3 Ceredigion 0 2 Conwy 0 1 Denbighshire 0 1 Flintshire 0 2 Isle of Anglesey 0 1 Merthyr Trdfil 0 1 Monmouthshire 0 4 Neath Port Talbot 0 3 Newport 1 2 Pembrokeshire 0 2 Powys 0 3 Rhondda Cynon Taff 0 3 Swansea 0 2 Torfaen 0 1 Vale of Glamorgan 0 3 Wrexham 0 1 Total 1 45
§ Ms DrownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the time limits on early clearance certificates placed in passports abroad start from when the visa is granted and is given an early clearance certificate stamp. [73793]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienI have been asked to reply.
From 2 October 2000, entry clearances have conferred leave to enter. Leave to enter the United Kingdom is considered to commence on the "valid from" date on the entry clearance and not from the date of arrival in the United Kingdom.