§ Lord Roberts of Conwyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether steps are currently being taken to check that immigrants and asylum seekers are not members of international terrorist organisations such as the Al' Qaeda network. [HL1462]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin)All asylum seekers are screened in a three-tier process.
First, the details of all asylum seekers are checked against the warnings index.
Secondly, their fingerprints are taken and checked against existing Home Office records and EURODAC and they are photographed. It is our aim to issue all asylum seekers with an application registration card.
The third stage, the interview, has different levels of screening which allow for those with acceptable evidence of identity and nationality to be fed into the system while allowing for more in-depth screening interviews for those with little or no credible evidence. Should there be any indication given during any of the processes that someone might be of security interest, the information is quickly passed on to the appropriate agencies.
As regards non-asylum seekers (visitors, students, those joining family members here and others), appropriate checks are made when a visa is applied for, at the point of entry and when any application for further leave is made. These include checks against the warnings index, the use of local intelligence and UK-held records, targeted examination of persons on entry, the close checking of documents for fraud and the use of profiling where appropriate.