§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum applicants are resident at the Immigration Reception Centre at Oakington. [89798]
§ Beverley HughesIn order to maximise the impact of the non- suspensive appeal provisions, Oakington has since 7 November 2002 taken only claimants from the 10 EU accession states (Cryprus, the Czech Republic, Eatonia, Hungary, Lativa, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia) listed as 'safe in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002'. Claims from these countries will be refused and certified as clearly unfounded, generating a non-suspensive appeal (NSA) right, unless the Home Secretary is satisfied they are not.
In these cases, applicants are detained at Oakington for their decision and until removal, unless it is judged necessary to transfer them to secure detention. The daily intake at Oakington has so far been dependent on claims from persons entitled to reside in these 10 countries. Numbers dropped significantly in December 2002 and have so far remained low in January 2003.
As a result, from 12 January 2003 Oakington has resumed a level of intake from the list of 40 previous nationalities from the Oakington suitable list. This will enable us to make best use of Oakington while retaining the flexibility to give absolute priority to the 10 nationalities at present covered by the NSA process and to wider use of that process at present under consideration.
On 10 January 2003 32 people were detained at the centre.