§ Ross CranstonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is Home Office policy to resist applications for adjournments of asylum cases where applicants prima facie fall within the amnesty. [152464]
§ Beverley HughesHome Office policy, generally, is not to oppose applications for adjournments of asylum appeals when asked for a view by Adjudicators in cases where applicants may fall for consideration under the indefinite leave to remain exercise announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 24 October 2003.
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to make provision for children who are not offered temporary residence but whose parents are; [144614]
(2) what factors underlay the decision to grant non-British citizens longer stays in the UK than their children. [144613]
§ Beverley HughesIt is our usual policy to grant dependent children leave to enter or remain in line with that of other parents or carers. As all applications are considered on their individual merits, there may from time to time be cases where a different period of leave is granted. There is no category of temporary residence under the Immigration Rules and there are no plans to introduce one.
§ Mr. Tom HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers were resident in Glasgow in the last year for which figures are available. [153730]
§ Beverley HughesThe information is not available in the form requested.
Statistics on the location of asylum seekers in the UK are linked to the available information on the support that the asylum seeker receives. Asylum seekers currently in the UK are either in receipt of support from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) or from local authorities, or are supporting themselves. Statistics regarding the location of asylum seekers not in receipt of NASS support are unavailable.
The table gives quarterly data on the number of asylum seekers supported by NASS in Glasgow.
368W
In NASS accommodation
In receipt of subsistence only
support from NASS
December 2002 5,665 140 March 2003 6,070 140 June 2003 5,885 140 September 2003 5,730 125 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
§ Jonathan ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends to track the outcomes of unaccompanied children returned under the new pilots to ensure that the return is in the best interests of the child; and what he will do if the assessment of the child's circumstances suggests that removal places him or her at risk. [155401]
§ Beverley HughesThe returns programme is still in the early stages of development. The programme will include a monitoring and evaluation strategy. A child/young person will only be returned under the programme after an individual assessment has been made on their suitability for return. This assessment will be made in partnership with local authority Social Service Departments and will include a judgment as to whether a return is in the child's best interests and whether the child/young person faces any risk on return.
§ Keith VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the current backlog of cases is at each directorate of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [142926]
§ Beverley HughesAt the end of December 2003, the latest date for which published data are available, the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision had continued to fall, to 24,500, the lowest level for a decade, and 40 per cent. lower than at the end of December 2002 (41,300). The number of initial decisions continues to exceed the level of applications. The speed of decision making is at record levels with initial decisions made and served within two months on 80 per cent. of applications1 received in April to September 2003.
In October 2001 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced a package of measures to improve the asylum process. Part of this package was to reduce the number of outstanding asylum cases to a steady state of work in progress. In order to do this the immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) expanded their capacity to process asylum appeals from 4,000 to 6,000 asylum appeals a month by November 2002. These increases, added to other successes in reducing the asylum intake, have meant that the number of outstanding asylum appeals is now reducing down to frictional levels.
A record 81,725 appeals were determined by adjudicators in 2003, more than a quarter (27 per cent.) higher than in 2002 (64,405). The number of appeals determined by adjudicators in Q4 2003 was 22 per cent. higher than Q4 2002 (from 16,615 to 20,285). As a result, the number of asylum appeals lodged with the Home Office which had not been sent to 12,000, 60 per cent. lower than at the end of December 2002 (30,000). A proportion of asylum appeals lodged do not result in appeal bundles being sent to the IAA.
369WThe available information on the number of cases dealt within is given in the Home Office Annual Report 2002–03, copies of which are available from the Library.
Information on the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision and on the number that had not been sent to the IAA is published quarterly on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate web site at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration 1.html.
1excluding withdrawals and third country cases.
§ Paul FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports in the care of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate for the processing of applications have been(a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five years. [148498]
§ Beverley HughesInformation dating back to 1998 for each of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's (IND's) buildings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. For the period 1 April 2003 to 31 January 2004, IND processed 451,974 applications. For the same period, 694 Loss of Passport Letters were issued. This represents 0.15 per cent. of applications received.
A range of measures including the setting up of secure handling areas and the early return of sponsors' passports have been put in place to improve IND's ability to find and return documents at the time of requests.
§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the maximum length of time is that a child has been detained in(a) Dungavel, (b) Tinsley House and (c) Oakington. [151865]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 29 January 2004]Information on the maximum length of stay of people resident in Immigration Service Removal Centres is not available and could be obtained only by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
Information on the number of people detained solely under Immigration Act powers at 27 December 2003 is due to be published on 24 February in the Asylum Statistics: 4th Quarter 2003 publication on the Home Office website: www homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was imposed in fines on(a) airlines and (b) other carriers for transporting illegal immigrants in the last year for which figures are available. [155958]
§ Beverley HughesSeparate records are not kept of charges relating to air carriers only.
During 2003 the total demanded of all carriers under the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 1987 and under Section 40 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 was £7.55 million. These charges relate to persons arriving in the United Kingdom without the required documents. Such charges may arise where persons arrive with genuine passports but do not have the required visa, where they arrive with forged documents or impersonate the rightful holder of a document or where they arrive with no document. In the majority 370W of cases the persons concerned are classified as inadequately documented passengers. rather than illegal entrants.