§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following criticisms by the independent Advisory Panel on Country Infomation with regard to Somalia and Sri Lanka, whether they intend to revise the Home Office country assessments and, if so, how this will be done. [HL2674]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalThe Advisory Panel on Country Information directly evaluated the country reports for Somalia and Sri Lanka, but also invited comments from 50 organisations and individuals regarding all the country reports published in October 2003.
We have considered carefully the comments made by both the advisory panel and the respondents to its consultation exercise, accepting some of those comments but not accepting others. Where appropriate, amendments have been made to individual country reports for the April 2004 editions. Also, in the light of the feedback received, the Home Office has introduced a range of general measures to improve the methods and procedures by which country reports are produced. Details of the Home Office's responses to individual comments and the general measures introduced may be found on the panel's website (www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ default.asp?pageid = 4470) in the papers submitted in relation to the panel's second meeting.