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Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 which have come into force, indicating the date on which each came into force and (b) the provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 which have yet to come into force and the projected date on which each will come into force. [124443]
Mrs. Roche: Section 170 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 lists those of its provisions which came into force on Royal Assent. The Schedule to the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (Commencement No.4) Order 2000 (SI 2000 No. 1282 (C.38)), specifies the provisions which commenced on 22 May 2000 and lists those provisions which have been brought into effect by earlier Commencement Orders.
We are keeping implementation of the Act's remaining provisions under review. However, our current intention is to phase implementation of the major provisions as follows:
- Provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- June to September 2000
- Carriers' Liability provisions in Part II
- From October 2000
- Bond scheme for visitors pilot provided for in section 16 and 17 of Part I;
- Single, comprehensive appeal process provided for in Part IV and related provisions in sections 10-12 and 23 of Part I;
- Under Part V, the regulatory body established by the Immigration Services Commissioner will begin to consider applications for registration and exemption. The Immigration Services Tribunal will be established;
- Fingerprinting provisions in Part VII;
- Statutory management and operation of detention centres under Part VIII;
- Powers of superintendent registrars regarding marriage in Part IX and their duty to report suspicious marriages in section 24 of Part I.
- From April 2001
- Code of practice on restriction on employment in Part I;
- Immigration control: facilities and charges provisions in Part I;
- Bail provisions in Part III;
- Full implementation of the scheme to regulate immigration advisers and immigration service providers under Part V.
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Harassment (Formal Warnings)
Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many formal warnings have been issued to (a) juveniles and (b) adults under powers contained in the Harassment Act 1997 in (i) Manchester, (ii) Trafford, (iii) Greater Manchester and (iv) England. [124525]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Records of formal warnings are not held centrally.
Schengen Information System
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 May 2000, Official Report, columns 52-53W, on the Schengen Information System, when he made an application for participation in that system; what reply he has received; and if (a) Iceland and (b) Norway participate in the manner for which he has made application and without any additional condition. [124378]
Mrs. Roche: The United Kingdom's application to participate in parts of the Schengen acquis, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), which was made on 20 May 1999, was agreed by the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 29 May 2000. The SIS will be a valuable weapon in the fight against organised and international crime as part of Schengen co-operation agreements.
Iceland and Norway's applications to become associated members of Schengen were agreed in December 1996 within Schengen structures and subsequently in accordance with Article 6(1) of the Schengen Protocol in Council Decision 1999/437/EC. They are not expected to have implemented the Schengen acquis fully until next year. When they have done so, they will participate in the SIS in broadly the same way as the United Kingdom will do when it has implemented the acquis. The principal difference will be that the United Kingdom has not sought access to, and exchange of, immigration data contained in the SIS as it will not participate in those parts of the acquis which concern external frontier controls.
Kosovo
Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what inquiries he proposes to undertake about housing conditions in Kosovo for those refugees expected to return from the United Kingdom by 25 June. [124907]
Mrs. Roche: The Home Office receives regular up-to-date information regarding housing conditions in Kosovo from a range of sources including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Opinion Research
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 25 May 2000, Official Report, column 623W, concerning market and opinion research, if he will list the title and purpose of each item of research, stating in each case whether the results will be published. [124899]
8 Jun 2000 : Column: 374W
Mr. Straw: For the available information, I refer to the reply I gave the hon. Member on 19 July 1999, Official Report, column 392W, and to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael), the then Minister of State, Home Office, to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 23 February 1998, Official Report, columns 51-52W, and the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Mr. Fabricant) on 3 July 1998, Official Report, column 287W. Details of the eight completed and a further eight on-going additional items to add to this list have been placed in the Library.
Racial Discrimination
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is concerning the burden of proof in cases of alleged racial discrimination. [125053]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This Government welcome the agreement of the European Community Directive on racial discrimination, which includes a provision requiring the respondent, once a prima facie case of discrimination has been made by the complainant and accepted by the court or other instance, to demonstrate that there is a reasonable explanation for the practice or criterion concerned. This applies only to civil cases.
This does not represent a major change in terms of United Kingdom legal practice. Under current United Kingdom law, United Kingdom tribunals can and do, if faced with facts which raise a presumption of discrimination, draw inferences that discrimination has occurred.
Immigration
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people are employed and at which grades in (a) the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and (b) the Immigration Service; [125044]
- (2) if he will list the locations where members of the Immigration Service are employed, indicating in each case the number of staff and their grades. [125043]
Mrs. Roche: On 1 June 2000, there were a total of 6,817 staff employed by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, of whom 2,786 were employed within the Immigration Service and 4,031 were generalist grades. A breakdown by grade is as follows:
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There are 69 locations where members of the Immigration Service are employed and the breakdown by grade, including staff who are in training, in each of those locations is as follows:
8 Jun 2000 : Column: 376W
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