Appendix 1 Letter from Rt Hon
Alan Beith MP, Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee
to Mr David Lammy MP, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State,
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Thank you for sending us your Response to our report
on Asylum and Immigration Appeals, along with your supplementary
Response, which we have now published as a Special Report.
One of the recommendations which we made in the Report
related to the adoption of a universal file number for each applicant
in asylum and immigration cases. Your response to our Report indicates
that this matter is being kept under "continuous review".
You also say that "a longer-term solution towards the development
of a single reference number is likely to be an expensive and
complex exercise". We note that you are "considering
in more depth what the options might be for such a single reference
number, particularly as part of the development of other initiatives
such as the e-Borders programme".
We are not sure quite what this means. This proposal
is a matter about which the Select Committee feels very strongly.
We would be grateful if you would send us a note about the precise
action that you are taking to deal with this particular recommendation.
We would like to know, for example, what options you have considered
for a single reference number. We are particularly concerned about
your suggestion that the development of a single reference number
is likely to be an expensive and complex exercise. We would like
to know why this is so.
I am aware that a lot of your staff will wish to
be away for August, but would it be possible for you to send us
a short note by the time the House resumes in September?
If necessary, the Committee will wish to take oral
evidence on this subject.
22 July 2004
