The Committee's inquiry
4. The key questions we announced as the basis of
our inquiry were:
"What are the reasons for the rise in asylum
applications to the UK over the last ten years?
How adequately and fairly are asylum applications
managed today? How did the backlog of asylum determinations arise?
Is it being dealt with satisfactorily?
How adequately is support provided to asylum
seekers by the National Asylum Support Service?
How appropriately is detention used in respect
of asylum applicants?
What will be the effects on the management of
asylum applications of changes made in the Nationality, Immigration
and Asylum Act 2002 and the Prime Minister's pledge to halve the
number of asylum seekers by September 2003?
What is the possible impact of any proposed change
to the treaties covering asylum and refugees to which the UK is
committed?"[7]
During the course of the inquiry we considered other
issues, including the relationship between the asylum process,
economic migration and illegal working in the UK, international
co-operation in dealing with asylum seekers, and the possible
future contribution of the UK to assisting refugees overseas closer
to their countries of origin.
5. During the course of our inquiry we took oral
evidence on nine occasions and received 84memoranda. Oral evidence
was taken from Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Citizenship,
Immigration and Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office, accompanied
by officials of the Immigration and Nationality Department; and
from the following organisations: Amnesty International, the Immigration
Advisory Service, the Law Society, the Refugee Council and the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees. In addition, the
following persons gave oral evidence in an individual capacity:
Mr Mohammad Fahim Akbari, Mr Zemmarai Shohabi and Mr Hashmatullah
Zarabi, refugees; Mr Tom Bentley and Mr Theo Veencamp, co-authors
of the Demos pamphlet People Flow; Dr Heaven Crawley, Director
of the Migration and Equalities Programme, Institute of Public
Policy Research; Mr Peter Gilroy, Strategic Director of Social
Services, Kent County Council and Chair of the Association of
Directors of Social Services Asylum Task Force; Mr Martin Howe
QC, author of the Politeia pamphlet Tackling Terrorism;
Simon Hughes MP, Principal Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Home
and Legal Affairs; Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP, Shadow Home Secretary;
and Ms Harriet Sergeant, author of the Centre for Policy Studies
pamphlet Welcome to the Asylum. The Committee also visited
Dover, to inspect border controls and reception facilities for
asylum seekers; and Croydon, to see the IND Asylum Screening Unit
and the National Asylum Support Service.
6. In parallel with our inquiry, the Constitutional
Affairs Committee (formerly the Select Committee on the Lord Chancellor's
Department) has been conducting an inquiry into Asylum and
Immigration Appeals. On 31 October 2003 that Committee published
a report commenting on the Government's proposed changes to legal
aid for asylum and immigration work.[8]
We understand that a further report on the appeals system as a
whole is likely to be published in Spring 2004. We are grateful
to the Constitutional Affairs Committee for keeping us informed
of the progress of their inquiry. In our report we make some comments
on the asylum appeals system and the Government's proposed reforms
to it, but, being aware of our sister committee's ongoing investigation,
we do not deal with this subject in extensive detail.
2 
