APPENDIX
Letter dated 8 January 2004 from Beverley
Hughes MP, Minister of State, Home Office, to the Chairman of
the Committee
I am writing to you in your capacity as Chair to
the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) in response to the Committee's
request on 6 January for a list of the Government's public announcements
that have been made in light of my response to your report of
8 May 2003 on the subject of Asylum Removals.
At the time, the Government welcomed the report as
a constructive contribution to the debate on this difficult subject.
In the circumstances I thought that it might be useful if I provide
the Committee with an update on all those recommendations on which
we undertook to take further action. The report on progress is
attached as an annex to this letter. For completeness I have also
included my earlier responses.
The Committee will recall that in my letter of 8
July 2003 I explained that the Government was unable to accept
a number of the recommendations made in the report. On these recommendations,
I trust that my letter clarified the Government's reasons for
so doing and there is little that I can usefully add here to my
earlier comments.
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