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Lord Kirkhill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Governor submitted his last report to my right honourable friend on 20 June A copy has been placed in the Library.
Lord Parry asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Convention Determining the State Responsible for Examining Applications for Asylum Lodged in One of the Member States of the European Communities--the "Dublin Convention"--will come into force on 1 September 1997. The convention, which was ratified by the United Kingdom in 1992, provides a mechanism for determining which member state should be responsible for deciding an asylum application made in the European Union.
Responsibility is determined according to a set of criteria. These include whether the applicant has a close family member recognised as a refugee in another member state; whether another member state has granted the person a residence permit or visa; the location of any illegal entry into the European Union; and the existence of a previous asylum application. The applicant can only be transferred under the convention if the receiving state agrees that is responsible and if specific arrangements are made for the transfer. In many cases the receiving state will not be the one from which the applicant embarked. There will be no change to the existing requirement that we must be satisfied that the applicant's life or liberty would not be threatened in the country concerned on account of his race, religion, etc; and that he would not be sent on to another state in breach of the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees.
The convention provides for the exchange of information on asylum applicants with other European Union states. This may include personal information such as fingerprints. The convention requires that such information may only be used for asylum purposes and may only be communicated to the authorities competent to make decisions on asylum cases. Information about the basis of an asylum claim itself may only be exchanged with the permission of the applicant.
Lord Shepherd asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: An update on the impact of the National Lottery on the horserace betting levy has been published today. This fulfils an undertaking made during the passage of the National Lottery Bill.
The paper, which has been prepared by the Economics Unit of the Home Office, examines continuing trends in off-course betting expenditure, on which the levy is closely dependent.
The statistical analysis suggests that, in 1996, betting expenditure off-course was about 10 per cent. below the level it would have reached in the absence of the National Lottery. Horserace betting accounts for an estimated 70 per cent. of such expenditure, and therefore the levy yield is likely to have been similarly affected. This can only be an approximate figure, and the effect of the lottery may vary over time.
Lord Bruce of Donington asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Copies of the paper setting out the Government's proposals for new data protection legislation will be placed in the Library tomorrow morning at 10 am.
Baroness Serota asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: We will implement most of the provisions of the Act, and to the same timetable as envisaged by the previous administration. The provisions of the Act which we will implement are set out below, according to the target date of implementation.
Provisions to be implemented in 1997:
We have also decided not to implement the new early release arrangements set out in Section 8, 10-26 and related paragraphs of Schedule 4 and Schedule 5. The same effect can be achieved in a far more clear and straightforward way by ensuring that judges and magistrates spell out in open court what the sentence they have imposed really means in practice. Sections 20-21, which deal with extended post-release supervision of violent and sexual offenders, are integrally linked with the other early release provisions and will not be implemented, but we will bring forward in the Crime and Disorder Bill alternative provisions which will provide the additional protection of the public which they were designed to achieve.
Baroness Serota asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Review of Delay in the Criminal Justice System was set up in October 1996 and its report was published on 27 February 1997. Interested parties were then invited to comment on the 33 recommendations in the report. My right honourable friends the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney-General have considered these recommendations, taking account of the responses received, and they have concluded that many of them have the potential substantially to reduce delay without impairing the quality of justice.
We have therefore decided to accept the following recommendations, making legislative provision (where necessary) in the Crime and Disorder Bill:
We are not persuaded that the case for removing defendants' right of election has yet been made out. But since responses to the consultation exercise indicated some substantial support for this proposal, we shall consider this question further, with a view to publishing a more detailed consultation paper in due course.
The Government's response to all the recommendations of the Review of Delay in the Criminal Justice System is set out in a document which has been placed in the Library.
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