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Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The Immigration Rules stipulate that before a decision to deport is reached, full account will be taken of all relevant factors. We have no plans to change this requirement. There is a right of appeal, exercisable before removal, against a decision to deport.
It is our normal practice to take a decision on whether or not to initiate deportation action against someone serving a custodial sentence as soon as practicable, with a view to completing all the administrative action in connection with the decision, including any appeal hearing, prior to the completion of the sentence. Where this can be achieved, removal can be effected at once. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Sometimes the sentence imposed is too short to allow the administrative action to be completed (particularly where time spent on remand is taken into account or the sentence is reduced on appeal); sometimes the deportee will submit an application for asylum or notify us of a change in his circumstances at a late stage; and occasionally there may be difficulties in obtaining a travel document for the person concerned.
The Government do not consider that changing the law to provide that no challenge be made to the Secretary of State's decision to deport would significantly reduce these delays.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Chief Inspector of Prisons submitted the draft report of his inspection of Haslar to my right honourable friend the Home Secretary on 11 September. Under the protocol procedures for the handling of the Chief Inspector's inspection reports,
Ministers approve publication of a report once the Director General of the Prison Service has confirmed its factual accuracy. The Director General wrote to the Chief Inspector on 6 October, seeking the correction of a number of factual inaccuracies within the draft report. Once this correspondence has been concluded, I will make an early decision about publication.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The review of the Quantum project announced by the Director General of the Prison Service on 10 August should take up to six months to complete. Any action will depend upon the outcome of the review. Consultants were employed to facilitate the management of the project, but the papers relating to them contain commercially and legally sensitive material and cannot therefore be made available publicly. The Director General has established an internal inquiry to consider specifically lessons to be learned from the management of the project before 10 August.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Of the 130 Boards of Visitors at prison establishments due to submit an annual report to the Home Secretary in 1997, 66 did not publish their report. The establishments in question were as follows:
Baroness Uddin asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment has been made of the impact of the recommendations of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report Bangladeshis in Britain published in 1986; and[HL3514]
Whether they will consider setting up an inquiry on the progress of the Bangladeshi community in Britain with special reference to educational achievements.[HL3515]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The then Government's response to the 1986 Home Affairs Committee report Bangladeshis in Britain was published in a White Paper in 1987. In 1993, Sir Peter Lloyd provided an update on the progress made with regard to the Bangladeshi community (Official Report, 30 April 1993, col. 568).
The Government do not intend to set up an inquiry into the progress of the Bangladeshi community. The Government are aware of the particular problems of the Bangladeshi community and will address these issues as part of their wider policy of tackling racism and discrimination in society.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): The information requested is as follows:
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Amos: While there is no reason to believe that there is a widespread problem of corruption in the World Bank, we welcome the steps taken by the bank to root out corruption and fraud in the organisation. These include recent measures to introduce an anti-corruption hot line and an Oversight Committee responsible for supervising all investigations. We are satisfied that the World Bank is doing its best to address allegations of corruption and is taking the same attitude to corruption internally as it does externally.
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