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Passport Technology Trials

Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord Filkin: The published Immigration Rules, as approved by Parliament, require any person arriving in the United Kingom, or seeking entry through the Channel Tunnel, to produce a valid passport or other document satisfactorily establishing his/her nationality and identity. Passengers arriving in the United Kingdom who are subject to immigration control must seek leave to enter from an immigration officer in order to establish whether they meet the requirements of those Immigration Rules. Personal details, including passport number, will be checked against the Immigration Service's warnings index.

Immigration ports of entry to the United Kingdom currently have no ability to record electronically machine readable passports, but the majority do have computerised warnings index equipment to read these passports.

The Immigration Service is currently testing several devices and their output relating to the technology needed to record data from machine-readable passports. A short and limited experiment was conducted at Dover during May 2002 for the purpose of trialling a particular piece of equipment in a

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working control environment. The data from the trial is still being evaluated.

Channel Tunnel: Illegal Entrants

Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they will give, for each month from January 2000 to date, the number of illegal immigrants who are known to have arrived via the Channel Tunnel.[HL5462]

Lord Filkin: It is not possible to establish precisely how many illegal entrants have reached the United Kingdom after travelling through the Channel Tunnel on freight trains. Some are detected inland and cannot be attributed to a particular port of entry and some claim to use the Channel Tunnel but have in fact entered by a different route.

Provisional management information for 2000 shows that 100 illegal entrants arrived at Cheriton platform having travelled on board open-sided freight shuttles through the Channel Tunnel.

In 2001 and the first quarter of 2002, locally collected, provisional management information indicates the following monthly arrivals:

Cheriton Platform ArrivalsNumber
Jan 2001195
Feb 2001411
Mar 2001515
Apr 2001553
May 2001565
June 2001745
Jul 2001808
Aug 2001726
Sep 2001465
Oct 2001133
Nov 200140
Dec 200136
Jan 2002100
Feb 200261
Mar 200231

In 2000, 1,312 illegal entrants arrived at Dollands Moor rail freight yard having arrived on freight trains through the Channel Tunnel.

In 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 provisional management information indicates the following numbers of illegal entrants who were detected having arrived in the United Kingdom at Dollands Moor:


Dollands Moor ArrivalsNumber
Jan 2001189
Feb 2001139
Mar 2001151
Apr 200140
May 2001121
June 200192
Jul 200168
Aug 200169
Sep 200135
Oct 2001274
Nov 2001289
Dec 200196
Jan 200257
Feb 2002288
Mar 2002109

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Afghan Asylum Seekers: Voluntary Return Assistance

Lord Hardy of Wath asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What arrangements have been put in place for the funding of the Assisted Voluntary Returns—Afghanistan scheme.[HL5734]

Lord Filkin: A package of assistance is being introduced for a trial six month period to assist reintegration of those Afghans who return home voluntarily. It will be offered to those who have, on 14 August 2002, asylum claims awaiting decision or appeal, or who have received exceptional leave to remain. Payments of £600 for individuals and up to £2,500 for families, to be paid after departure, reflect an equitable payment to make return to Afghanistan sustainable.

Parliamentary approval to this new service will be sought in a Supplementary Estimate for the Home Office RFR1 (H). Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £1,685,000 will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.

British Overseas Citizen Passport Holders Applications for Settlement

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Further to the Written Answer by Lord Filkin on 18 July (WA 172), whether the British Asian passport holders seeking to enter and settle in the United Kingdom are worse off now than they were under the Special Voucher Scheme; and, if so, what is the justification for this; and[HL5511]

    Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Filkin on 18 July (WA 172), whether in giving "sympathetic consideration" to applications made by British overseas citizens prior to coming into force of the provisions in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, they will ensure that British Asian passport holders previously eligible under the Special Voucher Scheme will not receive any less favourable treatment than that they would have received prior the scheme's abolition on 5 March; and[HL5512]

    Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Filkin on 18 July (WA 172), why they decided to abolish the Special Voucher Scheme with immediate effect on 5 March, having regard to their intention to introduce the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.[HL5513]

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Lord Filkin : British Overseas Citizen (BOC) passport holders were only eligible to apply for a special voucher if they lived in East Africa or had an East African connection, where they were under pressure to leave their country and held no other nationality. The scheme was abolished in March because it no longer served the purpose for which it was set up and, since that time, BOCs wishing to settle in the United Kingdom have had to qualify under the general provisions of the Immigration Rules. Sympathetic consideration will be given to applications from BOCs in special cases of hardship but each case will be determined on its own merit.

At the time the scheme was abolished there was no intention of introducing a more general right of settlement for BOCs. However, following representations about the position of BOCs with no other nationality, the Government announced its intention to include some provision in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill. Under these provisions, all BOCs who hold no other nationality and have not renounced any other nationality will have the right to register as British citizens.

Citizenship: Proposed Oath and Pledge

Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What are the duties and obligations as a British citizen referred to in the proposed citizenship pledge in Schedule 5 to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.[HL5709]

Lord Filkin: The pledge component of the proposed citizenship oath and pledge is intended to symbolise a new British citizen's commitment to the core values of the United Kingdom.

An independent group of experts is being convened to advise the Home Secretary on the content of a citizenship curriculum for naturalisation applicants. The group will no doubt wish to consider, amongst other matters, what the curriculum should include on the question of the rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship.

Crack Cocaine

Baroness Hanham asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether crack cocaine is now included in Sections 8 and 9 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, in accordance with Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.[HL5646]

Lord Filkin: Section 8(a) and (b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 which covers the production or attempted production, supply and attempted supply of controlled drugs to another on premises applies to all controlled drugs including crack cocaine. Last year, the Government introduced an amendment to Section 8(d) of the 1971 Act through Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. The amendment extended

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the scope of Section 8(d), which covered the use of cannabis and opium, to cover the use of all controlled drugs including crack cocaine on premises in order to strengthen police powers to deal with the proliferation of crack houses.

It was also recognised that the strengthening of Section 8(d) could impinge on the legitimate harm reduction activities of those working in the care sector. The Government therefore undertook that, before the amendment was implemented, Notes of Guidance outlining how it should be enforced must be published. Work is currently being undertaken to publish the Notes of Guidance and implement Section 8(d).

Section 9 of the 1971 Act applies to opium only.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Treatment

Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What appraisal they had from National Institute for Clinical Excellence of the clinical effectiveness of Visudyne in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD); to how many AMD patients it is recommended that treatment should now become available and on what terms; and what action they are taking.[HL5074]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The National Institute for Clinical Excellence's (NICE) appraisal of photodynamic therapy has been extended to allow further consideration of the draft guidance. It is likely that the guidance will not now be available before January 2003.

Guidance issued in August 1999 to all National Health Service bodies asked them to continue with local arrangements for the managed introduction of new technologies where there was no guidance from NICE at the time. These arrangements should involve an assessment of all the relevant factors including the available evidence on effect.


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