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Lord Filkin: I will have a shot at some of the issues, but we will need a letter for others.
How will people get there? In general, it will be by public transport. I suspect that the noble Lord was probing to find out who would pay for such public transport. I will come back to him on that. Someone who registers for asylum at a port will be able to make an application at a port. I must leave it at that for now, but I shall come back to the noble Lord.
Lord Dholakia: I am grateful to the Minister. In the light of what he has said, I look forward to his reply and beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment to Amendment No.16, by leave, withdrawn.
On Question, Amendment No. 16 agreed to.
Lord Filkin moved Amendment No. 17:
- Page 57, line 19, at end insert—
[Amendment No. 17A, as an amendment to Amendment No. 17, not moved.]
On Question, Amendment No.17 agreed to.
Clause 105, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 107 [Appeal from within United Kingdom: unfounded human rights or asylum claim: transitional provision]:
Lord Filkin moved Amendment No. 18:
[Amendments Nos. 18A and 18B, as amendments to Amendment No. 18, not moved.]
On Question, Amendment No.18 agreed to.
Lord Filkin moved Amendments Nos. 19 to 21:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord Filkin moved Amendment No. 22:
[Amendments Nos. 22A to 22L, as amendments to Amendment No. 22, not moved.]
On Question, Amendment No. 22 agreed to.
Clause 107, as amended, agreed to.
Lord Bassam of Brighton moved Amendment No. 23:
The noble Lord said: The amendment is simple and straightforward. It seeks to bring proceedings before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal and the immigration adjudicators, the Immigration Appellate Authority, within the scope of legal aid in Northern Ireland. I am sure that we can all agree to the amendment. I beg to move.
Lord Hylton: Can the Minister confirm that appeals by people who have reached Northern Ireland will be heard there and that they will not be compelled to travel to Liverpool or somewhere else in England to have their appeals heard?
Lord Bassam of Brighton: As far as we are aware, to date there has never been an SIAC case where the appellant has been based in Northern Ireland. Were it to be the case we would want to be certain that legal aid was available. It is our intention that funding for such issues will be provided by the Home Office through the law centre for Northern Ireland. As I understand it, we do not have a centre in Northern Ireland and so it is likely that appeals will be held away from there. However, we shall ensure that all the necessary facilities are provided as close as possible to where the applicant is based. But such a case is unlikely to arise. We have not yet had a case in Northern Ireland which would fall to be covered by the provision.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Schedule 3 [Withholding and Withdrawal of Support]:
Lord Filkin moved Amendment No. 24:
The noble Lord said: We spoke earlier about benefit shopping. This measure will further assist local authorities by making their obligations clear when dealing with applications for housing assistance from persons covered by the benefit shopping policy in Schedule 3. There has been a recent case in Bristol where a Dutch national of Somali origin secured an injunction from the High Court requiring Bristol City Council to accommodate her under the homeless legislation while the council carried out a review of its decision that she was ineligible for homelessness assistance.
Amendment No. 27 seeks to introduce measures to remove the discretionary power given to local housing authorities to accommodate those persons covered by the benefit shopping policy pending a review or appeal against a decision that they are ineligible for homelessness assistance.
The applicant asked Bristol City Council to review its decision. The council declined to exercise its power to accommodate her pending that review. She then applied for judicial review of the decision not to accommodate pending the review and was granted an injunction requiring the council to exercise its discretionary power to accommodate.
This is a recent development. However, when the benefit shopping measures in the Bill come into force, we are concerned that this provision might be used more frequently and the courts would require local housing authorities to provide accommodation. It is also the case that an amendment to the Housing Act 1996 inserted by the Homelessness Act 2002 provides a new right of appeal to the county court against a decision by the local housing authority not to exercise its power to accommodate pending an appeal to the county court on the substantive homelessness decision.
Local authority resources must be preserved for those in most need. These measures apply only to those classes of person covered by the benefit shopping policy and those persons who have support available elsewhere, are here unlawfully, or are failed asylum seekers who can leave but refuse to do so.
The LGA has agreed that the amendment will deal with this particular situation and is not opposed to it. We are taking this step to protect local authorities and will be meeting with the LGA to ensure smooth implementation as part of an on-going consultation programme.
Amendments Nos. 25 and 26 are minor and technical. They ensure that provisions in Scottish law mirror those of England and Wales.
Amendments Nos. 28 and 29 are, again, essentially minor and technical. They will allow the benefit shopping measures to be used flexibly.
Without going into more detail, I commend the amendments to the Committee. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
human rights claim" means a claim made by a person to the Secretary of State at a place designated by the Secretary of State that to remove the person from or require him to leave the United Kingdom would be unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) (public authority not to act contrary to Convention) as being incompatible with his Convention rights,"
Page 58, line 3, leave out subsection (1) and insert—
2 "(1) A person may not bring an appeal under section 65 or 69 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33) (human rights and asylum) while in the United Kingdom if—
5 (a) the Secretary of State certifies that the appeal relates to a human rights claim or an asylum claim which is clearly unfounded, and
(b) the person does not have another right of appeal while in the United Kingdom under Part IV of that Act."
Page 58, line 8, leave out "who is" and insert "while"
Page 58, line 15, leave out subsection (3).
Page 58, line 19, leave out "who is" and insert "while"
Page 58, line 36, at end insert—
"(7) If the Secretary of State is satisfied that a person who makes a human rights claim or an asylum claim is entitled to reside in a State listed in subsection (8), he shall issue a certificate under subsection (1) unless satisfied that the claim is not clearly unfounded.
(8) Those States are—
(a) the Republic of Cyprus,
(b) the Czech Republic,
(c) the Republic of Estonia,
(d) the Republic of Hungary,
(e) the Republic of Latvia,
(f) the Republic of Lithuania,
(g) the Republic of Malta,
(h) the Republic of Poland,
(i) the Slovak Republic, and
(j) the Republic of Slovenia.
(9) The Secretary of State may by order add a State, or part of a State, to the list in subsection (8) if satisfied that—
(a) there is in general in that State or part no serious risk of persecution of persons entitled to reside in that State or part, and
(b) removal to that State or part of persons entitled to reside there will not in general contravene the United Kingdom's obligations under the Human Rights Convention.
(10) The Secretary of State may by order remove from the list in subsection (8) a State or part added under subsection (9)."
After Clause 108, insert the following new clause—
"NORTHERN IRELAND APPEALS: LEGAL AID
(1) In Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I. 1981/228 (N.I. 8)) (proceedings for which legal aid may be given under Part II of that Order) the following shall be inserted after paragraph 6—
"6A. Proceedings before an adjudicator appointed for the purposes of Part 5 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal or the Special Immigration Appeals Commission."
(2) The amendment made by subsection (1) is without prejudice to the power to make regulations under Article 10(2) of the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 amending or revoking the provision inserted by that subsection."
Page 92, line 38, at end insert—
"( ) section 29(1)(b) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 26) (interim duty to accommodate in case of apparent priority need where review of a local authority decision has been requested),"
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