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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of asylum seekers arriving at UK ports did not have an immigration document establishing identity and nationality or citizenship since section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 came into force; how many such people have been prosecuted; how many of those (a) pleaded guilty, (b) were convicted after pleading not guilty, (c) were legally represented and (d) were given a custodial sentence; how many received a custodial sentence in excess of three months; and what estimate he has made of the average cost to public funds per month per person of keeping them in custody. [196858] Mr. Browne: Precise information on how many people have arrived at UK airports or ports undocumented and subsequently claimed asylum is unavailable. However, management information indicates that, between July 2003 and June 2004, undocumented arrivals (which may include dependants) was equivalent to around 70 per cent. of the number of port principal asylum applicants. A breakdown by type of port, and on how many subsequently claimed asylum, is not available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost. Since section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 came into force on 22 September 2004. Eighty-two people have been charged under this section Of these 24 pleaded guilty and 58 pleaded not guilty. There has been insufficient time for any of those pleading not guilty to have their cases heard at a Crown court. All charged are entitled to legal representation, however there are no figures collated regarding how many were represented. There have been 19 custodial sentences and all of these were in excess of three months. Five other pleading guilty are awaiting sentencing. These figures represent the position as at the close of the courts on Wednesday 3 November. All figures are locally collated management information and are therefore subject to change.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1570-1W;426 c1573-4W; 196858

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Asylum Costs Convictions Airports Custodial treatment Immigration controls Documents Legal representation Prosecutions Ports Proof of identity Sentencing Remand in custody Per capita costs

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk