House of Commons Hansard Debates for 4 Nov 1991

Written Answers to Questions

Monday 4 November 1991

ENVIRONMENT

Local Government Finance

Mr. Ken Hargreaves : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the estimated cost to local authorities of preparing for the council tax and the Government's plan for supporting this expenditure.

Mr. Portillo : We commissioned CSL management consultants to look into the likely costs of preparing for the council tax and they have advised that authorities in England will have to spend an estimated £156 million between now and 1 April 1993--mainly in 1992-93. I have placed a copy of the report in the Library. The Government have decided in 1992-93 to pay 75 per cent. grant, worth £86 million, in support of estimated revenue costs of £114.6 million and to issue supplementary credit approvals in support of capital expenditure of up to £41.2 million.

HEALTH

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys

Mr. Tracey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys is being considered for agency status.

Mr. Dorrell : The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys is now a candidate to become an agency under the Government's "next steps" policy during 1992-93.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Vietnamese Migrants

Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Vietnamese migrants in Hong Kong.

Mr. Hurd : On 29 October, the British, Hong Kong and Vietnamese Governments signed a statement of understanding for the orderly repatriation from Hong Kong of Vietnamese illegal immigrants--that is, those who, having left Vietnam clandestinely, have been determined under the screening procedures monitored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees not to be refugees.

The internationally agreed comprehensive plan of action provision that all those who are not refugees should

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return home will now be implemented in stages. Vietnamese who, having left Vietnam clandestinely, arrive in Hong Kong from 29 October, will be screened on arrival in accordance with the agreed UNHCR procedures and the provisions of the CPA and Hong Kong law. For those screened out, there will be a full appeals procedure conducted by an independent review board. The screening procedures will be monitored by the UNHCR who will have full access to the migrants throughout the process and will help asylum seekers to prepare appeals. Those migrants who are screened out and whose appeals fail or who decide not to appeal will be offered voluntary repatriation with a resettlement allowance. Only those who refuse this option will be returned under the new arrangement.

Now that the Government of Vietnam have accepted the principle of return of those who are not refugees to Vietnam under the CPA, we will be discussing with them the extension of the scheme to migrants who arrived in Hong Kong before 29 October.

The Vietnamese Government have guaranteed that no illegal immigrant who returns to Vietnam will face persecution. They will continue to facilitate the monitoring of all those who return, by the UNHCR and others, to ensure that these guarantees are fully respected. In the last two and a half years more than 11,000 Vietnamese migrants have returned voluntarily to Vietnam without a single substantiated case of persecution. We hope that in due course Members of Parliamant will be able to visit Hong Kong and Vietnam to see how the return arrangements are working.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy in Burma and other detained leaders of the democratic movement in Burma.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : It is difficult to verify the number of political detainees in Burma held since the suppression of the democracy movement in 1988. Local estimates suggest the number may be around 2, 000, including many hundreds of party workers from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. This total also includes at least 55 out of 485 Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 democratic elections, the results of which have been ignored. Of the leaders apart from Aung San Suu Kyi, the former NLD chairman U Tin U was sentenced to three years' hard labour in December 1989 ; U Kyi Maung, the former acting chairman, was initially given a three -year sentence in November 1990, subsequently extended a further 10 years ; and U Nu, the former Prime Minister, remains under house arrest imposed in December 1989. We have repeatedly called in public statements for the release of all political detainees in Burma.

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