6. There have been a number of significant developments since the inquiry was first announced on 28 February 2003.

The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill 2003/04

7. On 27 November 2003, the Government introduced the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill 2003/04, which makes provision (amongst other things):

• To establish a single tier of appeal, to be known as the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (clause 11 and schedule 1);
• To place further restrictions on rights of appeal against removal to countries that are designated as 'safe' (clause 13 and schedule 3);
• To introduce additional powers for the regulation of immigration advice (clauses 17-20); and
• To introduce an "ouster" clause (clause 11) removing the jurisdiction of the courts.[2]

The Home Affairs Committee produced a short report on the Bill in time for the Second Reading debate on 17 December.[3]

Home Secretary's announcement of an asylum amnesty

8. On 24 October 2003, the Home Secretary announced that, in order to clear the backlog of asylum cases "in the most cost-effective way", up to 15,000 asylum applicants "who sought asylum in the UK before 2 October 2000" would be granted permission to stay in the UK. If a significant proportion of these have some or all of their appeals outstanding, this will reduce the backlog significantly and, in turn, reduce legal aid expenditure.

Changes to publicly funded immigration and asylum work

9. On 5 June 2003, the DCA issued a consultation paper on proposed changes to publicly funded immigration and asylum work. We conducted the inquiry to examine these proposals referred to above (paragraph 4), reporting on 28 October.[4] The Government made its final announcement on 27 November 2003 (see section 8 below).

Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002: commencement of Part 5

10. The 2002 Act received Royal Assent on 7 November 2002. When the Committee first announced its inquiry on 28 February 2003, the majority of provisions were not yet in force. As a result, many of those who submitted written evidence said that it was too early to comment on the operation of the Act. Part 5 of the Act, which relates to appeals and which introduced a new system of statutory review, entered into force on 1st April 2003.

3   Home Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2003-4, Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill, HC 109 Back

4   Fourth Report of Session 2002-3, HC 1171 Back