Lords Hansard text for 14 Nov 200714 Nov 2007 (pt 0001)

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Written Answers

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Airports: Security

Lord Mawhinney asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 October (Official Report, col. 1212), when they handed responsibilities for national security on the airside of airports to the airport authorities and airport retail outlets. [HL119]

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Department for Transport sets aviation security measures. Airports, airlines and others are responsible for implementing the statutory security requirements and through its inspectors the department ensures compliance. Retail outlets at airports are not regulated by the department.

Argentina: New President

Viscount Montgomery of Alamein asked Her Majesty's Government:

Who will represent the United Kingdom at the transfer of power ceremony on 10 December, following the election victory of Ms Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina. [HL44]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): No decision has yet been taken about who will represent the United Kingdom at Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s inauguration ceremony in Argentina.

Arms Trade

Lord Judd asked Her Majesty's Government:

What measures they are taking to ensure that British companies involved in the production of weapons overseas have to seek a specific licence from the United Kingdom Government before any such productivity is undertaken. [HL89]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Jones of Birmingham): Exports of all controlled (military or dual-use) items and all transfers of controlled technology from the UK require an export licence. When submitting a

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licence application, exporters are required to say whether the proposed export is for the purposes of overseas production, and the Government's licence assessment will then take account of the specific risks associated with this. The current controls therefore apply to many elements of the supply chain on which overseas production depends.

The Government launched a review of the current export control legislation on 18 June 2007. This included a public consultation, which examined a wide range of issues, including the controls on licensed production overseas, and specifically sought the views of respondents on a range of change options. The public consultation closed on 30 September, and all responses are currently being considered. The Government will issue an initial response to the review by 31 December.

Lord Judd asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will introduce prior parliamentary scrutiny for arms exports licensing decisions. [HL91]

Lord Jones of Birmingham: The Government have no plans to introduce prior parliamentary scrutiny for arms exports licensing decisions, both on practical grounds and as a matter of principle. The Government continue to believe that retrospective scrutiny by the Quadripartite Select Committee of its licensing decisions, through its annual and quarterly reports on strategic export controls, is the most effective and practical method of scrutiny.

Asylum Seekers: Ethiopia and Eritrea

Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many applications for asylum have been received in each of the past 10 years from people from (a) Ethiopia, and (b) Eritrea; and in each of these years how many such applications have been granted; how many applicants have been allowed leave to remain; and how many applications have been refused. [HL164]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The table below shows the outcomes of the applications made in each year from 2003 to 2006 for nationals of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Information prior to 2003 is not available.

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*Outcomes of asylum applications made in 2003-06 for nationals of Ethiopia and Eritrea ^(P)*
Number of principal applications
Asylum applications of which estimated outcomes (including appeal outcomes at Immigration Appellate Authority/Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ⁽¹⁾)
			Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum	Not recognised as a refugee but granted ELR, HP or DL ⁽²⁾		Refused asylum, ELR, HP or DL, or withdrawn by appellant ⁽³⁾		Applications withdrawn		Cases with decision not known ^{(4) (5)}
2003
Ethiopia	640	125	130		375		*		5
Eritrea	950	235	205		495		*		20
Total Applications	49,405	7,650	5,245		33,635		1,325		1,555
2004
Ethiopia	540	80	110		320		5		25
Eritrea	1,105	330	210		510		10		40
Total Applications	33,960	4,370	3,720		23,860		1,080		930
2005
Ethiopia	385	80	45		235		5		20
Eritrea	1,760	910	135		600		5		110
Total Applications	25,710	4,370	2,850		16,000		865		1,630
2006
Ethiopia	200	45	10		115		-		35
Eritrea	2,585	1,155	75		990		15		350
Total Applications	23,610	4,040	2,185		13,375		920		3,090
^(P) Figures are provisional and rounded to the nearest 5 (- = 0, * = 1 or 2).
⁽¹⁾ Appeals on cases refused at initial decision, ie does not include outcomes of cases reconsidered prior to appeal or appeals on grants of ELR/HP/DL. Excludes cases that were successful after appeal to the AIT or higher courts, but a very small proportion is involved.
⁽²⁾ Humanitarian protection (HP) and discretionary leave (DL) replaced exceptional leave to remain (ELR) from 1 April 2003.
⁽³⁾ Includes appeals awaiting an outcome; a small proportion of these may result in grant of asylum.
⁽⁴⁾ No confirmation of a decision had been received when these statistics were compiled on 5 May 2007. These figures are not comparable with other published figures.
⁽⁵⁾ Includes cases withdrawn by the Home Office.

Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many failed asylum seekers and their dependants from (a) Ethiopia, and (b) Eritrea have to their knowledge left this country in each of the past 10 years (i) voluntarily without financial assistance; (ii) voluntarily with financial assistance; and (iii) by forcible removal; and how many of these have returned to Ethiopia and Eritrea respectively. [HL165]

Lord West of Spithead: The accompanying tables show (1) the number of Ethiopian and Eritrean principal asylum applicants removed from the UK between 1997 and 2003, and (2) the number of Ethiopian and Eritrean asylum applicants, including dependants, removed from the UK between 2004 and 2006 broken down by destination and type of removal.

Prior to 2004, nationality data for dependants of asylum applicants and data on the type of removal from the UK by nationality are not available.

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