Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill
10:30 am
Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)
I am happy to respond and would have done so in timely fashion this afternoon in the Chamber at 3.30 pm. The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that letters were to be sent to members of the Committee to make the parliamentary answer available simultaneously at 3.30. As he pointed out, however, the information was leaked in the media this morning, so I shall place the information before the Committee ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary answer. I should also stress that no decision to proceed on any site has been taken. As I said on Thursday, that will not happen before Royal Assent.
Here is the announcement to be made to Parliament at 3.30 pm. The question is:
''To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to announce the sites on which he will seek planning permission for Accommodation Centres?''.
The answer is:
''We will be submitting planning notifications in respect of DSDC Bicester, RAF Newton and QinetiQ Pershore as soon as possible. The notifications will be submitted using the ordinary procedure of Circular 18/84. Consultation with the relevant local authorities will continue, including public meetings.
Further work is required on the sites at Air West Edinburgh, Sully Hospital (Glamorgan) and Hemswell Cliff (Lincolnshire) before a decision can be taken on whether to proceed to planning notifications.
The sites at Hooton Park (Ellesmere Port) and Killingholme (North Lincolnshire) are considered to be unsuitable for the siting of Accommodation Centres. No planning notifications will be submitted in respect of those sites.
Site searching has continued since we made our initial announcement, as we said it would. In addition to the sites we have identified ourselves, a number have been put forward by potential bidders. We will not be putting into the public domain details of such sites unless and until they are considered to be a serious prospect for the siting of an Accommodation Centre.''