Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham & Amersham, Conservative)

I pay tribute to the organisations that have gone to so much trouble to brief members of the Committee on various aspects of the Bill. I draw the Committee's attention to a matter raised by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which has done some valuable work on the Bill. NACAB states that clause 43 provides a power for the Home Secretary to establish a refugee resettlement programme under which a small number of persons recognised as refugees while still abroad could be accepted for resettlement in the United Kingdom. The association welcomes the establishment of such a resettlement programme—with the proviso that it should not lead to a two-tier asylum determination process whereby those who arrive at the UK's borders independently are regarded as queue-jumpers and therefore undeserving of the UK's protection,

whatever the merits of their asylum claim. It seeks the Minister's assurance on that point.

Subsection (2) sets out financial provisions. Does the Minister have some idea of the level of budget provision these programmes will attract? From the notes on the clause we are aware that pilot projects have been undertaken. Will she explain how many have been completed and whether any further pilots are planned, or whether the Ministry is satisfied that the piloting exercise has been exhausted?

Subsections (2)(a) and (b) provide only for financial support to international organisations that arrange or participate in projects of the kind described in subsection (1). I would like an assurance that the drafting does not preclude, for example, the secondment of suitable personnel to international organisations—or does the Minister have in mind purely financial assistance with no consideration for any other type of assistance under (2)(a) and (b)?

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