do note skills acquired, resettlement offers are not based on such criteria.
The degree to which other resettlement countries have responded to the UK's acceptance of additional Vietnamese refugees, and whether any burden-sharing agreement has been reached on those Vietnamese who are hard to resettle. (Rec 5, Reply p 8-9).
The Hong Kong Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
estimate that the United Kingdom initiative has generated approximately 1,200 offers of resettlement places which would not otherwise have been forthcoming. (Annex B details resettlement offers pledged by various countries up to 1988.) Negotiations are continuing regarding the re-settlement of Vietnamese who are
'hard to re-settle'. A small number have been accepted under the 'Ten or more plan', but otherwise no burden-sharing agreement has yet been reached.
Whether the proposed experiment in giving succinct reasons for refusal in certain refugee cases has taken place, and with what result. (Rec 26, Reply p 24)
Fi
A commitment to undertake an experiment to give applicants succinct reasons for refusal of their asylum application when resources permitted was given in the Government reply to the v Report. However, since the Committee reported there has been no opportunity to begin such an experiment. Caseworkers in the Refugee Unit are nevertheless willing to discuss reasons for
refusal in strict confidence with the refugee agencies. Applicants are given details of the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service Refugee Unit following their interview, and details of refusal reasons are generally provided on this basis through the agency to the applicant.
Current figures on times taken to determine asylum applications and any changes in the staffing level of the Refugee Unit since 1985 (Rec. 27(i), Reply p 25)
The average length of time for a decision to be reached on an
application is one year and one month, though efforts are being made to develop means of
of reducing this. Following the Select Committee report, an Arrears Unit was set up for a period of 6 months November 1985 May 1986 to consider asylum applications