asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Why, having regard to Section 7 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the British consulate-general in Hong Kong is advising refused applicants for British citizenship that “there is no right of appeal against this decision”; and why applicants cannot apply to have such a decision judicially reviewed. [HL4374]

The British Nationality Act 1981, as originally drafted, specified that the decision of the Secretary of State, or a Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, to grant or refuse an application for citizenship should not be subject to appeal or review in any court. This provision was removed by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. There is, however, no formal appeal process for refused citizenship applications, although it has been the Border and Immigration Agency’s practice for many years to consider representations against refusal in order to assist applicants better to understand why they have been refused and to ensure that flawed refusal decisions are quickly remedied. The option to apply for judicial review of a decision has always been available. The Border and Immigration Agency is reviewing the wording that is currently used in its standard refusal letters.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How much revenue has been lost as a result of fuel laundering and smuggling in County Armagh in each year since 2000. [HL4496]

Estimates of the revenue lost through the illegal consumption of diesel and petrol in County Armagh, or indeed Northern Ireland, are not available because it is not yet possible to split revenue losses between those resulting from the illicit market and those from legitimate cross-border shopping. However, estimates of the total non-UK duty paid consumption for Northern Ireland are available and are reported in Measuring Indirect Tax Losses—2006, which is published alongside the PBR and can be found in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What has been the cost to date of preparing for the introduction of home information packs. [HL4037]

I refer the noble Baroness to the Answer given by my honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning (Yvette Cooper) on 13 March 2007 (Official Report, col. 239W). Since then, an additional £8,076,466 has been spent on the programme.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Further to the Statement by Lord Drayson on 19 June, how the Government can disseminate lessons learnt from the Fulton report to coalition partners when the report is classified as “Secret—UK eyes only”. [HL4413]

The UK will share with coalition partners those lessons that are pertinent to coalition operations.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What assessment they have made of the view expressed by the Government of Sweden that the Iraqi refugee crisis could be solved in part by the use of “pooled resettlement capacity” in the European Union; and what steps have been taken to resettle Iraqi refugees in the United Kingdom through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [HL4439]

The UK has noted the proposal put forward by Sweden in respect of resettlement of Iraqi refugees. There is no co-ordinated EU-wide resettlement programme in place at the present time. We consider that it is up to each individual EU member state to determine what places (if any) it can make available. The UK is one of six EU member states that have a domestic resettlement programme.

All resettlement places for 2007 have been allocated. The Home Office is in discussion with the UNHCR about the feasibility of including a group of Iraqi refugees for resettlement within our 2008 gateway programme.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many Iraqi asylum seekers have been granted (a) asylum, and (b) leave to remain in the United Kingdom each year since 2003, and how these figures compare with those of other European Union nations. [HL4440]

The tables attached show grants of asylum and subsidiary decisions for nationals of Iraq at initial decision and appeal for each year from 2003 to 2006. Other European nations’ asylum decision data are not collated by Immigration Research and Statistics and would involve disproportionate cost to extract from other sources.

Information on asylum decisions is published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.htm1.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Under what circumstances a person who makes a valid application for a British passport, which is refused, is not given written reasons for such refusal. [HL4431]

In circumstances where a person’s identity and British nationality are not in doubt but a passport is formally refused, it is the normal practice of the Identity and Passport Service to state the reasons in writing.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Which ferry operators and routes across the southern North Sea and Dover Straits offer services for (a) roll-on roll-off freight; (b) unaccompanied trailers; and (c) unaccompanied swap bodies or containers; and how many daily services each provide for these categories of freight. [HL4406]

Information about individual ferry operators is provided to the department in confidence and cannot be disclosed. The available information for the ferry routes covering the regions requested is provided in the following table.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they consider the 2006 St Andrews agreement to be an international agreement; and whether they will publish the agreement as supported by all parties in Northern Ireland. [HL4444]

The 2006 St Andrews agreement was published jointly at St Andrews on 13 October 2006 by the British and Irish Governments. The practical changes to the 1998 Belfast agreement institutions as envisaged by the 2006 St Andrews agreement have been formalised by the intergovernmental agreement between the Irish Government and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Cm 7078), which came into force on 9 May 2007 following the restoration of devolution.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether a British passport holder domiciled in another European Union member state qualifies for university education in Scotland without payment of fees. [HL4447]

This is a matter for the Scottish Executive and the noble Lord may wish to write to them about this particular issue.