Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, March 01, 2001, [2001] EWHC Admin 138

Reporting Judge: [2001] EWHC Admin 138

President: Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service

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Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, March 01, 2001, [2001] EWHC Admin 138

Case No: CO/4738/2000

Neutral Citation Number: [2001] EWHC ADMIN 138

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEENS BENCH DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Tuesday 27th February 2001

B e f o r e :

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE STANLEY BURNTON

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(Transcript of the Handed Down Judgment of

Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street

London EC4A 2AG

Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838

Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)

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Nigel Pleming QC and Bryan McGuire (instructed by Creighton and Partners) for the Claimant

Pushpinder Saini (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the Defendant

Judgment

As Approved by the Court

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton:

1. Before the passing of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 there was considerable concern at the cost to Local Authorities of accommodating and providing support to asylum-seekers in this country. That cost bore most heavily on Local Authorities for districts to which, for one reason or another, asylum-seekers tend to go: for example, the London Boroughs, and Kent. Part VI of the 1999 Act made a substantial change to the burden of supporting and accommodating destitute asylum-seekers in this country. The question in this case is whether that burden in its entirety was removed from Local Government, or whether, as the Secretary of State for the Home Department contends, it was moved to Central Government only in relation to asylum-seekers whose only need for support and accommodation arises from their destitution, but not in respect of asylum-seekers whose needs arise not only because they are destitute, but also because they are sick, disabled, elderly or for some other reason. If the Secretary of State is correct, the result is curious, since it leaves with Local Government the burden of accommodating and supporting...

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