Expenditure on repatriation

H. Y. Fung made this Freedom of Information request to Immigration Department

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Dear Immigration Department,

I am writing to make an information request regarding expenditure spent on repatriation. In the Security Bureau Replies to the Finance Committee on Estimates of Expenditure 2020-21, the expenditure spent on repatriation of non-refoulement claimants (p74) and the expenditure spent on total repatriation is listed (p743) is mentioned. Please see the document in this link for your reference (https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english...).

Based on this document, the expenditure spent on repatriation of rejected non-refoulement claimants was $45 million in the 2019-20 financial year. However, the “total expenditure on repatriation” in the same financial year was $9.6 million. Therefore, I would like to ask,

A) Why does the expenditure spent on repatriation of rejected non-refoulement claimants exceed the total expenditure on repatriation?
B) What is the relationship between these two figures?

Thank you for your help.

Yours faithfully,

H. Y. Fung

Records and Data Management Section, Immigration Department

Dear H.Y.Fung,
                 
Thank you for your email.

Your application is now under processing.  According to paragraph 1.16 of
the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the
latest progress of the case separately on or before 3 January 2022.
Regards

(Mr. W M Fung)
for Director of Immigration

From:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Immigration Department <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        14/12/2021 15:09
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Expenditure on
repatriation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Immigration Department,

I am writing to make an information request regarding expenditure spent on
repatriation. In the Security Bureau Replies to the Finance Committee on
Estimates of Expenditure 2020-21, the expenditure spent on repatriation of
non-refoulement claimants (p74) and the expenditure spent on total
repatriation is listed (p743) is mentioned. Please see the document in
this link for your reference
([1]https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english...).

Based on this document, the expenditure spent on repatriation of rejected
non-refoulement claimants was $45 million in the 2019-20 financial year.
However, the “total expenditure on repatriation” in the same financial
year was $9.6 million. Therefore, I would like to ask,

A)                 Why does the expenditure spent on repatriation of
rejected non-refoulement claimants exceed the total expenditure on
repatriation?

B)                 What is the relationship between these two figures?

Thank you for your help.

Yours faithfully,

H. Y. Fung

-------------------------------------------------------------------

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #908 email]

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Immigration Department? If so, please contact us using this form:

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References

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1. https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english...
2. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
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Records and Data Management Section, Immigration Department

Dear H. Y. Fung,
I refer to your request for access to information  on 14 December 2021.
 Further to our interim reply of 22 December 2021, our reply is provided
as below, please.

The two figures quoted in the question refer to different expenditures.
 As indicated in the Security Bureau (SB)’s reply to the question raised
by a Finance Committee Member in examining the Estimates of Expenditure
2020-2021 [Reply Serial No. SB272 (Page 743)], the enquired figure of
$9,650,000 referred to the revised estimates of the total expenditure of
the Immigration Department (ImmD) on repatriation for 2019-2020, including
the relevant travelling expenses, e.g. the air ticket fees.

On the other hand, as stated in SB’s reply to another question raised by a
Finance Committee Member in examining the Estimates of Expenditure
2020-2021 [Reply Serial No. SB013 (Page 74)], the enquired figure of $45
million included only the expenditure on manpower for the repatriation of
non-refoulement claimants and relevant work. As denoted in the same reply,
ImmD deployed dedicated manpower to speed up the repatriation of rejected
claimants to their places of origin since 2019-2020.  Other expenditures
were incurred by duties (e.g. arrangement for air tickets and application
for documents), which formed part of ImmD’s overall repatriation work.

I hope the above information is useful to you.

Access to Information Officer
Immigration Department

From:        [Immigration Department request email]
To:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
Date:        22/12/2021 09:37
Subject:        Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2021/721(R))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear H.Y.Fung,
                 
Thank you for your email.

Your application is now under processing.  According to paragraph 1.16 of
the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the
latest progress of the case separately on or before 3 January 2022.
Regards

(Mr. W M Fung)
for Director of Immigration

From:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Immigration Department <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        14/12/2021 15:09
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Expenditure on
repatriation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Immigration Department,

I am writing to make an information request regarding expenditure spent on
repatriation. In the Security Bureau Replies to the Finance Committee on
Estimates of Expenditure 2020-21, the expenditure spent on repatriation of
non-refoulement claimants (p74) and the expenditure spent on total
repatriation is listed (p743) is mentioned. Please see the document in
this link for your reference
([1]https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english...).

Based on this document, the expenditure spent on repatriation of rejected
non-refoulement claimants was $45 million in the 2019-20 financial year.
However, the “total expenditure on repatriation” in the same financial
year was $9.6 million. Therefore, I would like to ask,

A)                 Why does the expenditure spent on repatriation of
rejected non-refoulement claimants exceed the total expenditure on
repatriation?

B)                 What is the relationship between these two figures?

Thank you for your help.

Yours faithfully,

H. Y. Fung

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #908 email]

Is [Immigration Department request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to
Immigration Department? If so, please contact us using this form:

[2]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[3]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english...
2. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
3. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you for your reply and explanation. Based on the explanation given, may I confirm whether the following is true:

1) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 refers to traveling expenses, such as air ticket fees, but not staff remuneration
2) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 includes traveling expenses incurred in repatriation work, including for repatriated rejected non-refoulement claimants
3) The $45 million figure on p74 refers to staff remuneration but does not include traveling expenses of the repatriated non-refoulement claimants

Thank you very much for your help with this inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

H. Y. Fung

Records and Data Management Section, Immigration Department

Dear H.Y.Fung,
                 
Thank you for your email.

Your application is now under processing.  According to paragraph 1.16 of
the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the
latest progress of the case separately on or before 2 February 2022.
Regards

(Mr. W M Fung)
for Director of Immigration

From:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        13/01/2022 10:59
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2021/721(R))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you for your reply and explanation. Based on the explanation given,
may I confirm whether the following is true:

1) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 refers to traveling expenses, such as air
ticket fees, but not staff remuneration

2) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 includes traveling expenses incurred in
repatriation work, including for repatriated rejected non-refoulement
claimants

3) The $45 million figure on p74 refers to staff remuneration but does not
include traveling expenses of the repatriated non-refoulement claimants

Thank you very much for your help with this inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

H. Y. Fung

show quoted sections

Records and Data Management Section, Immigration Department

Dear H. Y. Fung,
I refer to your request for access to information on 13 January 2022.
 Further to our interim reply of 21 January 2022, our reply is provided as
below, please.

Question (1): The $9,650,000 figure on p743 refers to traveling expenses,
such as air ticket fees, but not staff remuneration

Yes, the figure covers expenditures incurred for repatriation work
including travelling expenses, such as air ticket fees, where staff
remuneration is not included.

Question (2): The $9,650,000 figure on p743 includes traveling expenses
incurred in repatriation work, including for repatriated rejected
non-refoulement claimants

Yes, expenditures for repatriation of rejected non-refoulement claimants
are included.

Question (3): The $45 million figure on p74 refers to staff remuneration
but does not include traveling expenses of the repatriated non-refoulement
claimants

Yes.

I hope the above information is useful to you.

Access to Information Officer
Immigration Department

From:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
To:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
Date:        21/01/2022 14:09
Subject:        Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/019(R))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear H.Y.Fung,
                 
Thank you for your email.

Your application is now under processing.  According to paragraph 1.16 of
the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the
latest progress of the case separately on or before 2 February 2022.
Regards

(Mr. W M Fung)
for Director of Immigration

From:        "H. Y. Fung" <[FOI #908 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        13/01/2022 10:59
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2021/721(R))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you for your reply and explanation. Based on the explanation given,
may I confirm whether the following is true:

1) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 refers to traveling expenses, such as air
ticket fees, but not staff remuneration

2) The $9,650,000 figure on p743 includes traveling expenses incurred in
repatriation work, including for repatriated rejected non-refoulement
claimants

3) The $45 million figure on p74 refers to staff remuneration but does not
include traveling expenses of the repatriated non-refoulement claimants

Thank you very much for your help with this inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

H. Y. Fung

show quoted sections