Dear Ms Li,
Further to our reply of 18 September 2020 to question (i) of your request for Access to
Information on 30 July 2020, based on the information available to us, the requested
information on the remaining questions (ii) to (v) is provided as below, please.
It should also be highlighted that under the Unified Screening Mechanism, all non-refoulement
claimants may choose to receive publicly-funded legal assistance (PFLA) at the beginning of
screening of their claim by the Immigration Department (ImmD). Whether a non-
refoulement claimant will continue to receive PFLA at the appeal stage depends on the
assessment by the lawyer providing PFLA to the claimant on the merits of lodging an appeal,
taking into account the written decision by ImmD on the claim with detailed reasons.
(ii) The number of appeals/ petitions substantiated by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (TCAB)
in each quarter from Q1 2014 to Q2 2020 is as below-
Out of (a), no. of
Out of (b), no. of
No. of appeals/
appeals/ petitions
appeals/ petitions
petitions concluded by legally represented by substantiated by
TCAB
lawyers from PFLA
TCAB
(a)
(b)
(c)
Q1 2014
129
44
1
Q2 2014
158
27
0
Q3 2014
54
7
0
Q4 2014
58
7
2
Q1 2015
112
6
0
Q2 2015
168
18
0
Q3 2015
158
23
0
Q4 2015
166
20
1
Q1 2016
157
14
1
Q2 2016
158
25
1
Q3 2016
205
16
0
Q4 2016
406
44
1
Q1 2017
750
64
1
Q2 2017
822
39
0
Q3 2017
906
42
2
Q4 2017
916
47
5
Q1 2018
986
47
7
Q2 2018
1153
56
5
Q3 2018
1245
85
2
Q4 2018
1423
113
6
Q1 2019
1254
92
1
Q2 2019
1358
91
4
Q3 2019
1204
93
4
Q4 2019
1108
63
6
Q1 2020
652
46
9
Q2 2020
797
71
11
(iii) The number of people who requested a second opinion or review after not being provided
with PFLA based on the assessment of the lawyer at the appeal stage in each quarter (from Q1
2014 to Q2 2020) is as below-
No. of people requested a
No. of people who were
second opinion or review
declined PFLA
after not being provided with
(a)
PFLA
(b)
Q1 2014
189
0
Q2 2014
63
0
Q3 2014
258
3
Q4 2014
335
9
Q1 2015
602
19
Q2 2015
452
11
Q3 2015
462
13
Q4 2015
487
7
Q1 2016
454
4
Q2 2016
561
1
Q3 2016
752
5
Q4 2016
688
3
Q1 2017
773
6
Q2 2017
708
5
Q3 2017
772
2
Q4 2017
810
7
Q1 2018
1146
5
Q2 2018
1163
4
Q3 2018
1174
4
Q4 2018
1337
6
Q1 2019
444
11
Q2 2019
214
9
Q3 2019
246
4
Q4 2019
242
7
Q1 2020
169
1
Q2 2020
201
1
(iv) During the period from Q1 2014 to Q2 2020, all claimants who requested for a second
opinion or review on provision of PFLA to them were provided with the requested second
opinion or review.
(v) For those who requested a second opinion or review, the number of people who were
subsequently provided with PFLA at the appeal stage based on the assessment of another
lawyer is as below-
Out of (a), no. of people who
No. of people requested a
were subsequently provided
second opinion or review
with PFLA
(a)
(b)
Q1 2014
0
0
Q2 2014
0
0
Q3 2014
3
2
Q4 2014
9
3
Q1 2015
19
8
Q2 2015
11
4
Q3 2015
13
4
Q4 2015
7
3
Q1 2016
4
3
Q2 2016
1
1
Q3 2016
5
1
Q4 2016
3
0
Q1 2017
6
5
Q2 2017
5
1
Q3 2017
2
2
Q4 2017
7
2
Q1 2018
5
2
Q2 2018
4
4
Q3 2018
4
0
Q4 2018
6
5
Q1 2019
11
9
Q2 2019
9
8
Q3 2019
4
4
Q4 2019
7
3
Q1 2020
1
1
Q2 2020
1
1
(Miss Cuby Ng)
Security Bureau