E/CN.4/1999/63/Add.3 page 10 (b) The release of certain persons on account of non-availability of space and the detention of certain other persons whose cases for release are much stronger but who are detained because space is available makes detention dependent on the availability of space, rather than the quality of the applicant's case; (c) Upon detention, there is no immediate access to court or to a quick judicial remedy; (d) There is no judicial oversight of detention; (e) At the outset, no written grounds for detention are communicated to the applicant; (f) There are no written rules or statutory procedures delineating the obligations of the Government towards detainees and the rights of detainees while in custody; (g) There is no specified time limit within which, pursuant to an order of detention, the applicant is required to be produced before an adjudicator. There is also no legal regime for time-bound appeal disposal and procedures in regard thereto; (h) The decision to detain an asylum seeker is made by an immigration officer who may not have sufficient training in refugee law or the human rights situation in the refugee-producing countries. There is also no effective remedy to challenge a decision before a court or before an independent review body. Although the White Paper proposes that an asylum detainee will have an automatic right to a bail hearing after seven days of detention, in many instances legal aid may not be available for a bail hearing. Even though a bail hearing may be provided, as promised by the Government in the White Paper, this would not be an effective substitute for an independent review whereby the reasons for a decision to detain may be challenged. Consequently, asylum seekers may have no effective opportunity to challenge the reasons for detention, as a bail hearing would only examine reliability of surety and its relationship to the applicant. IV. IMPRESSIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP DURING THE VISIT 19. The Working Group has the distinct impression that the present Government, on the one hand, wishes to help genuine asylum seekers by making it easier for them to seek entry into the United Kingdom, but, on the other hand, seeks to make the legal regime tighter for those who set out to seek asylum on unfounded grounds. The Government is seeking to make the law sufficiently accessible and precise in order to avoid all risk of arbitrary detention. In this context, the Government is committed to effecting the following changes, as reflected in the White Paper: to provide for written grounds for detention at the outset, judicial oversight of detention, an increased number of places in detention centres, written rules and sanctions for detainees, in particular concerning the obligations of the Government towards the detainees, and uniform legislation to regulate custody of detainees.